12 December 2023 - homily for Our Lady of Guadalupe - homily for Tuesday of the 2nd week of Advent

      Last Friday, on the 8th of December, we celebrated a solemnity in the midst of the season of Advent, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Today, we celebrate another feast day dedicated to the Blessed Mother: Our Lady of Guadalupe. Last Saturday, December 9, was the feast day of St Juan Diego, the man to whom the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared. As you can see, within the course of five days, we celebrate three major feasts in our Church that center around Mary, which is quite appropriate since we in the holy season of Advent in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus, son of Mary. 

      The context of our Blessed Mother appearing to Juan Diego is certainly remarkable. Back in 1519, Hernan Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors had invaded the Aztec empire, declaring their victory over the native population in 1521. This devastated the native population of the Aztec empire, seeing its culture and way of life conquered by a foreign power that arrived seemingly out of nowhere. Ten years later, in 1531, a 57 year-old native Mexican man named Juan Diego was making the 15-mile trek to attend Mass. He was a convert to the Catholic faith that was brought by the Spaniards. A woman's voice called out to Juan Diego as he heard beautiful music while he was atop Tepeyac Hill. This started the chain of events that led to the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Juan Diego is said to have told the Virgin Mary in his humility: “I am a nobody.  I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf.”  Yet God chose Juan Diego for a special task. Thanks to Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of just a small group of confirmed apparitions of the Virgin Mary validated by the Catholic Church. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas and a symbol of the pro-life movement in the United States.  

      The message that Juan Diego himself brings us is an important as well.  The Blessed Mother did not come to the important people of the region, to the Spanish nobility, to the commander of the Spanish military, or to the Bishop. Instead, she brought her message to a humble native man with no power and no authority. In a modern society where the rich and the powerful often try to grab all the attention and try to drown out the voice of the poor and the humble, the voice of Juan Diego cries out to us today. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Like Juan Diego, in our humble ways, all of us can do things with love. Let us all be inspired to do actions of love this Advent season.