Thoughts on Our Lady of Guadalupe

 

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Luke 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 evangelism. In 1531, on the hill of Tepeyac, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego—a humble Indigenous man—and left behind one of the greatest miracles in the history of the Church: her image, imprinted on his tilma. 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, Patrick, and 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. Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to inspire hearts and call people to her Son throughout the world today. Her message of compassion, unity, and conversion still resounds powerfully across cultures and generations. 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. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Gaudete Sunday

                                                                 

Who do you believe is the greatest human being to have lived? In today’s Gospel Jesus says it is John the Baptist: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist . . . .” (Mt. 11:11) Certainly, John the Baptist was impressive: He was the culmination of all the Old Testament prophets; he had the courage to be unpopular; he was strong and unwavering, clearly announcing the arrival of the Messiah. But rather surprisingly, Jesus continues: “Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

           

We are those “least in the kingdom of heaven.” John the Baptist lacked that which the simplest Christian has, what we have: John never knew of the Cross; he never saw the Cross of Christ. So, he never knew the full revelation of God’s love.

 

The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday (Rejoice Sunday). That’s why the vestments are rose colored and flowers adorn the altar. Why should we rejoice? Because Christmas draws near. But the more complete reason lies in three things: the crib, the Cross, and the Church.

• If we look to the crib, we see the hope of new life, and the fulfillment of all God’s promises.
• If we look to the Cross, we see the assurance of God’s love, and the redemptive value of suffering.
• If we look to the Church, we see the abiding presence of God in the world; His grace,

His sacraments, and His forgiveness even now.

This Wednesday marks the 182^nd anniversary of the publication of the world’s best loved Christmas story, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, published December 17, 1843.

• It’s called by literary scholars the “most outstanding Christmas myth of modern literature.”
• Dickens said that he laughed and cried over this short novel as he did over no other.
• A Christmas Carol has changed hearts and spread love at Christmas for 182 years.
• Because it’s all about the changed heart of Ebenezer Scrooge and his spreading love.

How much more should the truth of God’s love for us (crib, Cross, Church) change our hearts and inspire us to spread Christian love this Advent and Christmastide?

 

We have been blessed even beyond John the Baptist. We, the “least in the kingdom of heaven,” are greater than he! John knew the crib, but we know the love of God in the Cross and in the Church.

On Gaudete Sunday we should be confident to rejoice, knowing God’s love for us, trusting that He can change our hearts to be ever more like His. 

-Fr. Don Saunders, SJ

An Advent prayer

 

An Advent prayer of joy

Lord, we are filled with joy because of You. We sing praises to Your Name, O Most High! We rejoice because of You, and we want to say it again! Rejoice! We know You are near; Emmanuel is coming! 

This Advent season, remind us of the joy we have as we anticipate Your arrival a second time, but also that You are with us, in our presence here and now.

God, we long to always have the joy that comes only from You in our lives - not just happiness that is temporary. We know that joy is deeper and given to us only through your Holy Spirit.

We sing with joy to You as Mary did after learning of her holy pregnancy:

Our souls are ecstatic, overflowing with praises to You, God!
Our spirits burst with joy over our life-giving God! O Mighty One, You have worked a mighty miracle for us; Holy is Your name! Mercy kisses all who revere You, from one generation to the next.

We also sing joy to the world because You have come! Let earth receive her king! Let each of our hearts prepare room for You, as heaven and nature sing.

In wonder and joy, we watch the events of your birth, and with awe we perceive your cross and your crown from afar. Maranatha: come, Lord Jesus. Sustain us, uphold us, redeem us.

Repeating the sounding joy,

Amen.

- Beth Hildebrand

More thoughts on the Immaculate Conception

 

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.   In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception:   The Most Holy Virgin Mary was, in the very first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin. (Ineffabilis Deus, Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception)   Thus, the Church teaches that the Blessed Mother was redeemed by her Son, just as we are, but by a Divine anticipation of the merits of the Word-made-flesh. Like Eve before her, she was not subject to the Fall and thus to the prince of this world. However, unlike Eve, she would never surrender that freedom which God’s grace provided her.

