Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

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As many may know, December 12th is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This celebration commemorates the appearance of Mary to the Mexican peasant Juan Diego in 1531. We can put in context the readings for today if we appreciate and think deeply about the ways God appears to each of us in our daily lives. The important question, however, is: “Are we open to see God when he does appear to us?” And, perhaps more significantly, “If Jesus would appear to us, yet again, in human form, would we invite him into our homes, our churches, our schools and our communities?”

As with Mary, the angel Gabriel had to reassure Mary,

“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.”

At times, I would say, we are actually afraid of God’s presence in our lives and, unfortunately, akin to Peter though neither Mary nor Elizabeth, we might be inclined to deny Him. In this season of Advent some of us look forward hopefully to celebrating the birth of Jesus because we recognize this as the moment in human history where God decided to live among us in human form, an expression, in my view, of humility of the highest order. He both lived and died for us and with us.

So I ask each of us as I ask myself, to ponder on the ways we affirm our commitment to Christ and the ways, however subtle, we deny it. Mary, Elizabeth and Juan Diego affirmed unequivocally their beliefs. But, have we opened our hearts to the possibility of seeing Christ, especially to the possibility of seeing Him in our neighbors? And, how, in our daily lives, do we testify to the world our beliefs by evangelizing through our actions not just our words?

Miguel Martinez-Saenz, PhD

President