 clickable | | We Are All Mothers of Our Lord Mary and JesusIn his Letter to all the Faithful, Saint Francis writes, "We are mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ when we carry him in our hearts and in our bodies, lovingly, and with a pure and sincere conscience, and give birth to him through the working of his grace in us which should shine forth as an example to others." —from the book Surrounded by Love: Seven Teachings from Saint Francis by Murray Bodo, OFM |  MorningOffering.com | † Saint Quote
DECEMBER 12, 2019
"Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did."
— St. Maximilian Kolbe †MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Write: I am Thrice Holy, and I detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to My generosity toward it. My mercy embraces and justifies it. With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice at their return. Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart . . . when will it beat for Me?"
— St. Maria Faustina, (1728)
AN EXCERPT FROM
Diary of St. Maria Faustina † VERSE OF THE DAY
"By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible."
Hebrews 11:3 † SAINT OF THE DAY ⛪OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
St. Juan Diego, a humble Aztec peasant, saw the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Hill of Tepeyac near present-day Mexico City on December 9, 1531, the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the time. After a request by the bishop to prove her identity, Our Lady asked Juan Diego to gather the roses which he found growing on the hill, which were neither native to the area nor in season, and take them to the bishop. Juan Diego did so and placed the roses in his tilma (or cloak). Upon opening the tilma to reveal the miraculous roses to the bishop, there was something even more miraculous present—an image of the Virgin Mary dressed as a pregnant Aztec princess. The various design elements on the tilma read like a codex to the Aztecs, revealing to them the truth of the Catholic faith preached by the missionary priests. Millions quickly converted to the Catholic Church as a result. This apparition and image is venerated under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the first Marian apparition in the New World, and the only one where Our Lady produced an image of herself. The perfectly preserved tilma is venerated at her basilica and shrine in Mexico City. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, the New Evangelization, and unborn children. Her feast day is December 12th. |  click to read more | | Our Lady of Guadalupe
Saint of the Day for December 12 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. Juan 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 an Indian 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. Saint of the Day Eventually the bishop told Juan to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan's uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Juan to try to avoid the lady. Nevertheless the lady found Juan, assured him that his uncle would recover, and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma. On December 12, 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 the tilma where the roses had been appeared an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac.
Reflection 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 the indigenous population. 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.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patron Saint of: The Americas
Mexico | Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Lectionary: 690A
Reading 1 Zec 2:14-17 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!
See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.
Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day,
and they shall be his people,
and he will dwell among you,
and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
The LORD will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land,
and he will again choose Jerusalem.
Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD!
For he stirs forth from his holy dwelling.
Or Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab God's temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed." Responsorial Psalm Judith 13:18bcde, 19 R.(15:9d) You are the highest honor of our race.
Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God,
above all the women on earth;
and blessed be the LORD God,
the creator of heaven and earth.
R. You are the highest honor of our race.
Your deed of hope will never be forgotten
by those who tell of the might of God.
R. You are the highest honor of our race. Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise;
from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her.
Or Lk 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." | Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 1:26-38 Our Lady of Guadalupe (Feast) Do not be afraid, Mary. (Luke 1:30) Mary was "greatly troubled," both by the sudden and unexpected appearance of an angel and by what the angel said to her (Luke 1:29). But the angel assured her: "Do not be afraid" (1:30). What a consoling message this must have been! Skip ahead to the year 1531. Mary appears to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City. She asks him to go to the bishop to request that he build a chapel there in her honor. The bishop wants a sign, and Mary promises that she will give one to Juan the next day. In the meantime, however, Juan's uncle falls ill, causing him to miss his appointment with Mary. Of course, he's upset about his uncle and afraid because he failed to come when he said he would. But when Mary appears to Juan Diego again, she says, "Do not be grieved or be disturbed by anything. Am I not here, I, who am your Mother?" You probably know the rest of the story. Mary gives Juan Diego a sign for the bishop: roses that had bloomed in the winter. Juan gathers them in his tilma, and when the roses fall to the ground, the beautiful image of Our Lady appears on the tilma. Seeing the image, the bishop accepts Mary's request. These stories remind us that while fear is a natural response, the way we deal with our fears is more important. Mary's response, "May it be done to me according to your word," was a declaration of trust in the Lord (Luke 1:38). Juan Diego too responded with trust, not letting fear or worry prevent him from meeting again with Mary or going back to the bishop. How do you wrestle with fear? It's easy to let fear keep us from doing what God is asking of us. But Mary and Juan Diego show us how to respond: with trust and a decision to move ahead, despite our fears. God understands our fears, but he doesn't want them to paralyze us. So on this feast day, remember the angel's words to Mary and take them to heart: "Do not be afraid" (Luke 1:30). The God who loves you, who has been with you every step of the way, will not let you down. "Lord, though I may be afraid, I will trust in you!" Zechariah 2:14-17
(Psalm) Judith 13:18-19 |  clickable | When my grandmother took her life … in that microsecond, God can perform miracles. Even when we make a bad decision, a horrendous decision, a life-ending decision, we have hope in God's mercy.