We encourage you to read our special page dedicated to the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, where we answer questions such as: How do we know Mary was immaculately conceived? Is the Immaculate Conception in the Bible? Why did God choose Mary? How are the Immaculate Conception, Lourdes, and St. Bernadette related? On the page, we also offer a free eBook, The Immaculate Conception Novena, to help you reflect more deeply on the Blessed Virgin Mary’s obedient heart to God’s Will and her unique role as Mother of our Savior.  We pray this page and eBook will help you grow in devotion to our Blessed Mother, who always points us to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.    In Christ,   Your EWTN Family

Thoughts on the Immaculate Conception

 

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Luke 1:26–38

Friends, today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Church Fathers consistently referred to Mary as the New Eve, which is to say, the one who reversed the momentum started by the mother of the human race. The Ave of the angel was seen as the reversal of Eva. While Eve grasped at divinity, Mary said, “May it be done to me.” Here’s the liberating paradox: Passivity before objective values is precisely what makes life wonderful. Allowing oneself to be invaded and rearranged by objective value is what makes life worth living. And this applies unsurpassably to our relationship with God. The message that your life is not about you does indeed crush the false self that would bend the whole world to its purposes, but it sets free the true self. The immaculate conception itself is concealed in the privacy of salvation history, but the effects of it are on clear display in this Gospel. In the presence of the supreme value, we ought to say, along with Mary, “May it be done to me!” Bishop Robert Barron

Second Sunday of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent 

Matthew 3:1–12 

Friends, today St. Matthew compels us to come to grips with the great Advent figure of John the Baptist. It’s really impossible to grasp the significance of Jesus without passing through the cleansing bath of John the Baptist. He provides a lens through which Jesus is properly interpreted. John, Matthew tells us, made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea. Deserts are places of simplicity and poverty, places where distractions and attachments are eliminated—and hence where the voice of God can be heard. Wealth, pleasure, power, honor—and all of their avatars and priests—are shouting at us, luring us, tempting us. But what is God saying? We have to go to these silent and deserted places in order to hear. What is the first thing that the prophet says? “Repent!” This word cuts to the heart of every one of us, precisely because we all know that our lives are not where they are supposed to be. We have all fallen short of the glory of God; we have all fallen into patterns of self-absorption and addiction. So let us hear John’s word today: “Repent!”

Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Advent

 2^nd Sunday of Advent

Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand                         

                                                                                               

The Church’s new season of Advent began last Sunday, so let us review a few basics about the season. Advent is a special season of the Church’s year to prepare for Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means “a coming, approach, arrival.” Advent has a double purpose:

1. It is a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ’s first coming is remembered.

2. It is also a season to look forward to and prepare for Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time.

In today's Gospel John the Baptist tells us that the essential way in which we prepare is through repentance. How might we go about preparing through penance?

It has long seemed to me that a practical method of Advent preparation and repentance is suggested in an English Renaissance poem little known today, the “Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” written by John Milton in December 1629. This poem follows a favorite theme of Renaissance Christian humanists: the birth of Christ causes the classical pagan gods to flee. Milton’s banished gods include Pan, Apollo, the Lars (gods of cities or houses) and Lemures (spirits of the dead), Peor, Baalim, Ashtaroth, Haamon, Thammuz, Moloch, Isis, Orus, Anubis, Osiris, Typhon.

           

The banishing of this litany of gods epitomizes to me the project of Advent. We must attempt to banish our false gods. How do we banish and cause false gods to flee? 

We must repent, as John the Baptist makes clear in today’s Gospel. We might ask what false gods affect us? What gods must we dispel? For each of us these are different, but we should take time to consider and reflect, as the struggle against false gods is the very heart of the first of the Ten Commandments.

Perhaps I have made a false god of a few of these common today: My own pride, opinions? Perhaps I think myself always right? Is worry so common that I dwell on it rather than on the goodness and Providence of the True God? Maybe my work is a god? What about my comfort and convenience? Perhaps sensual pleasure and recreation?

Placing my interest, hope, and desires in things that draw me into materialism and excessive consumerism? Or maybe I am prone to seek as distractions specious joviality, social festivities, frenetic activities to the exclusion of time for reflection, time for prayer?

May we be given the grace necessary for our essential Advent project.

With the help of the True God, may we banish our individual false gods to prepare for the re-birth of Christ in our hearts, meeting Him once more this Christmas, and meeting Him when He returns in glory.

Besides a season of preparing to meet Christ, Advent is also a season of waiting and hope. Advent waiting is not the common and irritating waiting that we so frequently endure; it is not a time of doing nothing. Rather, it is a time of faith filled with expectation of joy. This waiting can even be a type of service rendered to God. As John Milton concluded Sonnet 19, “On His Blindness” (c. 1652): “They also serve who only stand and wait.”   

-Fr. Don Saunders, SJ