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Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts.
The readings today recount the magnificence of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And her holiness makes her an important Advent figure. Let’s make sure we seek her prayers for us to say yes to God just as she did.
An incredible story
I have to say that this is my favorite apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Guadalupe. There’s so many pieces to it that are just so wonderful and beautiful and real to life.
In the second reading for the Office of Readings today, we encounter, we kind of get a little picture of, okay, well what happened? What were the details? And what I like about it is that so many people in this account are so human.
There’s Juan Diego. Juan Diego, who is not really an important person, he’s not really significant. We likely would never have heard of Juan Diego, well we wouldn’t have heard of Juan Diego, I suspect, were it not for the Blessed Mother and this miraculous experience he has. He is asked to go and he doesn’t say, oh yes, I’m the perfect choice, thank you so much for choosing me.
Quite the opposite. He says, well I’m not really much of anything at all. Wouldn’t it be better to pick somebody that’s really important? He goes to the bishop in obedience and the bishop is very human as well. I have to say that I would not be quick to believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared to someone and then was telling me that I should do something really miraculous, like build a church.
I like, my favorite part of the story of Juan Diego is day three. So he goes day two, he’s supposed to bring something back. Day three, his uncle is sick, his uncle sends him into the village and he says, you know, I don’t have time for the Blessed Mary today. I’m going the other way. I’m going to avoid the hill altogether.
But of course we know she’s the Blessed Virgin Mary and so she appears again. And that’s such a human moment too. She assures Juan Diego first that his uncle is fine. He’s cured. And she tells him to bring roses which don’t bloom in the winter. It would be like living here in Minnesota and having bright red roses appear in the middle of the coldest time of the year. It would be kind of miraculous.
And he goes to the bishop and the image makes a difference. The image convinces him that Juan Diego is speaking the truth. But perhaps more important than all of that is the reason why the Blessed Virgin Mary wanted a church built. She wasn’t saying, well, I’m, you know, a really wonderful and amazing virgin and you should build this church because I deserve it. It wasn’t that at all.
She wanted people to become aware through this church that her son Jesus was the Savior and that she was an intercessor. In many respects, her wish has come to pass. I’ve never been to Guadalupe, but I’ve certainly seen lots of images of how deeply people’s faith is impacted by this church in Guadalupe. I’ve read accounts of people who, scientists who have studied this tilde, which should not have survived, but did.
And there is something unbelievable about the scientific discoveries in it. I’m even told, for example, that in the original, when you look at the Blessed Virgin Mary’s eyes, you see a little reflection of Juan Diego.
Whatever it is, it’s a reminder to us that our lives are filled both with reason, the ordinary, everyday events of life that can be easily explained and powerful, tremendous, significant events of faith that can only be explained by the power and love of God.
On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.
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