O Virgin of Guadalupe, mystical rose, make intercession for Holy Church, protect the Sovereign Pontiff, help all those who invoke thee in their necessities, and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from thy most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, burning charity and the precious gift of final perseverance.Amen.
December 12 is the day the Catholic Church honors Our Lady under the title of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. She is responsible for turning the tide against evil human slaughter and sacrifice to false gods in the name of religion in the 16th century. Now in our own century we continue to follow her as she blazes the trail against the false gods of self pride and mammon to which we sacrifice the blood of unborn babies in the dreadful sin of abortion. Dear Virgin of Guadalupe, intercede for this nation, straighten and direct our path, protect us from all evil especially that of human sacrifice to false gods, and bring all souls to Christ.
This is the Virgin of Guadalupe’s mission now, and it has always been so. Abortion is the not the only human sacrifice of our times. Terrorism too fits that description and spills blood all over the world. On September 11th terrorism struck at the heart of America. We need the intercession of our Patroness today more than ever.
It is no coincidence that it is on the very same day that the world honors our Patroness of the Americas, December 12, that Sister Marie blazed her own trail to Mary’s House at Ephesus. On December 12, 1891 Sister Marie finally arrived by donkey at Mary’s House after a very long and grueling trip. She who had total faith, prompted, earnestly prayed for, and funded the entire expedition is finally given the gift of beholding the precious and holy treasure for which she had longed. And she knew this treasure of our Church was for the whole world. She spent the rest of her life protecting and tending to Mary’s House so we might have today what has become a beacon of peace in this terror stricken world.
Sister Marie was a devout Catholic who knew and taught her faith. She had to have wondered about arriving on this day that the Church commemorates the Virgin of Guadalupe, but the connection of her arrival on that particular day could not have been very clear to her. The future was only God’s to know. In the mind of God, however, the connection was crystal clear. God knew that one day America would so desperately need the intercession of their Patroness, the Virgin of Guadalupe, as we suffer a different blood bath of human sacrifice on the altar of religious hatred. He also knew how desperately we would need the hope of a little sanctuary of peace where God’s people of these different religions pray peacefully side by side and honor Jesus’ Mother Mary, the very same Virgin of Guadalupe. As Sister Marie opened for us the door of Mary’s House at Ephesus on December 12, 1891, God gave us the hope we need for these times. Let us gratefully acknowledge God’s merciful gift of hope and especially in this Advent and Christmas season together spiritually enter therein with Sister Marie to pray for “peace on earth to men of goodwill.”
“The grace of our Lord be with us forever.” ~ Sr. Marie
