Our Lady is the great sign of the book of Revelations, St. John who received the revelation
of the Apocalypse, looked up into heaven and the clouds opened and he saw the Ark of the
Covenant in the temple and the Ark of the Covenant was this great sign.
The woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of
twelve stars and she wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
This is the great sign that the early church was given.
And
counterpoised with this great sign was the other sign of the red dragon who went to war
on the woman and the rest of her children.
And the woman and her child prevailed over the dragon in this cosmic battle that resulted
in the fall of the angels.
And yet the battle between the woman and her seed and the serpent, the dragon and his seed
continues throughout history.
And yet it is this woman, glorified in heaven, standing on the moon, crowned with twelve
stars, blotting out the sun, clothed with the sun, it is this woman, this great sign
that remains throughout history, our hope and guarantee of the presence of God and his
ultimate victory.
The woman clothed with the sun is also in travail with pain.
And yet it is this woman, glorified in heaven, standing on the moon, crowned with twelve
stars, blotting out the sun, clothed with the sun.
And yet it is also in travail with pain.
And yet it is also in travail with pain.
the
birth of Jesus.
And this is the reason why the Father is
endowed by the Son of God with suchwick.
And yet it is not the child that she conceives at thesizeation to give birth to her child.
of the Church all say that the birth of Jesus from the Blessed Virgin was
painless and so if this particular birth was not the birth that is recorded in
Revelations where the woman is in travail to give birth in pain to to give
birth then what child is Revelation talking about Our Lady did suffer but
not at the end not not at Bethlehem not in the mystery of Christmas she suffered
at the foot of the cross where she became the mother of all the living the
mother of all those who keep the commandments of God and give testimony
to Jesus Christ and she is present with them throughout all of history she
suffered for us with Jesus on Calvary and she became the mother of all those
who would be his followers
and she is present to all of our Lord's followers followers throughout history
as mother and mediatrix and she is continually working for our good as
mother and mediatrix she is continually engaging in the battle for souls trying
to draw us closer to Jesus Christ and to defend us against the wiles of
to defend us against the wiles of
to defend us against the wiles of and temptations of our enemy and sometimes
and temptations of our enemy and sometimes
and temptations of our enemy and sometimes this Cosmic Battle explodes you might
this Cosmic Battle explodes you might
this Cosmic Battle explodes you might say in to very visible manifestations in
say in to very visible manifestations in
say in to very visible manifestations in history not just in the mystery of
history not just in the mystery of
history not just in the mystery of iniquity that is personal sin but also
iniquity that is personal sin but also
iniquity that is personal sin but also in the great social and temporal
in the great social and temporal
in the great social and temporal conflicts that arise from BBC's
from throughout history and especially in particular moments such as the moment that
we memorialize in today's Mass and in this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Lady came
at Tepeyac in 1531 to be present to those who were suffering, those who were suffering
because of the Satanic culture of death which was imposed upon them. The culture of death
which was a product of a diabolical religion which included human sacrifice. And the Aztec
Indians were in a very difficult position in 1531.
On the one hand they had receivedını dur- Prosili energy, but on the other hand Notice
and they had their culture and their false religion, a religion which was primarily motivated
by fear. The gods of the Aztecs required human hearts in order to keep the universe going,
keep it from falling apart, keep the world from coming to an end. On the other hand,
they, not all the Christians in New Spain, were edifying examples. There were many wonderful
and holy missionaries and edifying colonists that were concerned about the Aztecs, but
there were also some who wished to sell them into slavery and who were exploiting them,
and it was a very difficult time for the church in New Spain.
The Aztecs,
however, were in a position of being very close to revolting against the Spanish, and
if that had happened, there would have been a lot of bloodshed. So the bishop of New Spain,
of Mexico City, Juan de Zumarraga, prayed to the Blessed Mother and asked for her intervention,
asked her to come and save the day and intervene in this problem, and that was when she appeared
to Juan Diego.
So Juan Diego, who was a 53-year-old Aztec Indian, and who had seen and experienced
the problems in Mexico, particularly the human sacrifice, and Our Lady came to him and revealed
Herself to him as the Mother of the true God through whom everything lives because the
gods of the Aztecs were gods of death. They rained death upon the Aztecs everywhere. They
were not the God of life.
