Introduction
When Our Lady provided Saint Juan Diego with the sign which the Bishop requested, she insisted on the importance of the chapel as the locus of the manifestation of God’s all-merciful love:
“My youngest son, these different kinds of flowers are the proof, the sign that you will take to the Bishop; you will tell him from me that in them he is to see my wish and that therefore he is to carry out my wish, my will; and you, you who are my messenger, in you I place my absolute trust. And I strictly order you that only alone, in the Bishop’s presence, will you open your tilma and show him what you are carrying; and you will tell him everything exactly, you will tell him that I ordered you to climb to the top of the little hill to cut the flowers, and everything you saw and admired; so that you can convince the Governing Priest, so that he will then do what is entrusted to him, to build my little sacred house that I have asked for.” (Nican Mopohua, no. 137-142)
In fact, from the time of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the enshrinement of her miraculous image in the successions of chapels and churches built near Tepeyac Hill, the devotion to Our Lady has favored a profound and rich life of prayer and divine worship.
In the end, everything regarding the apparitions is directed to the establishment of the chapel as a place of pilgrimage, of a privileged encounter with the Lord through the mediation of His Virgin Mother.
The presentation of the sign to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga is remarkable.
And then he opened his white tilma, in the follow of which were the flowers. And all the different flowers, like those from Castille, fell to the floor. Then and there his tilma became the sign, there suddenly appeared the Beloved Image of the Perfect Virgin Saint Mary, Mother of God, in the form and figure in which it is now, where it is preserved her beloved little house, in her sacred little house in Tepeyac, which is called Guadalupe… And the Bishop got up, and untied Juan Diego’s garment, his tilma, from his neck where it was tied, on which appeared the venerable sign of the Heavenly Queen. And then he took it and placed it in his private chapel. And Juan Diego still stayed for the day in the Bishop’s house, who still kept him there. And on the next day he [the Bishop] said to him: “Come, let’s go so you can show me where it is that the venerable will of the Queen of Heaven wants Her chapel built.” Nican Mopohua, no. 137-142
If we are to be messengers of Our Lady, our hearts must be in union with her Immaculate Heart. Let us, therefore, build a “sacred little house” to Our Lady of Guadalupe in our hearts, setting a spiritual Tilma in a place wherefrom, under the interior contemplation of her maternal gaze, she can prepare our hearts to make a pilgrimage to a holy place, where we can truly encounter her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, come to know Him more fully and to love Him more ardently, especially in the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.
I invite you on such a pilgrimage. At the Church of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on December 12, during the Holy Mass at 12:15 pm Central Time, I will make the Official Act of Consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Make a pilgrimage to the Shrine. Join me on that day. Encourage others to do the same. I hope you can make it, and make this consecration with me.
The Shrine is a Vatican-approved place of pilgrimage, affiliated with the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome and with the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. This affiliation means that anyone who comes to the Shrine on pilgrimage receives the same graces and blessings as if they had gone on pilgrimage to those other Basilicas.
Until then, please watch the video reflection for this month and join me in praying the Official Novena Prayer at the end. If you do not have an Official Novena Prayer Card, one can be ordered or downloaded at the links below.
