Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Monday December 12th
We mark today another Marian feast during this great Advent season, Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. The Blessed Virgin appeared to a pious Mexican Indian in 1531 near modern Mexico City. On Tepeyac Hill, Our Lady greeted and spoke with the wondering but believing Juan Diego. Three times he visited his bishop, carrying Our Lady’s message to build a church on the hill, for the conversion of souls and consolation of the faithful. On the third and last meeting, Juan Diego presented his excellency with irrefutable evidence: a tunic full of freshly picked roses in cold December. But wait, there was more! A fantastic painting of Our Lady covered the front of the poor penitent’s robe! That miraculous picture still hangs at the Guadalupe shrine, intact after 500 years, a gift from the radiant woman from heaven who crushes the serpent.