Our Lord, in today's Gospel, truly does give each and every one of us in all societies
the formula for success, that when we learn that His yoke is easy and His burden light,
we realize that in our redemption He has lifted us up and helps us to live an authentically human life.
And so, as we prepare for the first advent of the Lord, that is, His birth in the cave of Bethlehem,
we know that this was necessary in order that the Lord may come to each and every generation,
that is, that He may be born in the minds and the hearts of every man, woman, and child until the end of time.
And today, we celebrate the feast of St. Juan Diego,
who was responsible by his cooperation with the Immaculate Virgin Mary
for the birth of Christ in perhaps one of the most depraved cultures that has ever been on the face of this earth.
For Juan Diego was born into the Aztec culture in which was institutionalized
human sacrifice, and so it was after his call to the faith that he would cooperate,
and within a short period of time, because of his cooperation with the Mother of God
in the mission of her divine Son and the conversion of the Aztec people,
the human sacrifice was ended in that most depraved culture.
And so, while the Church was losing nearly 15 million sons and daughters to the faith
through the Protestant revolution in Europe, she was gaining the same amount of faith
and the same amount of numbers of souls for the Kingdom of God in the foreign land of Mexico.
And so, we see truly the power of the first birth,
for the first birth of Christ in the cave at Bethlehem
makes possible His birth to each and every generation,
and even in the most depraved of cultures.
And so, we are always buoyed up by hope,
hope that is manifested to us through great saints like St. Juan Diego,
who especially teach,
that it is cooperation with the mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix of all grace
that is truly the key to our life,
because she is the first one who, from the first moment of her conception,
saw that the Lord's yoke was easy and that His burden was light,
because, as we have said, He has come to make us authentically human.
And what does that mean?
That we, like the Savior, always give glory to God the Father,
that we call upon the one true God,
not upon the gods of the pagans or the gods of false religions,
but we call upon the one true God,
and we bring to Him all those who labor and are burdened,
so that He may truly give us rest.
And when He comes to each culture through our cooperation,
like He did to the Aztec culture,
through the cooperation of St. Juan Diego and all those early converts,
then He comes with His rest.
And so, we rest,
with Juan Diego and all the saints,
in the Sacred Heart of Jesus
and in the protection of the Immaculate Heart of His Most Immaculate Mother.
And so, we truly can rejoice,
for we know through the life of St. Juan Diego
that no matter how depraved a culture may become,
it is still possible that that culture may give birth to the Christ.
And once it gives birth to the Christ,
it distances itself from its depraved practices
and again begins to lift up its mind and its heart
and begins to do all things for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
And so, let us strive always like St. Juan Diego
to cooperate with the Mother of God
so that we may help bring down
the fall of the depraved practices of our own culture,
so that the Sacred Heart of Jesus may come to this society
and to all societies,
so that we may come to know His love
and that we can only find rest from our labors,
from our labors and our burdens
if we do so in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
And so, let us strive like the Mother of God
who from the first moment of her conception
understood this most profound mystery.
Let us strive like her to suffer for the sake of humanity
because it was Christ and the Mother
who first suffered for our sake.
And if we do this, then we will come to realize
that after a life of labor and burden,
here on earth, by which we give everything
and give our greatest efforts to please God,
then we will receive that which alone can give us pleasure,
that alone which gives us our final rest,
to be united with all the angels and saints,
praising our good God together for all eternity in heaven.
And so, let us strive like the Mother of God
who from the first moment of her conception
understood this most profound mystery.
And so, let us strive like the Mother of God
who from the first moment of her conception
understood this most profound mystery.