Our Lady of Guadalupe

Readings: Rev 11:19a.12:1-6a; Judith 13:18-19; Luke 1:39-47

¡Hoy es un gran día de celebración para todos los cristianos, incluso gringos, como yo! En la Basílica de San Pedro, el papa León celebró la misa en honor a Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

En su homilía, el Papa León dijo que le pidió a la Santísima Virgen «que enseñe a las naciones que quieren ser sus hijos a no dividir el mundo en bandos irreconciliables, a no permitir que el odio marque su historia ni que las mentiras escriban su memoria».

Today is a great day of celebration for all Christians! At St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Leo celebrated Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In his homily, Pope Leo said he asked the Blessed Virgin “to teach the nations that want to be her children not to divide the world into irreconcilable factions, not to allow hatred to mark their history, nor lies to write their memory.”

Celebrar la festividad de la Virgen de Guadalupe es recordar no solo algo bueno, sino también algo verdadero y hermoso. El tiempo de Adviento contiene muchas celebraciones marianas: la Inmaculada Concepción el lunes, Nuestra Señora de Loreto el miércoles y hoy la Virgen de Guadalupe. Como dijo Santa Teresa de Calcuta: «Sin María, no hay Jesús».

Celebrating the memorial of the Virgin of Guadalupe is to call to mind not only something good but something true and beautiful. The season of Advent contains many Marian celebrations: Immaculate Conception on Monday, Our Lady of Loreto on Wednesday, and today the Virgin of Guadalupe. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta said: "No Mary, no Jesus.

Under the title Immaculate Conception, Mary is the patroness of the United States of America and under the title Our Lady of Guadalupe, she is patroness of all the Americas and secondary patroness of our diocese. On Tuesday, the Church remembered Saint Juan Diego to whom Mary appeared.

Bajo el título de Inmaculada Concepción, María es la patrona de los Estados Unidos de América y, bajo el título de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, es la patrona de toda América y patrona secundaria de nuestra diócesis. La Iglesia recordó este martes a San Juan Diego, a quien se le apareció María.

Durante el tiempo en que fue favorecido con las apariciones de Nuestra Señora, Juan Diego era catecúmeno, miembro de lo que hoy llamamos OCIA. La primera aparición que experimentó fue mientras caminaba desde su casa hacia la misión franciscana donde recibía instrucción. Según las fuentes, la Santísima Virgen se le apareció a Juan cinco veces.

Fue en su primera aparición cuando le pidió, a través de él, que el obispo construyera una capilla en su honor. El obispo Juan Zumárraga, aunque nunca dudó seriamente del testimonio de Juan Diego, pidió una señal para autentificar lo que se le estaba contando.

During the time Juan Diego was favored with the appearances of Our Lady, he was a catechumen, a member of what we today call OCIA. The first apparition he experienced was while walking from his home to the Franciscan mission where he was receiving instruction. According to the sources, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Juan five times.

It was in her very first appearance that she requested, through him, that the bishop build a chapel in her honor. The bishop Juan Zumárraga, while never seriously doubting the witness of Juan Diego, asked for a sign to authenticate what he was being told.

During her fourth apparition Our Lady provided the sign requested by the bishop. This appearance took place under interesting circumstances. Juan Diego was determined to miss his appointment with Our Lady because his uncle had fallen ill and was in danger of death. As a result of his uncle’s illness, he set out to retrieve a priest to hear his uncle’s confession, anoint him and give him communion. In order not to be delayed by his appointed meeting with the Virgin, Juan chose another route, one that avoided the place he was to meet her.

Durante su cuarta aparición, Nuestra Señora proporcionó la señal solicitada por el obispo. Esta aparición tuvo lugar en circunstancias interesantes. Juan Diego estaba decidido a faltar a su cita con Nuestra Señora porque su tío había enfermado y se encontraba en peligro de muerte. Como consecuencia de la enfermedad de su tío, se dispuso a buscar a un sacerdote para que le confesara, le ungiera y le diera la comunión. Para no retrasarse en su cita con la Virgen, Juan eligió otro camino, uno que evitaba el lugar donde debía encontrarse con ella.

Pero ella apareció en su ruta alternativa y le preguntó adónde iba. Después de que Juan se lo explicara, la Virgen le reprendió suavemente por no haber recurrido a ella, utilizando sus palabras más famosas, las palabras que hoy están grabadas sobre la entrada principal de la Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en la Ciudad de México: «¿No estoy yo aquí, que soy tu madre?».

But she appeared along his alternate route and asked him where he was going. After Juan explained, the Virgin gently chided him for not having had recourse to her, using her most famous words to him, the words that today are etched over the main entrance to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City: ¿No estoy yo aqui, que soy tu madre? (Am I not here, I who am your mother?).

The Blessed Virgin assured Juan Diego that his uncle was now completely healed. She then instructed him to climb a nearby hill and collect flowers growing there. Heeding her instructions, Juan found many flowers growing out of season on a rocky outcrop of the hill where normally only cactus and scrub brush grew.

