Daily Reflections - December 12,2012

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe is sometimes referred to as the Blessed Mother of the Americas. The story of a poor man receiving this vision of Our Lady and the accompanying miracle is one that has inspired many of the faithful in the Americas. The simplicity of Juan Diego’s faith is truly inspiring. His faith and trust in God is worthy of imitation.

All of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother are designed to foster faith in Jesus. Today’s apparition paved the way for many of the native people of the Americas to become Christians. It is important for us to remember that it is by the fruits of an apparition that we will know its authenticity. This is assuming, of course, that there is nothing  theologically wrong with the message (if any) of the apparition.

Why does God choose Mary to appear to the people more often than any other saint? I do not know the answer to this question but perhaps we  can consider the following. Mary is the closest human person to Jesus – she knows Him best and would have understood His character and desires better than most, if not all people. Mary always points us to her Son. She is not interested in any self-aggrandizement. Any hint of this would throw the apparition’s authenticity into doubt and cause the Church to distance itself from the apparition.

Jesus acknowledges the special place of Mary in our lives when He entrusts her to the Beloved Disciple in John 19. It is crucial that we realize that this entrustment is paralleled with another whereby we are entrusted to Mary’s care through the image of the Beloved Disciple being allowed to call Mary his mother. The simplicity of this image is its power. We cannot dismiss it from the Scriptures and so we have to seek and understand it as best as we can in order to remain faithful to it. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you heed the messages given by Our Lady during her miraculous apparitions?

 

Jesus, You are the only way to the Father. Help me to surrender my life into Your hands so that I can focus my life on Your will and how it is that You ask me to live my life.