The prophet Isaiah speaks to us today as a great Advent prophet. He helps us prepare the way for the Lord in our lives during this holy season of preparation and waiting. But, in his day, Isaiah spoke to a people in exile. They felt alone. They felt that God had abandoned them. They felt weary and frustrated. Yet, in the midst of the arduous reality, the Lord tells them that if they place their hope in him, he will renew them and they will soar as with eagle’s wings, they will run and never feel weary, they will walk and will not feel faint. In their exile, they needed to feel that encouragement and hope. This was the message they most needed to hear.
This is a message we need to hear today as well. A message of encouragement and hope in the midst of the pandemic. A message that God has not abandoned us, that the Church has not abandoned us. The pandemic has affected the physical health of a lot of people, but it has affected all of our spiritual and mental health too.
As we hear this message, we celebrate St Juan Diego, the man to the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared. His feast day, December 9, falls between two feast days of the Blessed Mother - December 8, the Immaculate Conception, and December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe. A native man born in the area around current day Mexico City, he was already 50 years old when he was baptized by newly arrived Franciscan missionary in the year 1524, along with his wife. On December 9, 1531, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill in present day Mexico City. That site houses the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe today, a major site of pilgrimage in Christianity. He convinced an unbelieving Bishop that it was really the Blessed Mother who had appeared to him. Juan Diego was canonized a saint in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. He was the first indigenous American to be canonized. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe receives over twenty million pilgrims every year. There at the shrine, they view the image of Mary on the fabric of Juan Diego’s poncho that miraculously appeared. We united our prayers with the prayers of St Juan Diego today.
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