Our Lady of Guadalupe

In 1531, Mary appeared to a Native American man, Juan Diego, at Tepeyac, northwest of Mexico City. She identified herself and requested that a church be built there.

When Juan Diego asked the local bishop, the bishop asked for a sign. At Mary’s request, he gathered some roses into his coarse cloak, made from cactus fibers. When he brought them to the bishop, this image of Mary was imprinted on his cloak.

That cloak and image should have deteriorated in a relatively short period of time, but it remains more than 480 years later. Many have said that the real power of this encounter between Mary and Juan Diego was the result over the centuries.

She has become the image of Mary’s outreach and care for the least of her Son’s brothers and sisters. She is a sign of hope and the closeness of our God to us, through her intercession, especially for the people of the Americas.

Her feast, December 12th, always falls during Advent, at a time when we can turn to Mary, asking her to place us with her Son.

Speaking by video to a conference on Evangelization November 16, 2013, held at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who has been called “The Star of Evangelization,” Pope Francis said:

The Church’s intimacy with Jesus is an itinerant intimacy, it presumes that we step out of ourselves, that we walk and sow again and again, in an ever wider radius. The Lord said, “Let us go to the nearby villages to preach, for this is why I have come”. It is vital for the Church not to close in on herself, not to feel satisfied and secure with what she has achieved. If this were to happen the Church would fall ill, ill of an imaginary abundance, of superfluous abundance; in a certain way, she would “get indigestion” and be weakened. We need to go forth from our own communities and be bold enough to go to the existential outskirts that need to feel the closeness of God. He abandons no one, and he always shows his unfailing tenderness and mercy; this, therefore, is what we need to take to all people.

A second point: the goal of all pastoral work is always oriented by the missionary impetus to reach out to all, without exception, keeping carefully in mind the circumstances of each person. We must reach out to everyone and we will share the joy of having encountered Christ. It is not a matter of going out as someone who imposes a new obligation, as someone who merely reproaches or laments what he considers imperfect or insufficient. The missionary task demands much patience, much patience; to tend the grain and not to feel annoyed by the presence of the weeds. It also knows how to present the Christian message calmly and gradually with the scent of the Gospel, as the Lord did. It knows how to give pride of place to what is essential and most necessary; that is, the beauty of the love of God that speaks to us in the Crucified and Risen Christ. On the other hand, it must strive to be creative in its methods, we cannot be limited by the commonplace of “this is how it has always been done.” Our

Lady of Guadalupa, give new birth to the life of the Gospel and the care of those most in need, especially in the Americas.