The Holy Gospel according to Luke (1:39-47).
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Reflection: Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe which commemorates the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in December 1531, to a native Mexican, Juan Diego. She asked him to go to the bishop and tell him that the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, sent him to ask for a church to be built atop Tepeyac hill. Juan Diego delivered this message to the bishop, but he did not believe him. At Mary’s direction, Juan Diego picked some roses to present to the bishop. Juan Diego returned with his cloak, also known as a tilma, full of roses. When he opened his cloak, the roses fell out and the tilma had been miraculously imprinted with a colorful image of the Virgin herself. This was the first recorded apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the people of the Americas. With in a few years of her apparition, millions of the people of Mexico and the Americas embraced her Son and the salvation He came to bring.
In Luke’s Gospel, we witness Mary setting out “in Haste” to visit her cousin Elizabeth. This was after she received the surprising news she would bear the Son of God. Mary carries Christ within her and her first instinct is to bring Him to others. She comes to her cousin, Elizabeth, who is filled with the Holy Spirit. She recognizes the presence of the Lord even before He is born. The child in her womb, John the Baptist, leaps. Elizabeth greets Mary, saying, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Mary responds with the Magnificat, proclaiming, “My sole proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”
In the Gospel, Mary is pregnant with Jesus and came to Elizabeth. Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared as an expectant mother and brought Jesus in her womb to the people of Mexico and eventually the Americas. Both this Gospel and this Feast invite us to consider: Do we go “in haste” to bring Christ to others?
Action for the Day: Pray for the grace that we may imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary and bring Jesus Christ to others. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
Audio Reflection:
