Introduction
One month from now, I will be making my Act of Consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe with the Official Prayer for this Nine-Month Novena. This will happen at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, during the Holy Mass offered at 12:15 pm Central Time. You are invited to come to the Shrine to make your Act of Consecration with me.
At the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we celebrate the mystery of God’s dwelling with us in His only-begotten Son, conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which the Virgin proclaimed from the moment of her first apparition to Saint Juan Diego on December 9th of 1531. It is the same mystery of God’s immeasurable mercy and love toward us that Our Lady of Guadalupe announced in each of her apparitions over the three days which followed. It is the mystery which she never ceases to announce through her miraculous image which the hand of God Himself left for us on the mantle of Saint Juan Diego on December 12th, the day of her final apparition.
On December 12th, the Virgin provided to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga the sign of the truth of her apparitions, which he had requested from Saint Juan Diego: the miraculous flowering of roses in the middle of winter on a barren and stony hilltop. But, even more wonderfully, God provided the ultimate sign of that truth: He imprinted the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the mantle of Saint Juan Diego, so that, in a certain and true sense, she could continue to appear to His children who would come on pilgrimage to meet her and, in meeting her, to meet her Divine Son, above all, in the Sacraments of Penance and the Most Holy Eucharist.
Coming to the Shrine on pilgrimage, the pilgrim leaves familiar surroundings to climb the Pilgrim Way leading to the Shrine Church out of a desire for a personal encounter with Our Lady, who draws us into an even more personal encounter with her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, for the Virgin of Guadalupe brings us to meet her Divine Son in the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. The pilgrim indeed sees Our Lord, and encounters Our Lord, while praying in the Shrine Church before the Blessed Sacrament reposed in the tabernacle, in the Sacrament of Penance and, most wonderfully of all, in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist.
At the same time, the pilgrim should come prepared with that deep desire for that personal encounter, to know Christ more and, therefore, to desire to encounter Him worthily in the Sacraments. The more pilgrims meet Christ in the Sacraments, the more they will want to love Him and to serve Him by bringing His love to their brothers and sisters, especially those who are in most need. Coming on pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe, so that we may lead us to her Son, Our Lord, we understand that communion with Him in sacred worship finds its ultimate expression in the truth and love according to which we conduct our daily lives. True worship of God inspires and strengthens us to do the will of God in all things. Ultimately, the pilgrimage attains its end, when Christ has come to dwell in the heart of each pilgrim, in the pilgrim’s home, through the mystery of His living presence with us in the Church.
If you cannot make a pilgrimage to the Shrine, please make your Act of Consecration at your parish church, before the Blessed Sacrament reposed in the tabernacle. The Holy Mass will also be live-streamed to the Official Novena website and to the Shrine’s website, and it will also be broadcast on EWTN.
For the present, please watch the video reflection for this month and then join me in praying the Official Novena Prayer. If you do not have an Official Novena Prayer Card, one can be ordered or downloaded at the links below.
