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reflection at Eucharist on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
This feast of Our Lady of
Guadalupe takes into the very meaning of Advent. After Juan Diego had gone to
the Bishop with Mary’s request to build a Temple where she would manifest her
compassion, the Bishop saw it as something less than the truth. Juan Diego
returned immediately to the hill where he had met the Lady and begged her that
it be "one of the Esteemed Gentry, one whose countenance is recognized, whose
countenance is revered" that she send to the Bishop.
Her answer is striking and
I think key to this Season: "Do listen to this My littlest One, and let your
heart be assured that it is not the Wealthy Ones among my Stewards, my
Commissioners, that I am wont to leave it that they should bear My Utterances,
My Declarations, or that they should realize My Wishes. Thus rather is it
necessary that it be you yourself who live this through, who act as spokesman on
this matter, and that it be by your hand that it be realized, that it be done,
this Will, this Wish of Mine. And so well may I beg of you, My Littlest One, and
strongly do I bid you, that once more, on the morrow, you go, you go and visit
the Bishop." It is then that the Bishop takes Juan Diego more seriously and asks
a Signal or Sign. God comes to us amid our human weakness, comes to us amid the
pain of our own inadequacy, the recognition of our great need.
Michael Casagram, OCSO
Gethsemani, 12th Dec. 2008
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