—Fr. Chris Alar, MIC
from his talk After Suicide: There's Hope for Them and for You | my2cents:
"Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD."
So said the prophet and was recorded hundreds of years before the coming of our Lord. He said it, and it happened. Were the people prepared for the coming of the Lord our God?
How could we prepare for the coming? We can't, and we won't. Is that bad to say? We can't prepare and won't...without grace. Thank God for His Mother, to leave us with her to work with in preparations for the second coming of our Lord. She knows what God likes. She knows what He expects, and she can guide us to a proper preparation. | Today we pray from the bible:
"Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God above all the women on earth; and blessed be the LORD God, the creator of heaven and earth."
Does it make you mad when someone fails to honor our Mother in Heaven? As I was beginning to type, someone said about her "she was just another person like the apostles". There was no honor or reverence in the tone. I had just got back from singing to our Mother in church, our Lady of Guadalupe. Honoring her for her great feat of God's Grace into the world into the Americas, conversions of millions upon millions that have brought millions upon millions of Christians into the faith all over central to south to North America. My dear loved on, she is more than an apostle, she is the mother of the Apostles, because they were brothers of Christ.
And He dares calls us brother and sister. | We heard the Angel Gabriel say to Our Mother: ""Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
We read this and discussed this on the day of the Immaculate Conception. But it is proper to discuss it again, and why? Because she appeared to Juan Diego, the poor 50 year old Indian man on the day of the Immaculate Conception. That happened on this day 488 years ago. I can't wait for 12 years from now to celebrate 500 years, which is about how many years the prophet Zechariah prophesied that our Lord would be coming to dwell among us. | What is then, the beauty of Our Mother? She is the Christmas tree of our times, dark green, lighted up with stars, and at the heart is the trunk, the tree, upon which Jesus would be, the ark, the cradle, the manger, and the cross. And at the foot of the tree are gifts, many gifts, presents for the present. And you are present, and are presents for God. Momma loves you guys. Momma loves you very much. Mother in Heaven is super graceful and super available. Your earthly mom can't love you like she can. She has super compassion. She has super attentiveness and sensibility. She is supernatural now. She is not god, but she carries His graces to the world. So to all who fail to recognize her as a treasure, it is their loss! Yes you can ignore her and call "LORD LORD" but what if you could get a spiritual megaphone to cry LORD LORD!? Wouldn't you? Our Mother carries special requests to God. If it is the Lord's will. Listen to David Kauffman's song "Behold" today, and listen in spanish to his song called "Mirad". It is the magnificat. It is what we will sing in Communion today. "The Lord has done great things for me". And the most beautiful part of the song we sing in choir "AND HOLY IS HIS NAME" ohh, its so moving to sing praises with Mary our Mother. And we can pray like her "My Soul Magnifies the Lord".
Wear dark green today. Wear the mantle of the stars. Pray to Mary as an offering to God. Mother,
Thank you. You are so precious not only to us the faithful, but to our Lord Himself!
Mommy, mommy, yesterday they gave me a small figurine of the nativity, and there you were pictured, with the great and humble St. Joseph, and there in the center....Jesus, oh your beautiful and precious Son here and forever.
Momma, precious beauty, tell, please tell our Lord Jesus that we here in my2cents and our community, tell Him we love Him and seek to love Him above all things. Please send angels to help and guide us all the way to the encounter into His precious and Sacred Heart.
Thank you mom,
I LOVE YOU |  hear it read | Random Bible Verse 1 Romans 8:26
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Thank You Lord | |
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