Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and
pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do
not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most
High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he
will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no
end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations
with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold,
Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is
the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible
for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May
it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in December 1531 to an indigenous peasant named Juan Diego. After identifying herself to him, the Virgin Mary asked Juan Diego to build her a shrine on that very spot so that she might show and share her love and compassion with all believers.
Juan Diego then went to Juan de Zumárraga, the Archbishop of what is now Mexico City. The archbishop dismissed his account in disbelief and asked for proof of both the story and the Lady’s identity. Juan Diego returned to the hill, where he encountered the Virgin Mary once again. She instructed him to climb to the top of the hill and gather flowers to present to the archbishop.
Although it was winter and nothing should have been in bloom, Juan Diego found an abundance of flowers unlike any he had seen before. The Virgin Mary gathered the flowers into Juan Diego’s cloak, known as a tilma. When Juan Diego presented the tilma filled with exotic flowers to Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga, the flowers fell out, revealing Castilian roses, which do not grow in Mexico.
Most astonishing of all, the tilma was found to be miraculously imprinted with a colorful image of the Virgin Mary. This image, showing her with her head bowed and her hands joined in prayer, is revered today as the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1990, Pope Saint John Paul II visited Mexico and beatified Juan Diego. Ten years later, in the year 2000, Juan Diego was canonized as a saint.
Do we always accept the will of the Lord for our lives, or do we sometimes resist or contradict it?
Today’s Gospel reminds us that God, through the Angel Gabriel, chose the Blessed Mother to be the Mother of Jesus. Of all women, why Mary? We may never fully know the depths of God’s reasons, yet her humility, docility, and complete surrender to His will reveal the beauty of a heart fully open to God.
Mary embraced God’s plan with quiet courage when she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She humbled herself before God, entrusted her entire life to Him, and continually discerned the gentle movements of the Holy Spirit.
As we reflect on her example, we are invited to look into our own hearts. Are we, like Mary, willing to humble ourselves before the Lord? Are we ready to entrust our plans, dreams, and fears to His loving will? Are we striving each day to listen to and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit?
As God calls us to deeper faith and surrender, are we willing to say with Mary, “Lord, let it be done to us according to Your word”—even when His will leads us beyond our comfort and into the mystery of His love? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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