†Saint Quote
"Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did."
–St. Maximilian Kolbe †Today's Meditation
"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?"
—Jesus to St. Maria Faustina, 1728 An Excerpt From
Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska - Divine Mercy in My Soul †Daily Verse
"By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible."
–Hebrews 11:3 †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 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. | Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe 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."
| Daily Meditation: Zechariah 2:14-17 He will dwell among you. (Zechariah 2:15) Sometimes it's hard to imagine that God dwells among us, despite the numerous stories of saints and miracles that show he has done just that. Today, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we celebrate one of those miracles. It was on this day in 1531 that God sent our Blessed Mother to Juan Diego, a native Mexican and a devout Catholic. Mary told Juan Diego that she wanted him to give a message to his bishop: I want very much to have a little house built here for me, in which I will show [my son], I will exalt him and make him manifest. I will give him to the people in all my personal love, in my compassion, in my help, in my protection: because I am truly your merciful Mother, yours and all the people who live united in this land. It's a familiar story after that: the bishop was slow to believe Juan Diego's message, so Mary performed a miracle. She directed Juan Diego to a spot where roses were growing (they weren't in season), arranged those roses in his cloak, and sent him back to the bishop. When Juan Diego unfolded his cloak, the roses spilled out, leaving behind a beautiful image of Mary as a pregnant native woman radiant in glory. Convinced, the bishop built a shrine as Mary had requested. This shrine, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, is said to be the most-visited Catholic shrine in the world. Mary's words to Juan Diego showed her eagerness to reveal her son to the native inhabitants of the New World. She wanted them to know without a doubt the same thing that millions of people in other parts of the world already knew: that God was with them. The miracle of Juan Diego's cloak, and the presence of the shrine that still houses that cloak, are an ever-present testimony to that fact. God is with you no matter where you go. He has made you into his dwelling place, and he wants nothing more than to show you his love and mercy each and every day. So let him prove his faithfulness to you today. "Lord, thank you for the gift of Our Lady of Guadalupe! Thank you for never abandoning me!" (Psalm) Judith 13:18-19
Luke 1:26-38 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"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." This is the image that appeared on the cactus fibers cloak of St. Juan Diego. Our Mother shows herself, and her image spoke volumes to the indian people that were sacrificing humans to the gods. All of that stopped once they were converted to follow Christ because of Mary. And this is her job, as a Mother, a caring, a very loving Mother. Mother Mary is phenomenal beyond comprehension, not an angel, not a human, but a very special creation of God that is untouchable by darkness, as is relevant and even in revelation. | We pray today from the bible:
" 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." | In the Gospel today we heard:
""Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb." Mother Mary is greeted with the first Hail Mary aside from the Archangel from Heaven Gabriel.
In the infographic created today, you will see Blessed Mother Mary being greeted by many of our parishioners before, in a symbolic gesture of love for Our Mother in Heaven, the spanish tradition of "Las Mananitas" which means "the little mornings" a loving song sung to a loved one before the dawn of the day. To me, it was particularly hard to be joyful, for I kept thinking of my dad, who had a loving devotion too, to this day, of honoring Mother Mary, and he would walk for miles in the bitter cold and the dark of night, to arrive, to greet, and to sing to Our Blessed Mother. As I drove, I looked to the side of the roads to remember how I used to look for him walking in the dark, sometimes with a few other men, and once a blue healer dog we had that followed them all in to town, and what a fiasco to get that dog back home, and he has passed away too.
What's it like to have a mother in Heaven? It's like our mother on earth, you can call her, you can visit her, and you can ask her for "little favors", but mostly on Mother's part, she asks us to be obedient to Our Father.
She asks us to repent, and to be faithful.
She, at times, asks for a church to be built to come together and worship God.
She is like the angels, always looking to God our Father, and her life is somehow intertwined with the DNA of our Lord Jesus who is intertwined with the DNA of God. And so, we are intertwined with our Spiritual Mother and Spiritual Father, and in this realm, things are amazing.
For now, while on earth, realize...how much God cares, that He'd send His only being of a Son, His very Essence, to all of us.
How much He cares. How much He asks us for love in return. | ........................................
Mother Mary, we love you. Can you tell? Can you help us with Thy daily Grace that God has conferred upon you, to love God more and more...until forever with you and all the angels. Blessed are you Mother. Blessed forever.
............................................... adrian |  click to hear | Random Bible Verse 1
Job 1:21 [Job 1] 21 And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
