Thoughts on Our Lady of Guadalupe

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe

[Wikipedia; photo in public domain]

Today the Church celebrates Our Lady of Guadalupe. In most countries it is an optional memorial. Here in the Diocese of Meath in Ireland today is the Feast of St Finnian, the patron saint of the diocese and so Our Lady of Guadalupe isn't celebrated liturgically at all. Under that title Our Lady is a secondary patron of the Philippines, since the country was originally part of the Archdiocese of Mexico.

The Daily Meditation published in Magnificat and online by Aleteia today is by the Servant of God Luis María Martínez who died in 1956 when he was Archbishop of Mexico. Here is the first part of it.

The Incomparable Love

of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Do we remember the first word that the Blessed Virgin pronounced on the summit of the Tepeyac? It was a word of love, a word of incomparable predilection: “My son Juan Diego, whom I love tenderly as a delicate little one.”

The Virgin did not just speak that word then, for she continues to speak it and will speak it until the end of time. It is necessary to repeat it: We are Juan Diego. He is not only the poor, unfortunate individual who looked at the hill filled with light, who contemplated the heavenly face of Mary, who heard her maternal and most sweet word as music from the heavens. We are Juan Diego. He is four centuries old. He will live until the end of time. And to the immortal Juan Diego Our Lady says: “My son whom I love tenderly as a delicate little one.” Do we feel the exquisite sweetness, the heavenly softness of that word of love?… The love of the Holy Virgin was not fleeting. It is not like the affections of our fickle heart, which change, fade, and suffer eclipses. No, the love of the Virgin is like the love of God. What Mary loved she continues to love….

Full text here.

Hymn to the Virgin of Guadalupe

Words and music by Juan Pablo Rojas

Produced by Canto Católico, Santiago, Chile

The video was made in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City

The fifth stanza has these beautiful words:

Oh Virgen de Guadalupe,
Oh Madre del Salvador,
tu vientre, jardín sagrado,
prepara la eterna flor.
Mujer de la nueva alianza:
restaura la creación.

O Virgin of Gudalupe!

O Mother of the Saviour!

Your womb, sacred garden

prepares the Eternal Flower.

Woman of the Eternal Covenant,

restore creation.

In the miraculous image of Mary on St Juan Diego's tilma (cloak), now framed in the basilica in Mexico City, she is pregnant, as indicated by the black sash around her waist. This was the custom of pregnant Aztec women. She is venerated especially as Patroness of the Unborn, [see here also] along with their mothers.

I'm certain that she protects their fathers too, ignored by those who want women to be able to have their children aborted and too often forgotten by those who fight to protect the lives of unborn children and their children. And the Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops doesn't forget them.

Virgin of Guadalupe,
Patroness of unborn children,
we implore your intercession
for every child at risk of abortion.

Help expectant parents to welcome from God
the priceless gift of their child’s life.

 

Console parents who have lost that gift
through abortion,
and lead them to forgiveness and healing
through the Divine Mercy of your Son.

 

Teach us to cherish
and to care for family and friends
until God calls them home.
Help us never to see others as burdens.

 

Guide our public officials
to defend each and every human life
through just laws.
Inspire us all to bring our faith into public life,
to speak for those who have no voice.

 

We ask this in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ, who is Love and Mercy itself.
Amen.

Las Mañanitas

The Spanish title of this Mexican song literally means, I think, 'The Little Mornings'. It is sung as an early morning birthday greeting. At the end of the Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day everyone sings it, facing the image of La Virgen.

The May-June 2013 issue of  Misyon, the Columban magazine of the Columbans in the Philippines of which I was editor, published A Visit to Tepeyac, Mexico by Vissia Hernandez who lives in Metro Manila.