Introduction

As the second month of our Nine-Month Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe concludes, and as we, today, officially begin the third month, let us thank God and Our Lady for the grace of perseverance which that Our Lord, through the maternal mediation of Our Lady, has given to us so that we might fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the Faith (cf. 2 Tim. 4, 7).

Our Lady commissioned Saint Juan Diego to be her heroic messenger, just as she commissions us today to lead others to Christ by handing on to them the truths of the Faith and its beauty in the life of prayer and, above all, of divine worship. However, after Bishop Juan de Zumárraga’s initial skeptical reaction to Saint Juan Diego’s account of Our Lady’s desire, Saint Juan Diego considered himself to be unworthy of the mission that the Mother of God had entrusted into his hands. Saint Juan Diego was always docile and obedient, but, at the same time, he doubted that he could do all that God was asking of him.

When the work seemed particularly difficult, he thought of reasons why the mission should be entrusted to someone else, and he even suggested to Our Lady that he was not the right person for her mission. Yet as a child is comforted by a mother’s love, so too, Saint Juan Diego found comfort in Our Lady’s words:

I will reward the care, the work and the fatigue that you have put into this for me (Nican Mopohua, no. 92).

Our Lord Himself teaches us that God reveals His will to the “childlike” (Mt 11, 25), to those who, like Him, are “meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11, 29), to those who recognize that all that they are and have comes from the hand of God and who, therefore, place all their trust in Him. He assures us that, if doing His will demands much labor and is burdensome, He will “give [us] rest” (Mt 11, 28). Using an image from farming to describe our work with Him for the salvation of the world, he encourages to “take [His] yoke” (Mt 11, 29) upon our shoulders. He declares: “For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Mt 11, 30).

In our daily struggle to be faithful and generous co-workers with Christ in His saving work, let us call upon the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe and her heroic messenger, Saint Juan Diego, even as we seek to follow their example. Christ will never fail us. He will render efficacious for our salvation and the salvation of the world our every good thought, word, and deed. When we are tempted to give up in the battle, let us bear in mind Our Lady’s words to Saint Juan Diego for they are motherly words which will comfort and encourage us as well: “I will reward the care, the work and the fatigue that you have put into this for me.”