Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
I am coming to dwell among you. Zechariah 2:14
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Luke 1:34
Piety
Let us pray: God, you are the ultimate promise-keeper. Help us to repay you in kind by keeping our promises. Help us to count on You and Your Son working daily in our lives. Help us to be your eyes, hands and legs in this world picking up where Jesus left off and where the Holy Spirit leads us. Count on us to deliver on the commitments we make as your true followers. Amen.
I am coming to dwell among you. Zechariah 2:14
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Luke 1:34
Piety
Let us pray: God, you are the ultimate promise-keeper. Help us to repay you in kind by keeping our promises. Help us to count on You and Your Son working daily in our lives. Help us to be your eyes, hands and legs in this world picking up where Jesus left off and where the Holy Spirit leads us. Count on us to deliver on the commitments we make as your true followers. Amen.
Promises fulfilled. Commitments met.
We live in a time when we are used to profound disappointment from promises unfulfilled and commitments unmet.
Have you ever been disappointed when your job was not as fulfilling as you want?
Did you ever get a product that did not work as advertised?
How did you feel when your shiny new car, with the new car smell, also brought you a recall notice?
How do you feel when services promised are not delivered?
Did the expensive repair job on your car not fix the problem you brought to the garage?
Was the hotel on your last vacation unresponsive to your requests?
People. Places. Things. Relationships. Sometimes we get used to things not working out. Deadlines being missed. Promises not being kept.
Were the expectations of the Israelites any better met? They had been wandering the desert for centuries awaiting a savior. The Messiah was promised by God ages ago.
The native people of the Americas also were promised much by the missionaries yet all they had received were disease and torture at the hands of the “conquistadores.” The faith from Europe had not spread as fast as hoped for in the “New World.”
Today, in the readings from Luke and in the celebration of the Feast Day for Our Lady of Guadalupe, God delivers. Much to the surprise of those He meets first off, God fulfills His promise to dwell among us according to the prophets Zechariah, Isaiah and others.
Everyone does not know it yet. God starts with a small inner circle of believers. He has only revealed his arrival to a few humble followers – Mary, Joseph (her fiancé), and her older cousin Elizabeth. In the narrative story of today’s patron Our Lady of Guadalupe, it was the poor Mexican farmer Juan Diego.
God has chosen Mary to lead us to Jesus. Mary then speaks to us in terms we can understand just as she responded to Elizabeth and to Juan Diego.
“How can this be?” Mary incredulously asks Gabriel. Elizabeth asks Mary in wonder. Juan Diego asked Our Lady of Guadalupe. Maybe the answer lies in three virtues God works to instill in each of us.
Faith. “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:45
Hope. “You shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. The LORD will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land, and he will again choose Jerusalem. Zechariah 2:15-16
Love. God so loved the world that He sent his only Son to save the world. John 3:16
And the greatest of these is love.
Action
How do we even begin to repay the Father for such love? Here are some more suggestions from the virtual Advent calendar on the web site www.simpleliving.org.
We live in a time when we are used to profound disappointment from promises unfulfilled and commitments unmet.
Have you ever been disappointed when your job was not as fulfilling as you want?
Did you ever get a product that did not work as advertised?
How did you feel when your shiny new car, with the new car smell, also brought you a recall notice?
How do you feel when services promised are not delivered?
Did the expensive repair job on your car not fix the problem you brought to the garage?
Was the hotel on your last vacation unresponsive to your requests?
People. Places. Things. Relationships. Sometimes we get used to things not working out. Deadlines being missed. Promises not being kept.
Were the expectations of the Israelites any better met? They had been wandering the desert for centuries awaiting a savior. The Messiah was promised by God ages ago.
The native people of the Americas also were promised much by the missionaries yet all they had received were disease and torture at the hands of the “conquistadores.” The faith from Europe had not spread as fast as hoped for in the “New World.”
Today, in the readings from Luke and in the celebration of the Feast Day for Our Lady of Guadalupe, God delivers. Much to the surprise of those He meets first off, God fulfills His promise to dwell among us according to the prophets Zechariah, Isaiah and others.
Everyone does not know it yet. God starts with a small inner circle of believers. He has only revealed his arrival to a few humble followers – Mary, Joseph (her fiancé), and her older cousin Elizabeth. In the narrative story of today’s patron Our Lady of Guadalupe, it was the poor Mexican farmer Juan Diego.
God has chosen Mary to lead us to Jesus. Mary then speaks to us in terms we can understand just as she responded to Elizabeth and to Juan Diego.“How can this be?” Mary incredulously asks Gabriel. Elizabeth asks Mary in wonder. Juan Diego asked Our Lady of Guadalupe. Maybe the answer lies in three virtues God works to instill in each of us.
Faith. “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:45
Hope. “You shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. The LORD will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land, and he will again choose Jerusalem. Zechariah 2:15-16
Love. God so loved the world that He sent his only Son to save the world. John 3:16
And the greatest of these is love.
Action
How do we even begin to repay the Father for such love? Here are some more suggestions from the virtual Advent calendar on the web site www.simpleliving.org.
Day 8: Dec. 10, 2nd Sunday in Advent* 8. Practice gratitude. Do things that make us glad to be alive.
Day 9: Dec. 11 9. Be in touch with nature through eco-friendly hiking and camping. Be awed by natural wonders large and small, like sunsets and compost worms.Day 10: Dec. 12 10. Build growing relationships with others for fun, conversation, volunteering, worshipping, celebrating.[1]
[1] Photos are a) traditional image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from the site www.CatholicOnline.org; b) statue of Juan Diego in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and c) exterior view of cathedral in Mexico City, the site of pilgrimages today. Photos b and c are by The Lighthouse Keeper from a family trip to Mexico in 2003.
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