Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Today we give thanks to God for the maternal care of the greatest among us: Mary of Nazareth. So moved was Mary by God’s love that she is in a hurry to share that love with her cousin, Elizabeth. Christ dwelling within Mary gives zeal to her charity that makes it clear that God is the source of her love. As Elizabeth cries out, “How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43) Mary continues to hold Christ in her heart, and in heaven God dwells more fully in her than ever. And the result? God’s love makes Mary hurry more than ever to show God’s love to us who so need it.
Not only does she come as the mother of the Lord, but she comes to us loving each of us as her own child. As she said to St. Juan Diego, “Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my mantle, in my arms?” Let us turn then to our dear mother, Mary, especially under her beautiful title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Let us turn to our mother, the Mother of God, and trust indeed that as she cared so well for Elizabeth, for Juan Diego, and for countless others, so too she hastens to us so that we may know God’s love through the embrace of such a mother.