Saint of the Day
Our Lady of Guadalupe
In December 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared four times to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican Christian, on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. She identified herself as "the ever-virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God." She asked for a church to be built there, and as a sign, caused roses to bloom in winter. When Juan Diego opened his tilma (cloak) before the bishop, the roses fell out, and a miraculous image of Mary was imprinted on the cloth. That image, preserved to this day, became a powerful sign of God's love for the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Scripture Reading
Isaiah 49:15-16a
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands."
Reflection
On the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we hear God speak through the tenderness of a mother's love — a love stronger than forgetfulness, a love that engraves our names on the very palms of God. When Mary appeared to Juan Diego, she called herself "your merciful mother." God's compassion has a mother's face, and it will not let us go.
Prayer for Today
Oh God, I wish from now on
to be the first to become conscious
of all that the world loves, pursues, and suffers;
I want to be the first to seek,
to sympathize and to suffer;
the first to unfold and sacrifice myself,
to become more widely human
and more nobly of the earth
than of any of the world's servants.
to be the first to become conscious
of all that the world loves, pursues, and suffers;
I want to be the first to seek,
to sympathize and to suffer;
the first to unfold and sacrifice myself,
to become more widely human
and more nobly of the earth
than of any of the world's servants.
Amen.