These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121223.cfm
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a sign of hope to us who await the coming of our God. As we approach the 500th anniversary of the apparitions to Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in December, 1531, we sing the great hymn of praise: “Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed!”
The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. (Is 35:1-10)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121123.cfm
Roses in December . . . tonight in many parishes the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe will begin. Over 300 years before Lourdes and Fatima, in 1531, la Morenita appeared to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the Hill of Tepeyac in what is now Mexico City. The message: “I am your loving Mother.” That message continues to resound in the hearts of all people of faith.
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated . . . Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care. (Is 40:1-5, 9-11)
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. (Mk 1:1-8)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121023.cfm
The message of Advent is not one of threat, rather of comfort: that God comes to shepherd us with care. In this second year of the Sunday lectionary cycle, except for the remainder of Advent and the Season of Easter, during the Liturgies of Ordinary Time and Lent, we will be hearing the Gospel of Mark. My mom’s favorite preparation for Christmas was to attend a performance of Handel’s Messiah. She loved to sing along with the chorus!
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." (Mt 9:35-10:1, 6-8)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120923.cfm
Probably one of the most unusual and unexpected ”laborers for the harvest” is Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548), who received the visits and the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December 1531. The humble Chichimec peasant was chosen by the “Señora of Tepeyac” to be the first Guadalupano. Her image left on his tilma can still be seen in the Basilica in México City.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. (Eph 1:3-6, 11-12)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120823.cfm
Like Mary, we too have been chosen in Christ . . . according to God’s gracious favor. And like Mary, we too respond with humble faith, “Let it be done to us according to your word.”
