† Quote of the Day "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. | Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Reading 1 Zechariah 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
Revelation 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 Luke 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
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." | Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God. (Luke 1:26) Today we celebrate the miracle of Guadalupe, when the Virgin Mary appeared to a native Mexican named Juan Diego in December 1531. Over the course of that month, Mary appeared to him five different times, urging him to deliver a message to his bishop. She wanted a chapel built in her honor, a place "in which . . . I will give [Jesus] to the people in all my personal love." This was the first recorded instance of the Blessed Mother revealing herself to the people of the Americas, and it seems she wasted no time once she did appear! Within just a few years, millions of men and women from Aztec and related tribes embraced her Son and the salvation he came to bring. The practice of sacrificing children to pagan gods came to an end. And the flame of faith began to spread to the entire Western Hemisphere! Mary's appearances altered the history of the Americas, just as the angel Gabriel's appearance to her centuries earlier sparked a worldwide transformation. The message of a child conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to a Virgin revealed that Jesus of Nazareth was God incarnate. He is the Son of God, and that means that his gospel message of salvation is solid and reliable. He is completely trustworthy! In today's first reading, the prophet Zechariah proclaims, "You shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you" when "many nations" join themselves to the Lord (Zechariah 2:15). Just so, we can rejoice that the Lord has sent our Blessed Mother to us because of the way people from "many nations," including our own, have joined themselves to the Lord as a result of her appearances. God sent the prophet Zechariah to Israel with a message of salvation. He sent the angel Gabriel to Mary with a message of salvation. He sent the Virgin Mary to the Americas with a message of salvation. And he's sending you to your friends, family, and community with a message of salvation. So don't be afraid to share the good news about Jesus; it's just as powerful today as ever! "Lord, thank you for sending me into the world!" Zechariah 2:14-17
(Psalm) Judith 13:18-19 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Audio of 2 Cents | From today's Holy Gospel: "... 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. ..." Word of the Lord. | From Bishop Barron: "Friends, today we celebrate the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. What followed the apparition of Mary at Tepeyac is one of the most astounding chapters in the history of Christian evangelism. Though Franciscan missionaries had been laboring in Mexico for twenty years, they had made little progress. But within ten years of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, practically the entire Mexican people, nine million strong, had converted to Christianity. Our Lady of Guadalupe had proved a more effective evangelist than Peter, Paul, Patrick, and Francis Xavier combined! And with that great national conversion, the Aztec practice of human sacrifice came to an end. She had done battle with fallen spirits and had won a culture-changing victory for the God of love. The challenge for us who honor her today is to join the same fight. We must announce to our culture today the truth of the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ, the God of nonviolence and forgiving love. And we ought, like Our Lady of Guadalupe, to be bearers of Jesus to a world that needs him more than ever." end quote.
Saint Elizabeth said to Mother Mary:
"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." This morning I awoke at 3:30 a.m., instead of my planned 4 a.m. to get ready to sing to our Lady of Guadalupe in the traditionaly "Las Mañanitas" a morning wake up serenade to bless someone, usually on their birthday. I remember always, my late father, how he used to get up early to do this, but he would take things a step further, he would actually walk for miles to the church in the bitter cold morning. As I drove to church this morning in the dark, I looked in the dark street sides for him like I did the last time he did it. Last time I couldn't find him, he must have taken other streets that time, and so this time it was like last time, not seeing him, but knowing he was there. But this time, I prayed for him, and made my visit in his honor and his wishes and prayers, usually for his wife and children and loved ones.
In Mexico, people will traverse to the tens if not hundreds of miles on foot, walking to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I remember they said my grandpa had made a vow to go on his knees to the temple, and he did.
Why is Our Lady of Guadalupe so special? At this appearance, the mother of God fulfilled the book of Revelation, as she came clothed with the sun, and in great pain, to usher in the King of Kings, and in the Aztec belief, not only a king but the God above all Gods, especially their high god, the sun god of light.
The image of our Lady of Guadalupe spoke thousands of words to the Aztecs that practiced human sacrifice, and frequently their own children. A quick search answered my question on the color of her outer garment, green: "In Aztec culture, green symbolized vital concepts like life, growth, water, fertility, preciousness, and new beginnings, strongly linked to jade, quetzal feathers (quetzal-coatl meaning "feathered serpent"), and the green maize plant. It represented abundance, the southern direction (linked to cacao), and was a divine color associated with gods and rulers, signifying royalty and spiritual power". She came draped in spiritual powers, and in a royal attire. She, is the queen mother. The very mother of God, the God of gods, the King of Kings, the old testament, fulfilling the new testament, as the lineage of Kings in patriarchs, and in the lineage of the priests that offer sacrifice and worship, all into the coming child....the Christ, the Savior.
When the angels dress up Mother Mary, it changes the world.
And today, do we change the world by how we dress? Yes, for better or for worse...especially when we come to honor God.
Mother came dressed with a message, draped all over her body. She stand before the sun. The stars speak of her divine child. Her eyes, her hands, her pregnancy, her being held up by an angel, everything speaks, and this is the tip of the iceberg.
We saw Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC this past weekend along with one of my favorite bible scholars Jeff Cavins at a Fullness of Truth conference.
Father Calloway goes often to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and is a big promoter of the Holy Rosary, which is astonishing, if you know where he came from, and I learned this weekend, that he was adopted, and so you can imagine him, and His Special Mother and Special Father in Heaven, how they have spoiled Him with grace and love...things rolled up together to make mercy. Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, a convert to Catholicism, is a member of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception the same one as Father Alar who preaches on Divine Mercy, often as superior for the congregation.
In other words...Fr. Calloway belongs to Divine Mercy through Mother Mary, you see, His Mother and Father in him. Jeff Cavins explains clearly "the Mother of God". Which is astonishing, because he used to be a protestant pastor before he converted to our Catholic Faith, he always had a desire to only teach the bible for the rest of his life. And he doest teach bible to all of us now but more now with the fullness of truth, not excluding the Mother of God, the mother of mercy, the mother of LOVE. In the eastern Kingdoms he said, the mother was always the queen, because it was often the king had many wives. And we know now, the chaste King of Kings is Jesus, and His pure and immaculate mother....is Mary, who comes in different dresses and places all over the world to ask us to devote ourselves entirely to the King...her son, she always points to the source of all...Jesus. Our Lady of Guadalupe is so near and dear to us all, and the Mexicans take great pride in her...sometimes in seemingly over doing things in her honor. But she is Queen!
This morning, there was singing, groups performing Aztec dances for her too, and our priest said that is nice and good, but that she desires to follow her advice and live like her, in purity and obedience.
All of these outward signs should mean something.
Many people came, to sing and see the dance, but, they left right before Mass was offered in her honor. Wouldn't she rather we sacrifice ourselves for Him like she did herself, and Jesus did for God our Father? Mother Mary, if only we could love Jesus like you did, all the way to the cross...and forever...
Pray for us Holy Mother of God. |  Click for Audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Proverbs 17:22 "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." . . . . . . . . Word of the Lord! | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
