Earlier this year, I was giving a Lenten mission in Iowa and on the final night, I ended Evening Prayer with the song Immaculate Mary. After we had finished, a woman came up to me and told me that she is blessed with having visions. She told me that while I was singing, the Blessed Mother appeared behind me and was smiling at me. I had chills when she told me that. Hopefully that meant that our Lady was happy with what I was doing.
I’m not telling this story so that you will be impressed. I’m telling this story to remind us that Mary is always looking out for us and doing all she can to point us toward her Son.
Another great story is the centered around today’s feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. An indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, was walking by a hill called Tepeyac in Mexico when he heard a voice calling him by name. A radiant cloud appeared, and within it stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. After she had identified herself to him, Our Lady asked that Juan build her a shrine in that same spot, in order for her to show and share her love and compassion with all those who believe.
Afterwards, Juan Diego visited the bishop, but Juan was dismissed and was asked for proof of his story and proof of the Lady’s identity.
Juan Diego returned to the hill and encountered Our Lady again. The Virgin told him to climb to the top of the hill and pick some flowers to present to the bishop.
Although it was winter and nothing should have been in bloom, Juan Diego found an abundance of flowers of a type he had never seen before. The Virgin bundled the flowers into Juan’s cloak, known as a tilma. When Juan Diego presented the tilma of exotic flowers to the bishop, the flowers fell out and he recognized them as Castilian roses, which are not found in Mexico. What was even more significant was that the tilma had been miraculously imprinted with a colorful image of the Virgin herself.
Mary had heard the prayers and pain of these people, and she came to give them hope and to remind them that God will remember his mercy for all people.
Today we honor Our Lady of Guadalupe not only because of her motherly concern and love for us, but because we truly believe that she always there with us. May we always come to Mary asking her to intercede for us with her Son.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
