Our Lady of Guadalupe

When the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico, in December of 1531, she declared,

"I am your most merciful Mother...I want to show my loving clemency and compassion to those who call upon me in their sorrows."

Our Lady of Guadalupe is venerated as Patroness of all the Americas, and the Proctectress of the Unborn.

As I prepare for Christmas

I wanted to share with you something from a book that is helping me to prepare for Christmas.

I’m doing this because I had to stop myself for a brief moment after a ‘crazy and funny’ shopping experience on what many have come to know as “black Friday” - though I was told that the “black” means that the businesses rejoice at the end of the day because their sales end up in “the black” – as opposed to “the red” - to me, the black pointed to the darkness I witnessed… (even in the opening of the stores at 12 midnight? Yikes!) Could it be that many people are in the dark about the true meaning of the Advent season, too? People who will do anything to obtain the merchandise they set out to buy on that night/day because this is what we’re supposed to do during this time, is shop-till-you-drop? Has anyone shared with them the good news? Really?

In this book there is a light that shines in the dark. In this book there is hope that sees the future in light of the past and the present. In this book I’m reminded of God’s constant presence and care for me, his child. In this book there is a peace to be found, a peace that cannot be found in any other place. All I had to do was to pick up this book, open it and begin to read.

But how do you open a book you’ve never opened before? How do you begin to read a book about the old and the new – when the world around us is constantly pointing to the new-and-improved, putting aside the old?

This book is for all ages. This book is the number-one-selling book in the world. Apparently, people are buying it all the time if it is the #1 book. Are we reading it, too? I finally opened this book (some may open it out of curiosity?) and though uncomfortable (at first), I asked God for help in reading (Yes. It is okay to ask for help here…and who better to ask than God Himself?) Nothing BIG happened at first…no extraordinary revelation came to my bewildered mind…All I did was read, ponder, and listen in my heart. As the days went by and I spent more time in a few minutes of quiet reading of this book, something changed in my heart…it began to soften and feel again! I was ready to receive the good news on Christmas Day…and the Good News has been ever-pouring-in-and-out of my heart since that first day! Wow! God is so good to me!!!

Before I forget…the book? The Bible.