Hello my friends! Hope your day is going well. We went to the noon Mass today at the Cathedral - it's been a long time since we were there for their noon Mass, due to his working hours etc. but today was his day off, and it is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, and Father Jerry had the Mass, nice surprise! He read a bit about Juan Deigo's life with the Blessed Virgin appearing to him, wanting a big Church built right there in her honor, and he was supposed to tell the Bishop. Well, after a few tries with the Bishop, Our Lady provided a GREAT MIRACLE to show it's really her - the Blessed Virgin asking for this. I'll have a bit on this in this thread if you're interested. The Mass was the highlight of this day! What a blessing to receive the Body and Blood of Christ at each Mass we attend! Father Jerry is our Spiritual Director too, and I need to call him for our Confessions with him and visit before we leave on the 22nd. He is a GREAT Spiritual Director for us and a lot of other people! Since his retirement from active duty being in charge of Parishes all his priestly life, he's now doing a lot of Spiritual Direction. He is gifted. Praise the Lord. Praying for you all, and now as Lucy says, I will hush.
The important thing is not how long your life is, but how good your life is.
Lord, may I glorify You all the days of my life.
S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were
called in the one body. And be thankful." ~Colossians 3:15
M E D I T A T I O N F O R T H E D A Y
We can be at home and comfortable in the world. Yet some of us live
lives of quiet desperation. This is the opposite of being at home and at
peace in the world. We can let our peace of mind be evident to those around
us.
We can let others see that we are comfortable, and seeing it, know that it
springs from our trust in God. The dull, hard way of resignation is
not God's way. Faith can take the sting out of the winds of adversity and
can bring peace even in the midst of struggle.
P R A Y E R F O R T H E D A Y
I pray that I may be more comfortable in my way of living. I pray that
I may feel more at home and at peace within myself.
Prayer to
Our Lady of
Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe, mystical rose, intercede for the Church, protect the
Holy Father, help all who invoke You in their necessities. Since You are the
ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the True God, obtain for us from Your Most
Holy Son the grace of a firm and sure hope amid bitterness of life, as well
as an ardent love and the precious gift of final perseverance.
Dearest Lady, fruitful Mother of Holiness, teach me Your ways of gentleness
and strength. Hear my prayer, offered with deep felt confidence to beg this
favor.
O Mary, conceived without sin, I come to your throne of grace to share the
fervent devotion of your faithful Mexican children who call to Thee under
the glorious title "Guadalupe" - the Virgin who crushed the serpent.
Queen of Martyrs, whose Immaculate Heart was pierced by seven swords of
grief, help me to walk valiantly amid the sharp thorns strewn across my
path. Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom to fortify my will to frequent the
Sacraments so that, thus enlightened and strengthened, I may prefer God to
all creatures and shun every occasion of sin.
Help me, as a living branch of the Vine that is Jesus Christ, to exemplify
His divine charity always seeking the good of others. Queen of Apostles, aid
me to win souls for the Sacred Heart of my Savior. Keep my apostolate
fearless, dynamic, and articulate, to proclaim the loving solitude of Our
Father in Heaven so that the wayward may heed His pleading and obtain
pardon, through the merits of Your Merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16th century.
Chronicles of that period tell us the story.
A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan
Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico
City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby
barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.
He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like
the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it stood a young
Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him
in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named
Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the
lady appeared.
Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign.
About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor
Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured
him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the
bishop in his cape or tilma.
When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to
the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared
an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was
December 12, 1531.
Comment:
Mary's appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder
that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the
sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the
apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance
for Native Americans. While a number of them had converted before this
incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler,
nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days
when we hear so much about God's preferential option for the poor, Our Lady
of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's love for and identification with the
poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.
Quote:
Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of
the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of
the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place
for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I
may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians,
and to those who love and seek me...” (from an ancient chronicle).
A Dozen Christmas Roses
Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow.
Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any.
The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of
keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour
already. And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his
mother's Christmas gift.
He shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do come up with
an idea, I don't have any money to spend,"
Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five
had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there just
never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small
wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far. What the family
lacked in money and material things, they more than made up for in love and
family unity. Bobby had two older and one younger sister, who ran the house
hold in their mother's absence. All three of his sisters had already made
beautiful gifts for their mother.
Somehow it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had
nothing. Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to
walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy
being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.
Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window.
Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get
dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught
the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting off of something along the
curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime. Never before has anyone
felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment.
As he held his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire
body and he walked into the first store he saw. His excitement quickly
turned cold when the salesperson told him that he couldn't buy anything with
only a dime.
He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop owner
asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could
buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift.
The shop owner looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his
hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here and I'll see
what I can do for you."
As Bobby waited he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a
boy, he could see why mothers and girls liked flowers.
The sound of the door closing as the last customer left jolted Bobby back to
reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.
Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before
Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and tiny
white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart sank
as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long white box.
"That will be ten cents young man," the shop owner said reaching out his
hand for the dime.
Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime. Could this be true?
No one else would give him a thing for his dime!
Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened to have
some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them?"
This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box into
his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was
holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas, son,"
As he returned inside, the shop keeper's wife walked out. "Who were you
talking to back there and where are the roses you were fixing?"
Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he
replied, "A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was setting
up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set
aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the
time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway.
Then just a few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop and wanted to
buy a flower for his mother with one small dime.
"When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too, was a poor boy
with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man, whom I never
knew, stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to give me ten
dollars.
"When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and I put
together a dozen of my very best roses." The shop owner and his wife hugged
each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air, they
somehow didn't feel cold at all.
May this story instill the spirit of Christmas in you enough to pass this
story along. Have a Joyous and Peace-filled season.
Signs of simplicity
The simple person may stand out for:
- His thoughtful way of treating others
- Her sincere joy when he greets a friend
- His ability to accept the things he has without needing to compare himself
or feel superior to others
- How she spontaneously praises others for their qualities, without
exaggerating
- How he deals with God in a respectful, loving way
- How she rejoices in others’ successes and achievements
- How he doesn’t need complicated, expensive toys to have fun
- How she does not need to be the center of attention or talk about herself
incessantly
- How he listens to his friends, valuing them for who they are, not for
their external achievements
- How she can acknowledge her own victories without getting puffed up or
complicated
Advent Day 13 - Active Waiting
As we've already seen, Advent is a time of waiting. But does this mean that
we do nothing? That we sit like lumps? No. In fact, there is something very
"active" about waiting.
Do you recall how lively and attentive you are when you are eagerly waiting
for someone to arrive? When you watch for every car that comes by when you
are waiting at the airport? Every sense strains to take in what is
happening. Your mind is alive with expectation; your spirit is jumping.
This is what waiting means in the spiritual sense; this is the mood of
Advent. We're invited to actively wait, attuned to the coming Christ,
looking for him in the liturgy, the Scriptures, in prayer, and in all those
around us who bear his image.
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