Our Lady of Guadalupe

I hope that you all had a very wondeful and blessed Christmas, and that you will have a happy New Year! I think this is a wonderful time to talk a little about Our Lady of Guadalupe, our special Patroness and Protectress! I love Our Lady of Guadalupe! I love her because of her special patronage of the pro-life movement; because of her incredible compassion, mercy, and love for all the people so devastated by today’s tragic evils and wrongs; and I love her especially because of the real Image of herself that she left to us! How dear and beloved a Mother! Often I find myself just looking at the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe for a long time, so fascinated with her! Every other image or statue of her is painted or sculptered by us, except Our Lady of Guadalupe. It must be her express wish that she be with us so specially through this Image. When you look more closely into the visions and the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, it becomes very clear how very much she is truly Patroness of the pro-life movement. Perhaps everything about her can be related to the pro-life movement. She is very closely there with us as we defend and cherish the gift of human life, that great gift for which her Divine Son gave his Life in order to redeem it from Eternal Death. She who stood beneath the cross of her Son as He died for us, is she not also with us as we stand at today’s calvaries where Christ’s innocent children are put to death? As a Mother, surely she is closest in Motherly love and compassion to those of her children who are the littlest, the most helpless, the most forgotten, and the most pained! It might be asked why Our Lady of Guadalupe is so closely associated with the pro-life movement. Why not Our Lady of Lourdes, or Our Lady of Fatima, or Our Lady of Perpetual Help, or any other title by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is known and loved? There are several different reasons for this, but the main reason is because in both her visions and her Miraculous Image, Our Lady of Guadalupe is pregnant with Jesus! God become Man within her, upon her “yes” to His will. Thus she is a powerful and living witness to the humanity, the dignity, and the beauty of the unborn child. Not only did Our Lady appear to St. Juan Diego as pregnant, but she gave us her Image of herself thus depicted, to remain with us as this living witness to the sanctity of life in the womb. What reason more do we need to become active in defending and cherishing the lives of our yet-unborn brothers and sisters? So Mary’s pregnancy in her Guadalupan Image is the main reason for her patronage of the pro-life movement. But another significant reason that we can specially place ourselves and our cause under her mantle is this: it is believed by many Guadalupe experts that the real title that Mary of Guadalupe gave herself is not in fact “Guadalupe”, but is a different title in the Aztec language that sounds like the word Guadalupe, and that actually means, “she who crushes the serpent”. Perhaps this serpent, the devil, is nowhere more apparent in our society than in the slaughter of our children. With the Mother of God as our Patroness and Queen, we will crush him! And still another reason for the dedication to Our Lady of Guadalupe among pro-life activists is her cure and healing of St. Juan Diego’s very ill uncle. In our time when the killing of the aged and ill is seen as compassion and love, Our Lady shows us what real compassion and love are: to heal and give life, not to kill. She thus rewarded the loving care of St. Juan Diego for his uncle. And lastly, but not least, an important reason for the pro-life movement to take Our Lady of Guadalupe as its Patroness, is the intensely great compassion and mercy that she shows during her conversations with St. Juan Diego. How dear is this compassion and mercy to all those children, mothers, fathers, and families so hurt by the Culture of Death! Listen here to her incredible words!: “Know and understand well, you the most humble of my son, that I am the ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth. I wish that a temple be erected here quickly, so I may therein exhibit and give all my love, compassion, help, and protection, because I am your merciful mother, to you, and to all the inhabitants on this land and all the rest who love me, invoke and confide in me; listen there to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows. How lovely, how dear, and how merciful a Mother! Can we not help but love her so much, and so specially place ourselves and our cause in her care? We have seen the power of her Missionary Image when it is brought to abortion facilities across our nation. She very much wants us to invoke her and call upon her in our defense and cherishing of human life. Jesus will not refuse anything that His Mother asks of Him. God bless.