There was nothing like the image of Jesus and the image of the one who raised up the
of all that lives but of all that dies.
Our Lady came as the woman clothed with the sun
in this cosmic battle, but also she came with child.
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows her with child
and she revealed herself as tender mother to the Aztecs
in such really beautiful ways encouraging Juan Diego
to persevere in the quest that she had given him,
even in a very quaint way on the third day
of the apparition when Juan Diego was supposed to go
to the bishop to request again that he build a temple
in honor of the Blessed Mother.
He decided that he needed to go to the city of Mexico
in order to get a priest for his dying uncle,
and so he went around the backside of the hill
in order to get to Mexico more quickly,
but also because he wanted
to avoid Our Lady because he knew
that she wanted him to do something else.
And so Our Lady came down and met him where he was at
and told him that he had nothing to fear,
that his uncle was already cured,
that she was enough for him.
She held him in the crossing of her arms.
And so in this intervention of Our Lady
in the history of Mexico, she revealed herself
as the compassionate mother,
who is always present to her people, to her children,
who ultimately takes care of them
and provides for them everything that they need.
And through Our Lady's intervention there in Mexico,
the problems with, all of the problems were solved,
and the Aztecs came into the church by the million,
six million in just a few years, sought baptism.
They had to do so many baptisms.
That they had to actually shorten the rite.
The friars used an abbreviated rite for baptism
because they were basically baptizing all the time
for a long time because there were so many
who wanted to enter the church because they believed
in God's presence and his intervention in their lives.
And they came to know the Catholic faith
because Our Lady had come to them directly
and had provided for them and had protected them.
And this happens, again, in little ways
and small ways throughout history,
in the little way, in the microcosm of our soul,
and in the macrocosm of society.
Our Lady is always, always present, always working,
always intervening on our behalf, praying for us,
interceding for us, and bringing us every grace
that we need to draw closer to God and to ultimately,
at least, save our souls.
And this is one of the reasons why Our Lady is referred to
as the star of the new evangelization.
Pope Francis has just recently, of course,
released an apostolic exhortation
on the new evangelization.
And it remains a very important focal point
of the church's attention right now,
her mission to draw all people to Christ.
Our Lady is the way of beauty and compassion.
In the person of the Blessed Mother,
we see everything that the church is meant to be,
everything that we are meant to be,
realized in personal form.
And even in a form which is beautiful to behold,
the Virgin in prayer with child,
who is present to her people,
the image of Guadalupe is a stupendous miracle
because it's an ongoing miracle.
You know, it came into existence,
the image on the tilma, without any explanation.
It's a painting written by the hand of God.
And the tilma itself shouldn't exist.
It should have disintegrated a long time ago,
but it continues to exist, continues to be inexplicable.
And Our Lady in Guadalupe on this image
continues to beckon her children into her presence.
And when people look upon the image,
when they see her, they instinctively know
that she is present and they have
confident recourse to her intercession.
So Our Lady is the way of beauty
and the star of the new evangelization.
She announces the dawn of a time in which Jesus becomes
more present to his people.
And that's of course what we need today
because there's so many people who are living in darkness
without the light of Christ,
sometimes even Christians who ostensibly believe in Jesus
but really don't know him,
and need to have the good news preached to them once again.
The good news, the truly good news,
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
that he has been sent by his Father
to suffer and die for our sins,
that he has risen from the dead
and is now glorified at the right hand of the Father.
And in his name we have salvation.
In his presence and in his grace,
through his church, we have salvation.
And his mother is the star of that evangelization.
She is the embodiment of the grace
and goodness that God wishes to bestow upon all of us.
So on this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
this feast which is particularly important for the Americas,
Our Lady is under this title as Empress of the Americas,
we ask her to crush the ancient serpent
in our own personal lives and in our society
so that Jesus Christ may reign over all.
And that through her, her presence in our lives,
we may know God's mercy and compassion.
We may know that he is always present,
that he keeps his promises, and that he will always be.
He will lead us into everlasting life.