Day 9 of Advent reflection, 12/12/23: Hail Mary, Full of Grace (Luke 1:28)

"And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:28, Douay–Rheims Bible).

This is the first time I'm reading about the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the 16th century in Mexico, which led to millions of conversions to Christ. Protestants such as myself have for the most part disregarded such apparitions of the Virgin Mary recorded in history. There are also reports of Jesus appearing to some people, in particular to Muslims, leading to their conversion. I used to disregard such accounts due to my cerebral "heady" disposition and to my own spiritual formation and conversion through reading and studying Scripture. Genesis 2:17 was the verse that led to my conversion in 1980. But I no longer disregard such miraculous accounts, as I did in the past, as God can surely choose to reveal Himself in whatever way He chooses--through the Bible, through books, through sermons, and even through visions and apparitions.

An interesting quote I read today from Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who died at age 47, as he volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz in 1941:  "Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did."–St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Luke 1:26–38 or 1:39–47 Friends, today we celebrate the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. What followed the apparition of Mary at Tepeyac is one of the most astounding chapters in the history of Christian evangelization. Though Franciscan missionaries had been laboring in Mexico for twenty years, they had made little progress. But within ten years of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, practically the entire Mexican people, nine million strong, had converted to Christianity. Our Lady of Guadalupe had proved a more effective evangelist than Peter, Paul, St. Patrick, and St. Francis Xavier combined! And with that great national conversion, the Aztec practice of human sacrifice came to an end. She had done battle with fallen spirits and had won a culture-changing victory for the God of love. The challenge for us who honor her today is to join the same fight. We must announce to our culture today the truth of the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ, the God of nonviolence and forgiving love. And we ought, like Our Lady of Guadalupe, to be bearers of Jesus to a world that needs him more than ever. Our Lady of Guadalupe Saint of the Day St. Juan Diego, a humble Aztec peasant, saw the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Hill of Tepeyac near present-day Mexico City on December 9, 1531, the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the time. After a request by the bishop to prove her identity, Our Lady asked Juan Diego to gather the roses which he found growing on the hill, which were neither native to the area nor in season, and take them to the bishop. Juan Diego did so and placed the roses in his tilma (or cloak). Upon opening the tilma to reveal the miraculous roses to the bishop, there was something even more miraculous present—an image of the Virgin Mary dressed as a pregnant Aztec princess. The various design elements on the tilma read like a codex to the Aztecs, revealing to them the truth of the Catholic faith preached by the missionary priests. Millions quickly converted to the Catholic Church as a result. This apparition and image is venerated under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the first Marian apparition in the New World, and the only one where Our Lady produced an image of herself. The perfectly preserved tilma is venerated at her basilica and shrine in Mexico City. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, the New Evangelization, and unborn children. Her feast day is December 12th.