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Monday, December 11, 2023

Reflection for Tuesday December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe Patroness of the Philippines (M): Luke 1:26-38


Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favor! The Lord is with you.' 

She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favor. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end. 

Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.' 

Mary said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.' And the angel left her.

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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 recognised 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 submit to the wisdom God? 

Sometimes there are situations in our lives that would disturb our peace, for example a sudden diagnoses of sickness. This kind of life event will surely bother us. But in the midst of this life disturbances let us not forget that the good Lord is always there for us. To heal us, to give us hope and to assure us that He will always be there for us. 

When the angel Gabriel appeared and greeted Mary she was naturally concerned about it. Perhaps the Blessed Mother asked herself, why did this angel appear to me? What would this angel bring me; a trial that is hard for me to bear? 

But the angel told the Blessed Mother that she would bear a son and His name is Jesus. The angel additionally said that she has nothing to worry because the Lord will take care of her. Thus, the Blessed Mother humbly accepted her destiny and entrusted herself to God. 

Whatever we are going through right now or we might go through in the future. Be it sickness or severe trial that may test our fidelity to Jesus, let us hold on to our deep faith in Jesus. For as long as we have faith there would be hope and deliverance from all of life’s challenges. 

As the Blessed Mother entrusted her fate to the good Lord we too must learn to submit to God’s will for ourselves. Let us never worry for God is always there for us and never will He abandon us. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas

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