OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE (FEAST)

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

Gabriel packs quite a bit of startling news in his announcement to Mary! He informs her that she has found favor with God, tells her that she will be the mother of the Son of the Most High, and then explains how it will happen. Finally, he adds a prophecy concerning her cousin Elizabeth, that she is now six months pregnant. That’s a lot to take in! Mary, at first “greatly troubled,” responds in a way that we can all learn from: “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:29, 38).

We could paraphrase Mary’s words this way: This is all very surprising, but I surrender my plans to God. I want his will to be done, not mine, even if it means a future full of unknowns. And with this response, Mary becomes our model of humility. While we all have hopes and dreams and plans, our deepest desire should be for a wholehearted disposition of yes to God and his plans for us.

Today, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we celebrate Mary’s apparitions to St. Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531. She who once said yes to God’s plan for her life saw this same disposition in Juan Diego. Calling him “the most humble of my sons,” she relied on him to communicate her request to the local bishop for a church to be built. Juan Diego obediently relayed her message, even though some of the people rejected and mocked him. The Lord honored his humility, and the miracle of Mary’s image imprinted on his tilma won over the bishop and Juan Diego’s critics.

Today, tell the Lord that you, too, want to be humble as Mary and St. Juan Diego were. Tell him that you want simply to do his will, and ask him to help you overcome any obstacle, like fear or rejection, that would keep you from carrying it out. As it did for Juan Diego, God’s plans will bear good fruit as you respond with a wholehearted yes to him.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray that I may grow in humility. I want to see God’s will be done in me and through me.”

Zechariah 2:14-17
(Psalm) Judith 13:18-19
Luke 1:26-38