Pope Francis passes a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe as he leaves after presiding at Mass marking the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 12, 2022. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“The Virgin Mary of Guadalupe wants to meet us too as she one day met Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac. She wants to stay with us. She begs us to allow her to be our mother, to open our lives to her Son, Jesus and to welcome his message so as to learn to love like him.” (Pope Francis, homily for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, 2022)
One of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531 and asked him to erect a chapel in her honor. When asked to prove her identity, Our Lady granted his request by revealing an image of her apparition on his cloak, which still hangs in the chapel of Tepeyac today. This miraculous image continues to attract millions of pilgrims from around the world.
As part of this year’s celebration in Rome, Pope Francis delivered a homily reminding us that even amid the darkness of war and injustice, we can count on God always being near us through the presence of Christ and the tender loving intercession of Our Mother Mary. “In Jesus, born of Mary, the Eternal One enters the precariousness of our time, becomes forever and irreversibly ‘God-with-us,’ and walks beside us as brother and companion. He came to stay. Nothing that is ours is foreign to him because he is ‘one of us,’ close, a friend.”
The pope encouraged all to follow Mary’s example of compassionate care, to “get involved with each other without delay, to go out to meet our brothers and sisters who have been forgotten and discarded by our consumerist and indifferent societies.” Although the world is full of pain and suffering, Our Holy Father reminded us that the message of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe is that we are never alone — God is always with us through Christ his Son in our midst. “Our God guides human history at every moment; nothing remains outside his power, which is tenderness and providential love. He makes himself present through a deed, an action, an event or a person. He never stops watching over our world — needy and wounded — to assist it with his compassion and mercy. His way of intervening, of manifesting himself, always surprises us, and fills us with joy.”
Just a few days earlier, Pope Francis broke down in tears during a traditional prayer to Our Mother Mary at the foot of a statue on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a national holiday in Italy. “Immaculate Virgin, today I would have wanted to bring you the thanks of the Ukrainian people (for peace),” he said before being overwhelmed by emotion. He continued, “Instead, once again I have to bring you the pleas of children, of the elderly, of fathers and mothers, of the young people of that martyred land, which is suffering so much.” The pope encouraged all to follow Mary’s example in reaching out to suffering refugees throughout the world. He repeated this theme on Dec. 12, saying: “Our Lady of Guadalupe came to the blessed lands of America, presenting herself as the Mother of the true God for whom we live to console and attend to the needs of the little ones, without excluding anyone, to embrace them as a caring mother with her presence, love and consolation.”
One example of reaching out to migrants is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops effort to resettle Ukrainian refugees through its Welcome Circles program. So far, about 100,000 Ukrainians have been accepted as humanitarian refugees in the United States. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office has already received more than 250 applications to sponsor Ukrainian refugees in Hawaii and more than 100 have arrived here. For more information about the Welcome Circles program, visit usccb.org/welcomecircles.
Also during this Christmas season, many parishes are reaching out and collaborating with community organizations to express their thanks for the coming of Christ by caring for others in need. Parish bulletins are full of suggestions about how to experience the real “reason for the season” — to give thanks for Emmanuel, God with us, through sharing our blessings. May our actions express the hope of Pope Francis’ Guadalupe prayer this year. “Let us thank the Lord for the immense tenderness he has shown us by sending his Most Holy Mother to our American continent … to show us her maternal tenderness, consolation and aid. May Jesus Christ grant us through the intercession of Our Mother of Guadalupe, days filled with joy and serenity, so that the peace of the Lord may dwell in our hearts and in the hearts of all men and women of good will. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