Using his open mantle, or tilma, as a sack (with the ends tied around his neck) he returned to the Virgin; she re-arranged the flowers in his mantle and told him to take them to the bishop. On gaining admission to the bishop later that day, Juan Diego opened his mantle, the flowers poured to the floor, and the bishop saw that the flowers had left on the mantle an imprint of the Virgin's image which he immediately venerated. Juan’s tilma is with image of Our Lady of Guadalupe can miraculously still be seen today.

Nuestra primera lectura, tomada del último libro de la Biblia, Apocalipsis, nos brinda muchas de las imágenes que encontramos en la imagen de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Esto nos muestra que la Santísima Virgen es quien dio a luz al hijo de Dios, quien quitó la maldición de nuestros primeros padres.

Our first reading, taken from the last book of the Bible- Revelation- gives us much of the imagery we find in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This shows us that the Blessed Virgin is the one who gave birth to God’s son, who took away the curse of our first parents.

In thinking of the flowers the Virgin used to imprint her beautiful image on Juan’s mantle, it’s important to note that our word “Rosary” comes from the Latin word rosarium. A rosarium is a garland of roses. It’s vitally important to pray the Rosary often, preferably daily. Offering our prayers and petitions and those of people who have asked for our prayers to God through our Blessed Mother. So, don’t ever hesitate to ask the Virgin Mary to intercede for you.

Ofreciendo nuestras oraciones y peticiones y las de las personas que han pedido nuestras oraciones a Dios a través de nuestra Madre Santísima. Así que no dudes nunca en pedirle a la Virgen María que interceda por ti y/o por los demás. Ella constantemente nos dice lo que le dijo al humilde Juan Diego hace siglos: ¿No estoy yo aqui, que soy tu madre?

Year A Second Sunday of Advent

Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-2; 7-8; 12-13; 17; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12

The question is sometimes asked, “What is the main thrust of your preaching?” I think has to preach for quite a few years before discernible patterns emerge. My answer to this question certainly includes something like, “One of the main points of my preaching is that hope lies beyond optimism.”

In our second reading, taken from Romans, Saint Paul addresses this directly when he writes: “that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”¹ Indeed, hope can’t be developed in any other way than through endurance. While it can be said that hope is born from the labor of enduring life's ups and downs, hope arises especially by enduring life’s downs. According to theo-logic, crucifixion always precedes resurrection. As we rush toward Christmas, barely stopping to prepare ourselves, it bears noting that the wood of the manger becomes the wood of the cross.

Eugene Peterson expressed the nature of hope quite well:

When nothing we can do makes any difference and we are left standing around empty-handed and clueless, we are ready for God to create. When the conditions in which we live seem totally alien to life and salvation, we are reduced to waiting for God to do what only God can do, create ²

What is the difference between hope and optimism? Optimism is being convinced that you’ll figure it out and get everything under control and realize, if not your desired outcome, at least one that is acceptable. Hope steps in when you realize you don’t have a clue, you’ve no idea what’s going to happen, and you’re not likely to figure it out, at least not on your own.

Our first reading from Isaiah is an expression of hope. It is likely passages like this Saint Paul had in mind when he wrote that hope not only comes from endurance but through “the encouragement of the scriptures.”³ By prophesying that “on that [non-specific] day [sometime in the future] the root of Jesse… shall become a banner to the nations” and that “Nations shall seek him out and his resting place shall be glory,” the scriptures Paul references bring hope not only to Israel, whose prospects look dim in the context in which this was written, but to the whole world.⁴

In his commentary on the tenth verse of the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, Robert Alter asserts that the phrase “his resting place” is typically “used for a place of settlement that is safe from enemies.”⁵ He goes on to say that its use at the end of this passage is likely “to resonate with the spirit of the LORD that ‘shall rest’ on the ideal king.”⁶ Of course, from a Christian perspective, Jesus Christ is the ideal king whose Advent, or coming, Isaiah is predicting, for which Israel is waiting, and in whom they’ve placed their hope during this dark time.

Of course, it is the kingdom of which Jesus is the king, which, in the end, will be the only kingdom, that John the Baptist announces announce with the words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”⁷ The word “repent” in this passage is the Greek word metanoeite. It comes from the word metanoia and means “to have a change of heart,” to change from the inside out, to be completely transformed, that is, converted.⁸

John the Bapstist Preaching, by Mattia Preti (Il Cavaliere Calabrese), ca. 1665

As we look forward to Jesus’s return at the end of time, which is something the first two weeks of Advent, extending from the end of the last liturgical year, bid us do, we are called upon to have a change of heart, to conform our hearts more to Jesus’s Sacred Heart and his Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Heart. This is why the Sacrament of Penace, or confession, is not only mentioned more but is made more available during Advent.

Beginning next Sunday, which is Gaudete Sunday, the relatively short season of Advent takes a turn, makes a pivot. We turn our focus from the “not yet” to the “already.” But between the already and the not yet is now, today. As we heard on the First Sunday of Advent- it’s later than you think!

