Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Today’s feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe reminds me that through Mary, God came for all people, and especially to the most vulnerable. Jesus was born to this young Jewish girl in a manger, and about 1500 years later Our Lady appeared to an unassuming Indigenous man in present-day Mexico. Mary, whom the angel Gabriel consoles, “Do not be afraid, Mary…”, is then speaking the comforting words to Juan Diego, “Do not fear…Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”
The gospel reading from Luke (1:26-38) takes us to the Annunciation, which Pope John Paul II references in his apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, about Mary’s contemplation of Christ: “The eyes of her heart already turned to him at the Annunciation, when she conceived him by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the months that followed she began to sense his presence and to picture his features. When at last she gave birth to him in Bethlehem, her eyes were able to gaze tenderly on the face of her Son….Thereafter Mary’s gaze…would never leave him.”
And it seems that Mary’s gaze also never leaves the most vulnerable, or anyone who calls upon her as the Mother of Our Lord. She reassures us, just as the angel reassured her, “Do not be afraid.” We are not left alone, we are not without our Mother who also teaches us to turn our eyes toward her son, Jesus.
Mary, whose gaze would never leave Him, and whose gaze will not leave us if we call upon her in our need, seems to be speaking to us as well, “Do not fear…Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” Even when we are called upon to do difficult and challenging things, perhaps like Juan Diego, or even Mary herself, we are not left alone.
As we continue in this season of Advent preparation, may we have the courage to boldly echo the words of Mary, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Our Mother reassures us, we are not alone.
—Eileen Miller