Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Month of December Dedicated to Advent and the Coming of Christ

Saint: Saint Finian of Clonard (470-549)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 58:17-29

Mass: Zechariah 2:14-17 or Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Resp Ps (Jdt 13); Lk 1:26-38 or Lk 1:39-47

Blessed be the Lord God.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, PATRONESS OF THE AMERICAS,

MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN,

MARY, QUEEN OF ANGELS,

MARY, QUEEN OF LIFE,

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

Know, beloved son, that I am the immaculate ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who is the origin of all life, who creates all things and keeps them in being, the Lord of heaven and earth.

(The Virgin Mary to Juan Diego, 

very early one Saturday morning at the beginning of December 1531)

Welcome to Monday of the Third Week of Advent and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In a 1999 visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Pope Saint John Paul II (he visited the shrine four times during his papacy) entrusted the cause of life to Our Lady's loving protection and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those in danger of not being born. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas; Central America; diocese of Colorado Springs; diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas; diocese of Dodge City, Kansas; Estremadura, Spain; diocese of Gallup, New Mexico; New World; diocese of Orange, California; diocese of Phoenix, Arizona; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; diocese of Sacramento, California; diocese of Sioux City, Iowa; and Spain. It is said that an estimated 10 million people visit Our Lady's Basilica in Mexico City each year. It is the most popular Marian shrine in the world after Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.* God is praised.

HAIL MARY, FULL OF GRACE!

THE LORD IS WITH YOU.

A virgin in her body

a virgin in her spirit

a virgin by profession

a virgin such as the Apostle describes:

holy in spirit and body ...

She was preserved 

by the angels

prefigured by the patriarchs

promised 

by the prophets.

(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in Mary Most Holy: Meditating with the Early Cistercians)

SAINT JUAN DIEGO,

SAINT FINIAN OF CLONARD,

PRAY FOR US.

*See Catholic News Agency, "Our Lady of Guadalupe."

Today's photo: For Our Lady of Guadalupe. Not a Castilian rose - it is pretty. And somehow, I think Our Lady is pleased with a rose of any color. Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God.

© Gertrude Feick 2022

Friday of the Second Week of Advent

The Month of December Dedicated to Advent and the Coming of Christ

Saint: Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 56 The Abbot's Table

Mass: Is 48:17-19; Resp Ps 1; Mt 11:16-19  

Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.

(Is 48:17)

Welcome to Friday of the Second Week of Advent. This holy season marches on and it may be a good day to remind ourselves to do whatever it takes to awake from sleep, arise from any stupor, throw off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light (see Rm 13:11-12). We certainly do not want to be walking around in a coma, numb to what swirls around us. Should Jesus, as He suggests in today's Gospel, compare our generation to others who no longer dance when it is time to dance, and mourn when it is time to mourn? (see Mt 11:16-17). Our saint of the day, Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin "singing eagle", thankfully was alert that morning when he hurried off to Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception nearly 500 years ago. It was then that the Virgin Mary appeared to him, "the ever-perfect holy Mary, who has the honor to be the mother of the true God," as she told him. She, most blessed, the compassionate Mother of Juan and all the people that lived in his land. Mary asked Juan to go to the local bishop and tell him that she wanted a church to be built on that site, one dedicated to her Son Jesus Christ. To make a long story short, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe now stands on that site, said to be the world's most-visited Catholic shrine (see Catholic News Agency, "Saint Juan Diego"). Be prepared, for at the hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come (Mt 24:44).

The Lord asks everything of us, and in return offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence.

(Pope Francis, Gaudium et exsultate Rejoice and be glad, 1)

SAINT JUAN DIEGO,

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Our drive. Whatever he does, prospers.

© Gertrude Feick 2022

Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 58:17-29
Mass: Zech 2:14-17 or Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Resp Ps (Jdt 13); Lk 1:26-38 or Lk 1:39-47

You are the highest honor of our race.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas

Wednesday of the Second Week in Advent

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 58:17-29
Mass: Zc 2:14-17 or Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Resp Ps (Jdt 13); Lk 1:26-38 or Lk 1:39-47

Our Lady of Guadalupe with Juan Diego