Looking at it from the perspective of this Sunday, it’s important to point out that when Jesus came as a babe in Bethlehem, he inaugurated the kingdom of God. “Kingdom” in Greek, the word John uses in today’s Gospel, is basileia. Jesus, to use a word coined by the Church Father, Origen, is autobasileia- the kingdom-in-person. Where Christ is, there is the Kingdom.

In his work, On Prayer, Origen noted that people

who pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God pray without any doubt for the Kingdom of God that they contain in themselves, and they pray that this Kingdom might bear fruit and attain its fullness. For in every holy [person] it is God who reigns⁹

If you want God to reign in you and bring his kingdom to completion in and through you, then you must not allow sin to reign over you.¹⁰ Indeed, at Baptism, you rejected “sin so as to live in the freedom of God's children.”¹¹

The Sacrament of Penance is an extension of Baptism. What better time to be reminded of this than on the Second Sunday of Advent when, each year, we hear the words of the Baptist, the seal of the prophets, which are as relevant now as when he first proclaimed them? And so, over the remainder of this Advent prepare the Lord’s way by making your heart a straight path. Go to confession and experience for yourself God’s love and mercy.

I hope that each of us and all of us together receive that baptism “with the holy Spirit and fire.”¹² And being so transformed, strive to make God’s Kingdom a present reality, for Christ to be born in us. As the second verse of the old hymn goes:

Then cleansed be every life from sin:
make straight the way for God within,
and let us all our hearts prepare
for Christ to come and enter there¹³

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1 Romans 15:14.^↩
2 Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology, 64.^↩
3 Romans 15:14.^↩
4 Isaiah 11:10 in The Hebrew Bible: A Translation With Commentary: The Prophets. Trans. Robert Alter, 660^↩
5 Ibid.^↩
6 Ibid.^↩
7 Matthew 3:1.^↩
8 Matthew 3:1 in The New Testament: A Translation. Trans. David Bentley Hart, 4.^↩
9 Cited in Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism of John to the Transfiguration. Trans. Adrian J. Walker, 50.^↩
10 Romans 6:12.^↩
11 Roman Missal. “The Easter Vigil,” sec. 55.^↩
12 Matthew 3:11.^↩
13 Charles Coffin. "On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry."^↩

Year II Monday of the First Week of Advent

Readings: Isaiah 4:2-6; Psalm 122:1-9; Matthew 8:5-11

Worthiness. It’s often an issue, even if sometimes a bit overwrought. Over time, even among Christians, the issue has shifted from the default of not being worthy to the presumption of worthiness. What is lost in this shift is a sense of sin’s gravity. Its effects on one’s relationship with God, who alone is holy.

The Roman centurion’s response to Jesus’ declaration that He would follow him home to cure his servant are words with which we are very familiar: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.”¹ We say these words at every Mass after being told to “Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world.”

It’s easy for our Mass responses to become rote, uttered thoughtlessly and without passion. This must be resisted mightily. After all, I am not worthy.

Left to my own merits, no matter how much I strive, I will never be worthy. While this is simply a recognition of reality, it should pain me, nonetheless. I want to be worthy or should at least want to desire to be worthy.

One’s motivation for wanting to be worthy can be a mixed bag. On the debit side of the ledger, it’s often the case that someone doesn’t like needing help to be deemed worthy. It isn’t enough to want to be holy. One’s desire to be holy must be a holy desire, that is, rightly motivated. Part of this holy desire means recognizing that I need God, that I need grace given in and through Christ by the power of the Spirit.

Our first reading from the Isaiah (who we hear a lot from over Advent) is from first Isaiah. Therefore, it was written before Israel’s exile. This oracle speaks of those who remain in Jerusalem during exile. Remember, it was the elites who were led away into captivity. The hoi polloi, or, in Hebrew, the anawim- the little ones, those of no account, who remained. These, pronounces the prophet, “Will be called holy.”²

It is the poor and the weak who know they need assistance who remain in the holy city. These least among us ask for help, sometimes beg for it, like the blind beggar Jesus encountered in Jericho about whom we heard a few Mondays ago. God delights in these humble souls.

After acknowledging our unworthiness, we implore the Lord to “only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” As often as we earnestly ask, the Lord says the healing word. When one is aware of serious sin, Christ beckons him to the confessional to say the healing word.

Lord longs to say, “I absolve you of your sins.” Sometimes, we forget the extent to which Jesus turned things upside down. It isn’t humility to insist that your sins are greater than God’s mercy. On the contrary, it is damnable pride. After all, didn’t God give His only Son to extend divine mercy to you? As Saint Paul insisted, “you have been purchased at a price.”³

Confession is not where you go to admit defeat. It is where you go to claim the victory Christ won for you over sin and death! Don’t let pride, one of the devil’s best tools, keep you from claiming your victory. Christ’s Easter victory is your victory. Without Easter, Christmas doesn’t matter.

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1 Isaiah 4:3.^↩
2 Matthew 8:8.^↩
3 See 1 Corinthians 6:20.^↩