Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe

My first experience of celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was in a late evening candlelit procession down to a tiny 15th-century Cistercian chapel in the backyard of the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium in 2003.  

Our Lady of Guadalupe is known as Star of the Evangelization of Peoples, Heavenly Patroness of Latin America, and Our Lady of Mexico.  Juan Diego, to whom she appeared on a Mexican hill in 1531, evangelized a continent. That humble servant was proclaimed a saint in 2002.  Since 2002, the Bishops of Canada have observed a National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples.

These things were much less known to me, than to the devoted Americans and Latin Americans I was processing with in 2003, in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  In Belgium, we pilgrims from the Americas were small in number but rapturous even so.  I could only imagine the fervor of thousands of pilgrims descending upon Mexico's Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

In this travel-restricted year, thousands of pilgrims from Mexico and beyond are unable to gather for processions or devotions.  Pope Francis has announced a plenary indulgence for this 125th Anniversary of the Coronation of Our Lady of Guadalupe so that we might " stay with faith and charity beneath her mantle" in our domestic churches.  " Let us allow Our Lady to visit us in our homes this year."
   
 
This image from the Book of Revelation matches the appearance of Our Lady of Gudalupe to Juan Diego in this feast day’s readings.  Mary appeared to him emblazoned by stars, pregnant with divine presence, eclipsing the Aztec sun god with her own rays, and with the Aztec moon dragon serpent under her heel ( Genesis 3:15; Bulzacchelli, 2011, p.49). She appeared with the good news of the true God, and she identified herself to Juan Diego with a title sounding like the prominent Marian Shrine of Guadalupe in Spanish, or "the one who crushes the head of the serpent" in Juan Diego’s language ( Fr. William Saunders, 2004).  This was an announcement of the victory of Christ the King come to give life abundantly ( John 10:10).  This overturned a culture of death in the Aztec practice of religious warfare and human sacrifice.
 
The feast day readings do not offer a psalm in response to this Revelation.  Rather, we have a reading from Judith, “blessed by the Most High God above all other women” for serving God’s Will ( Judith 13). This is a precursor to Luke’s Gospel titling Mary as ‘blessed among women’ ( Luke 1:39-47).  Judith was recognized for serving God’s Will in a period of religious warfare in Israel’s history, but military strategy and violence could not bring about lasting peace.  Mary and Elizabeth served God’s Will and brought about life.  Christ’s sacrifice brought about eternal life, and peace to people of good will.

Mary revealed to Juan Diego the true “God of the living, by whom all live, the Creator of persons, of closeness and immediacy, of heaven and earth” ( Benedict XVI Homily from his Apostolic Journey to Mexico).  

Our society awaits and expects many things at this time. We prepare for the coming of our Messiah in this Advent Season, and for the Day of the Lord. While we may not make haste to travel as Mary did in serving God's Will, may we “allow Our Lady to visit us in our homes this year.”  Let us learn with her God’s Will for us, and like Juan Diego, make the good news of our salvation known to others.

- David Rioux.