Homily: December 12, 2022, Feast of the our lady of Guadalupe

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 Today’s Gospel reading states that “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah.”

Mary has just been told about Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy and has just received in her womb the immaculate conception of the long-awaited Saviour of the world. Young and pregnant, she set out in haste to see Elizabeth.

Yesterday, during our family faith formation program, the parents and high schoolers learnt about Our Lady of Guadalupe and the students did a fun activity. They had to balance an egg on a spoon and walk. They had to compete to see who can walk the fastest without dropping the egg. It was fun to watch how they tried hard to take care of the egg while trying to run. Some failed, some succeeded.

The lesson from that activity was to have a feel of how Mary possibly felt in her haste to visit Elizabeth and carrying the precious baby Jesus in her womb.

Mary brought Jesus to Elizabeth and her household. In the same way she continues to bring Jesus to us, to the Mexican people and beyond.

It was 1531. Spanish missionaries had been trying for several years to evangelize Mexico but did not see any positive results. The various native tribes, like the Mayan and the Aztec people, continued to practice idolatory, offering human sacrifices to please the deities. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed yearly for such worship.

It was futile for the missionaries, they were at a point of giving up. Then Mary appeared to Juan Diego in Tepeyac Hill, and that changed history, that changed the hearts of the people. Her image became the national symbol of Mexico and her patronage was accepted by the north and south American continents.

Mary continues her mission as patroness of the Americas, as declared by St. Pope John Paul II. And we celebrate her feast today. She appeared to Juan Diego as a pregnant lady, thus she is also the patroness of prolife activities. She first appeared in Mexico to stop human sacrifices, she now continues to appeal to us to stop the killing of innocent unborn babies.

Let us, like Mary, make haste to bring Jesus to others.

Our Lady of Guadalupe - pray for us. Amen.


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