Feast of Our Lady of GuadalupeOur Lady of Guadalupe is the Patron Saint of Mexico and Patroness of the Americas.
Catholics across the continent gather on this day to celebrate and reflect on the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico, in December 1531. Just like St. Juan Diego, we are urged by Our Lady to share the message of hope and comfort promised by God to the people of every culture and language. Novena
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Prayer of Blessing of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Lord, God, before the foundation of the world, you appointed Christ the beginning and the end of all things. You chose the Blessed Virgin Mary as his mother and ours, as his companion and our advocate.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, Ave ave Maria
She is the new Eve. She is the daughter of Zion, who echoed in her heart the longings of the patriarchs and the hopes of Israel. She is the poor and lowly servant, who trusted in her Lord. In the fullness of time, she gave birth to the Sun of Justice, the dayspring from on
high, your Son, Jesus Christ. In her flesh she was his mother, in her person, his disciple, in her love, his servant.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, Ave ave Maria
Father, may we, your children, as we look upon this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe trace in our hearts the pattern of her holiness. Bless us with faith and hope, love and humility; bless us with strength and self-respect; bless us with patience in adversity and
kindheartedness in times of plenty. May we search for peace, strive for justice and realize your love, as we pursue our journey through life toward your heavenly city, where Our Lady of Guadalupe, even
now, intercedes for us.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, Ave ave Maria
We ask you Father, for your holy blessings upon this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron of the Americas. Make it holy, and this a holy place within our lives. May she always lead us to your Son, who
leads us, in turn, to you, our Heavenly Father. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, Ave ave Maria
She is the new Eve. She is the daughter of Zion, who echoed in her heart the longings of the patriarchs and the hopes of Israel. She is the poor and lowly servant, who trusted in her Lord. In the fullness of time, she gave birth to the Sun of Justice, the dayspring from on
high, your Son, Jesus Christ. In her flesh she was his mother, in her person, his disciple, in her love, his servant.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, Ave ave Maria
Father, may we, your children, as we look upon this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe trace in our hearts the pattern of her holiness. Bless us with faith and hope, love and humility; bless us with strength and self-respect; bless us with patience in adversity and
kindheartedness in times of plenty. May we search for peace, strive for justice and realize your love, as we pursue our journey through life toward your heavenly city, where Our Lady of Guadalupe, even
now, intercedes for us.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, Ave ave Maria
We ask you Father, for your holy blessings upon this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron of the Americas. Make it holy, and this a holy place within our lives. May she always lead us to your Son, who
leads us, in turn, to you, our Heavenly Father. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
Shamrocks Scorpions and Our Madonna
We’ve all had so many deprivations and moments of discomfort these past months, quarantining and masking, endless Zoom for school and work, socializing outside in the heat and the cold, endless discussions and disagreements about what works and what doesn’t, and on-and-on. There is yet a harder truth of this past year. Some Padre Serra parishioners have died from Covid, both the very elderly with multiple comorbidities, and young people who puzzled us in their passing, leaving some of us grieved and bewildered. Other parishioners, some younger than you might think, were hospitalized and suffered many weeks before excruciatingly slow recoveries. Many parishioners have also spoken to me of family members and friends, not part of our parish, who have suffered, some of them dying. My own Uncle John, Mom’s brother, is one of them. All of these stories break our caring hearts when we hear them.
We also grieve for the many family members and friends denied access to the hospitalized in their suffering. Many people requested me to visit people in the hospital or in convalescent care. For well over a year, though, administrators denied me access to most facilities and every hospital except Community Memorial, even though I identified myself as a priest. This had been a very hard year, hasn’t it?
Because of all our struggles, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles suggested that we do something significant to acknowledge all the suffering, everything that has happened to us, everything done to keep us safe, both the stumbles and the successes. I thought this was a very good idea.
Recalling the scorpion and shamrock amidst our church’s ceiling’s stars, and how they represent our patron, Padre Serra, and our founding pastor, Msgr. Kidney, I decided to do something similar, hiding elements of significance for this year in a holy image. I received inspiration from our patron, Padre Serra, who journeyed to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe to dedicate himself and his missionary work at her shrine. With this in mind, we commissioned a local artist, Lalo Garcia, who has installed artwork in many places in the archdiocese, to do an image for us…with a difference.
Working with over 20 artisans in Puebla, Mexico, the heartland of handmade Talavera tile, he fashioned an image that, from a distance, appears to be an ordinary image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Up close, though, there are faint crosses around her in blue and brick colors, commemorating those who have died (the blue of heaven) and those who suffered but still live (the earthen color). Hidden around the pattern of her corona is a faint face mask. At her feet is a graph, reminding us of the many waves of the virus that have hit here and throughout the world. Within her corona are a small vial of vaccine, and a medical needle. On our Lady’s dress, amidst the decorations, is a tiny image of the virus. The angel, normally at Mary’s feet where the graph is, flies socially distanced, above her, yet apart. Around the angel’s neck is a stethoscope, to remind us of who have been our angels, for extended periods in extreme difficulties.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, unlike some of the other wonderful apparitions of Mary, appeared here, on our continent. She is our Lady, our Madonna.
