Today the church celebrates The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mary does not appear to the Indian Juan Diego in a blue mantle of heavenly light, but in a peasant’s frock decorated with symbols of the Aztec culture.
She is not a European beauty, but a woman of dark skin and Mestiza features. She speaks not in the elegant Spanish of the conquistadors, but in the dialect of Mexican peasants.
The Mary who appears on a hillside near the village of Tepeyac in 1531 is the mother of the poor and struggling. The mother of the abused and broken. The mother of the immigrant and refugee. Our Lady of Guadalupe mirrors a God whose love and compassion transcends labels and stereotypes, nationalities and races, creeds and class distinctions.
See Father Jerry’s new video above for today, Saturday, December 12th. And thank you for sharing it with your family.
Also, you may be interested in two great articles from our local Catholic newspaper, The Southern Cross: