Memorial
of Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 12, 2015 8:30am
Many of the apparitions of Mary
have come to poor and unknown persons.
Today’s celebration of Our Lady
of Guadalupe recalls Mary’s apparition to a poor Mexican peasant, Juan Diego,
in the year 1531.
At Lourdes, it was to a young
girl from a poor family, Bernadette Soubirous, in 1844.
At Fatima, the apparition was to
three rural children in 1917.
In each of these and other
places, the devotion to Mary that has followed the apparition attests to our
human longing for the warm, gentle comfort and help of a mother.
Perhaps Mary’s apparitions to
those who are poor remind us of Jesus’ consistent calling to care for the last,
the least, and the lost in our midst.
Mary shows the comforting
presence and hand of God.
She offers consolation and hope
especially to those who are often forgotten and neglected.
On another level, Mary’s
apparitions and the devotion they inspire remind us that our image and
understanding of God is not to be exclusively masculine.
Perhaps Mary, even though she is
another human being like us, reminds us of the feminine face of God.
Scripture itself presents this to
us.
It speaks of God cherishing his people
like a mother.
Jesus compares God to a woman who
searches her entire house for just one lost coin.
So, our celebrating Our Lady of
Guadalupe today has much spiritual richness for us.
Mary reminds us of God’s care for
the lost, the least, the last – the poor and our mission to do the same.
And she brings to us the warm,
tender, gentle face and embrace of our loving God.
