The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a
town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he
said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” 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.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Today is the memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe also
known as the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on
the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in December 1531, to an indigenous peasant, named
Juan Diego. After she had identified herself to him, The Virgin Mary 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 believers.
So, Juan Diego visited Juan de
Zumárraga, who was Archbishop of what is now Mexico City. Zumárraga dismissed
him in disbelief and asked that Juan Diego provide proof of his story and proof
of the Lady’s identity. Juan Diego returned to the hill and encountered the
Virgin Mary again. The Virgin Mary told him to climb to the top of the hill and
pick some flowers to present to Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga.
Even though 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 Mary bundled the flowers into Juan's
cloak, known as tilma. When Juan Diego presented the tilma of exotic flowers to
Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga, the flowers fell out and he recognized them as
Castilian roses, which are not found in Mexico.
What was even more astonishing was
the tilma had been miraculously imprinted with a colorful image of the Virgin
Mary. This tilma, showing the familiar image of the Virgin Mary with her head
bowed and hands together in prayer, represents the Virgin of Guadalupe.
In 1990, Pope Saint John Paul II
visited Mexico and beatified Juan Diego. 10 years later, in the year 2000, he
was declared a Saint.
Do you always humble yourself before God?
There is something in the Blessed Mother that many of
us don’t have. We may ask, what is it which the Blessed Mother have that we
often don’t usually have? It’s the humility and docility to follow the
will of God.
After the angel Gabriel told Mary everything
about the Lord’s plan for her. The blessed Mother simply said: “Behold, I am
the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke
1:38)
God speaks to us as well in so many ways, He even uses
people and events in our life to convey His message to us. But many of us
chose to purposely ignore it and go on with what we want in our life. What if
the Blessed Mother chose to ignore the angel and move on with her
life? But she chose to listen to the voice of God.
Listening to the voice of God is something that is
often lacking in many of us today. Yes we pray, yes we go to church for Holy
Mass. But more often than not it’s still our will that we follow not the will
of God.
This is primarily the reason why we sin and why we have
enormous problems. Because we often ignore the voice of God and we often
don’t pay attention to the teachings of the church which always tells us to
only do what is good and right.
The Blessed Mother did not resist God’s will, she
simply believed and humbly submitted herself to the will of
God. But what is God’s will for you? It’s for you to always do
what is right and confront and then avoid anyone who brings you nothing but sin.
– Marino J. Dasmarinas
