Introduction
How does Our Lady propose that we know and serve her Divine Son Who alone is our salvation? Having announced to Saint Juan Diego the truth about herself and her relationship with God, and the truth about her Divine Son, Savior of the World, she asks that a chapel be built in which she will draw the faithful to encounter Jesus Christ. She does not propose that he start a movement or some other initiative for the carrying out of Our Lady’s mission but rather that he ask Bishop Juan de Zumárraga to build a chapel:
“Know, know for sure my dearest and youngest son, that I am truly the ever perfect Holy Virgin Mary, who has the honor to be the Mother of the one true God for whom we all live, the Creator of people, the Lord of all around us and of what is close to us, the Lord of Heaven, the Lord of Earth.” (Nican Mopohua, no. 26)
In what context does the Virgin of Guadalupe propose to teach us the mystery of God’s ever faithful and all-merciful love? It is in the context of our entrance into the House of God to pray and to offer to Him the worship which He Himself inspires in us and strengthens us to carry out, under the maternal gaze of the Mother of God, especially looking upon us from the Tilma, for she draws us to her Divine Son alive for us in the Church, above all, in the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. “I will show Him,” Our Lady of Guadalupe tells us by her apparitions, and “I will give Him to all people in all my personal love.”
Being Our Lady’s messengers, bringing people to her so that she can “show Him” and “give Him to all people,” also means offering ourselves as channels of her maternal love, just as she is a channel of Divine Grace. Her image, which God miraculously left for us on the mantle, the Tilma of Saint Juan Diego, makes visible the truth of the Virgin Mother’s unique cooperation in Christ’s work of Redemption.
So, too, as her servants, as her messengers, we must make visible the truth of the Virgin Mother’s work by, in a sense, wearing a spiritual Tilma for all the world to hear through our words and see in our actions. In this, we offer all people her invitation to make a pilgrimage to her so that she can bring them to her Divine Son, since the ultimate goal of every pilgrimage to a shrine or holy place is to unite our hearts with His Most Sacred Heart, especially through the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Our Lady makes clear that the mercy of God, incarnate in her Divine Son, is experienced by us in a pre-eminent way in the House of God, through prayer and divine worship:
“Because truly I am honored to be your compassionate mother, yours and that of all the people that live together in this land, and also of all the other various lineages of men; those who love me, those who cry to me, those who seek me, those who trust in me. Because there [at my sacred house] truly will I hear their cry, their sadness, in order to remedy, to cure all their various troubles, their miseries, their pains.” Nican Mopohua, no. 29-32
Accordingly, I am inviting you to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on December 12, for the Holy Mass at 12:15 pm Central Time. At that time, under the mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe, created by the artists at the Vatican Mosaic Studio to be a likeness of the image of Our Lady on the Tilma, I will lead the congregation in the act of consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe by reciting the Official Prayer of this Nine-Month Novena. Come to the Shrine to make the consecration with me.
In the meantime, you are also invited to watch the video reflection for this month and then, at the conclusion, 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.
