Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
(Luke
1:39-47)
People will
be unusually happy when 2020 passes into history. The pandemic has brought on such misery this
year that we want it to end as soon as possible. Of course, the pandemic won’t be resolved
with a new calendar. Nevertheless, the
new year will bring a fortified hope of a return to normalcy. All the inconvenience, the worry, and the
death toll of the Covid pandemic can help us appreciate the situation in Mexico
when the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared.
People may
think that Spanish brutality epitomized the hardship to indigenous
Americans. The conquistadors’ swords and
muskets caused much suffering among the native population. However, the diseases which they brought unwittingly
wreaked much more extensive havoc. It is
estimated that when Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico there were twenty-five
million indigenous Americans. Fifty
years later smallpox and other infectious diseases left only three million
people. During this catastrophe, the
Virgin appeared to Juan Diego.
From the
beginning, the Virgin’s message was of maternal affection and protection. “I am your mother,” she told the indigenous
peasant, Juan Diego. Her mission was to
relieve the suffering of the people by imparting the Christian faith that
proclaims God’s mercy. As part of that
relief, she called the European colonists from the city to the surrounding area. There they might address the needs of the
people. In today’s gospel we see Mary on
a similar mission of mercy. Hearing from
God that her relative Elizabeth was with child, Mary rushes to assist her. So close to her son Jesus, who is also the
Son of God, Mary will help us through the pandemic. Praying to her, we can be assured of receiving
God’s mercy.