We also grieve for the many family members and friends denied access to the hospitalized in their suffering. Many people requested me to visit people in the hospital or in convalescent care. For well over a year, though, administrators denied me access to most facilities and every hospital except Community Memorial, even though I identified myself as a priest. This had been a very hard year, hasn’t it?
Because of all our struggles, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles suggested that we do something significant to acknowledge all the suffering, everything that has happened to us, everything done to keep us safe, both the stumbles and the successes. I thought this was a very good idea.
Recalling the scorpion and shamrock amidst our church’s ceiling’s stars, and how they represent our patron, Padre Serra, and our founding pastor, Msgr. Kidney, I decided to do something similar, hiding elements of significance for this year in a holy image. I received inspiration from our patron, Padre Serra, who journeyed to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe to dedicate himself and his missionary work at her shrine. With this in mind, we commissioned a local artist, Lalo Garcia, who has installed artwork in many places in the archdiocese, to do an image for us…with a difference.
Working with over 20 artisans in Puebla, Mexico, the heartland of handmade Talavera tile, he fashioned an image that, from a distance, appears to be an ordinary image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Up close, though, there are faint crosses around her in blue and brick colors, commemorating those who have died (the blue of heaven) and those who suffered but still live (the earthen color). Hidden around the pattern of her corona is a faint face mask. At her feet is a graph, reminding us of the many waves of the virus that have hit here and throughout the world. Within her corona are a small vial of vaccine, and a medical needle. On our Lady’s dress, amidst the decorations, is a tiny image of the virus. The angel, normally at Mary’s feet where the graph is, flies socially distanced, above her, yet apart. Around the angel’s neck is a stethoscope, to remind us of who have been our angels, for extended periods in extreme difficulties.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, unlike some of the other wonderful apparitions of Mary, appeared here, on our continent. She is our Lady, our Madonna.
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During the 9 am Mass this weekend, we will unveil the image, outside the church, on the eastern wall of the church building facing the square behind the Serra Center where we have prayed at the Mass on the Grass. Our whole hope, throughout, was to keep people as safe as we could while we learned what worked and what didn’t. The Mass on the Grass has made that square a holy place. It’s so fitting that this image of Jesus’ Mother, appearing to comfort the conquered and suffering people of Mexico, should become for us, a symbol for us in the time of our own great struggles.
I encourage you to make a little pilgrimage to the image, after its unveiling, to remember this year, to pray for God’s mercy on the deceased, to ask God’s strength and healing for the sick, and to stand with Mary in our own desire to heal the world by God’s grace. Siempre adelante, Fr. Patrick Pastor |
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Who is Our Lady of Guadalupe?
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Our Lady of Guadalupe first introduced herself as the Mother of God and the mother of all humanity when she appeared on the hill of the Tepeyac, in Mexico in 1531. An indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, saw a glowing figure on the hill. After she had identified herself to him, Our Lady asked that Juan build her a shrine in that same spot, in order for her to show and share her love and compassion with all those who believe. Afterwards, Juan Diego visited Juan de Zumárraga, who was Archbishop of what is now Mexico City. Zumárraga dismissed him in disbelief and asked that the future Saint provide proof of his story and proof of the Lady’s identity. Juan Diego returned to the hill and encountered Our Lady again. The Virgin told him to climb to the top of the hill and pick some flowers to present to the Archbishop.
Winter bloom Although it was winter and nothing should have been in bloom, Juan Diego found an abundance of flowers of a type he had never seen before. The Virgin bundled the flowers into Juan's cloak, known as a tilma. When Juan Diego presented the tilma of exotic flowers to Zumárraga, the flowers fell out and he recognized them as Castilian roses, which are not found in Mexico. What was even more significant, however, was that the tilma had been miraculously imprinted with a colorful image of the Virgin herself. Tilma This actual tilma, preserved since that date and showing the familiar image of the Virgin Mary with her head bowed and hands together in prayer, represents the Virgin of Guadalupe. It remains perhaps the most sacred object in all of Mexico. The story is best known from a manuscript written in the Aztec’s native language Nahuatl by the scholar Antonio Valeriano. It was written sometime after 1556. Over 20 million people visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe each year, now situated on the very same hill on which she appeared. In 1990, Pope Saint John Paul II visited Mexico and beatified Juan Diego. 10 years later, in the year 2000, he was declared a Saint. Feast Day Pope John Paul II, in 1999, declared that the Church throughout America would celebrate December 12th as the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. |
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