These
are intense days of devotion and prayer in the United States, and certainly here
in the Rio Grande Valley. On December the 8, we celebrated the Immaculate
Conception, Patronal Feast of our Cathedral here in the Diocese of Brownsville,
and since 1847, patroness of the United States. And yet four days later, on
December 12 we celebrate the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of
the Americas. The two feasts are deeply connected in the mystery of faith. On
December the 8 we recall the truth that God chooses to give the full gift of
grace on his own initiative, to prepare Mary from the first moment of her
conception for her mission. On December 12, we are given a vivid reminder of
what that mission entails. The Virgin's presence announces that the Lord is
coming to be with his people, to free us from death, darkness and sin.
On December 12, I wish I could be everywhere at
once in the Rio Grande Valley; the processions, the Masses in all the parishes,
in small mission chapels, and at the Basilica; las Mañanitas, the menudo and
hojarascas-- it's everwhere. And it is for everyone: families, the elderly,
small children in costumes; laughing, singing, high school students playing in
mariachi bands, fireworks. It is joyous, reverent and a full display of the
mystery of faith alive in our land. This feast is a singular grace for our
diocese and our nation, worthy of a special place in the hearts of all Catholics
in the United States.
There
are so many reasons for this exuberance. And yet in the end they are all one
simple reason keenly felt by all of us who celebrate her day. The Virgin, in her
very person, -- because her person bears the Son of God-- appears in 1531 as the
gentle voice announcing to a good but labored soul that heaven is kind and very
close, and that the darkness will not have its way forever. There was much blood
spilled in the Americas both prior to the arrival of the Spanish Empire, and
after. Human sacrifice gave way to a conquest that was in many ways brutal. It
was hard in those days to believe in the triumph of light over darkness, mercy
over vengeance, reconciliation over recrimination. But somehow, in the Virgin's
appearing, in the image of the innocent one already bearing the Son of God in
her womb, the announcement of mercy went forth and was joyfully received.
This
is the cause of our joy: God has appeared in our land; he has taken flesh from
the Virgin; and we need not fear that the darkness will in the end prevail. She
comes as the breeze that announces that the springtime of the human race is
possible by the grace of God's favor. The Gospel brings this springtime, and for
us in the Americas, Our Lady left us the Gospel written as an image on Juan
Diego's tilma. The Gospel was the hope of the peoples of the Americas when the
Virgin appeared, and it is the hope of our future as a people. There is urgent
need for this hope. We in the Valley know too well that much blood is spilled
senselessly for power, greed, vengeance, and drugs. A new sort of cult of death
menaces our children. Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the Christ she bears forth to
our world show us the way out of this encroaching despair.
Perhaps
it is time to designate Our Lady of Guadalupe as Co-patroness of the United
States. Most recently I read a post by Cardinal Mahony encouraging this
prospect:
http://cardinalrogermahonyblogsla.blogspot.com/2012/12/our-lady-of-guadalupe-patroness-of-usa.html.
Together with the Immaculate Conception on December 8, and Our Lady of Guadalupe
on December 12, we could as Catholics in the United States renew our
appreciation for the way grace works in us by contemplating the Mother of God
under these two magnificent invocations. For us also, grace is given by God's
wise design to both make us holy, and to send us forth to announce that the long
reign of sin is ending. The one follows upon the other. There is no
evangelization without holiness; and grace is given so as to be shared with a
world that dwells in darkness and under the shadow of death.
Our Lady Conceived without sin, pray for us that no sin impede our reception of your Son into our lives!
Our
Lady of Guadalupe, pray that having received him, we be worthy bearers of your
Son to others!
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