Reflection for Thursday December 12 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Luke 1:26-38

Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

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.

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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 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