Am I not here, I who am your mother?
December 12 – Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Sometimes, in the excitement preceding the birth of a child, the mother is forgotten. It is no different with our Lord, and his mother. It is beautiful that we pause this week, in the middle of Advent, to consider his mother, and our mother.
If we turn to our mother today, what do you think she would say to us? I think she would say to us the same things she said to Juan Diego.
I think she would say…
“Listen… my dearest… where are you going?”
Where are we going? Jesus is the way. He came to us through Mary, his mother. So, the Virgin is, in a real sense, the way to the way. Are we on the right road? Are we going the right direction? If we are not, the Virgin is inviting us to follow her to her son. Her instructions will always be, “do whatever he tells you.” She will help us grow in faith, hope, and love, so that we can obey that instruction joyfully.
As Pope Benedict said a few years ago, true devotion to the Virgin Mary always takes us to Jesus. It is not just a fruitless sentimentality. It is the fruit of true faith, which leads us to recognize the excellence of the Mother of God, and leads to love towards our Mother and a desire to imitate her virtues. To love her is to be committed to listening to her son. To venerate the Guadalupana means to live in accord with the words of the blessed fruit of her womb.
I think she would say,
“I want very much to have a little house built here for me, in which I will show Him, I will exalt him, and make him manifest. I will give him to the people in all my personal love, in my compassion, in my help, in my protection: because I am truly your merciful mother.”
This reminds me of the story Saint Bonaventure tells us about Saint Francis:
“One day when Francis went out to meditate in the fields he was passing by the church of San Damiano which was threatening to collapse because of extreme age. Inspired by the Spirit, he went inside to pray.
Kneeling before an image of the Crucified, he was filled with great fervor and consolation as he prayed. While his tear-filled eyes were gazing at the Lord’s cross, he heard with his bodily ears a voice coming from the cross, telling him three times: ‘Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.'”
Saint Francis rebuilt that little church, but eventually came to understand that Jesus did not mean only that one little building. Jesus meant the entire church.
The Virgin asked for a little house, a temple, a church to be built for her. A house where her son is exalted. A house where she could show merciful love to her adopted children. They did build her a little church, and I am sure that is pleasing to her.
But, through her appearance and the obedience of Juan Diego and of the bishop, it was not only a new building that was built. Eight million souls fled demon worship and human sacrifice, and into the arms of our Lord and his mother within a few years. Since that time, how many millions have come to know Christ, and to experience the Virgin’s love, compassion, help, and protection? Through Our Lady of Guadalupe, the nation of Mexico came to exist, and to be known throughout the world for its great devotion. I pray that her patronage of all the Americas will lead both continents to the same devotion to her son.
The Virgin would like very much to have a little house built in our hearts. A little place in our hearts for her, where she can exalt Christ, and show him to the world. If we will let her exalt Christ in our hearts and through our lives, then even this dark time in our history can be redeemed.
I think she would say, to each of us, as she did to San Juan Diego
“Listen to me… know for sure that I do not lack servants and messengers to whom I can give the task of carrying out my words, who will carry out my will. But it is very necessary that you plead my cause and, with your help and through your mediation, that my will be fulfilled.”
We are not important. I am not important. You are not important. God does not need us. The Virgin does not need us. But it is important to her, and to him, that we will speak on their behalf. It is very important to her, and to him, that we will help accomplish the will of God. It may be like when our grandmother insists we need to help her make tortillas, or our grandfather asks us to help him measure the wood for his latest project. Do they need us? No. But they want us. They want to be with us. They want us to work beside them.
I think she would say,
“Listen, put it into your heart… the thing that disturbs you, the thing that afflicts you, is nothing. Do not let your countenance, your heart be disturbed.” And, again, she would say “Am I not here, I, who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy? …Do you need anything more? Let nothing else worry you, disturb you.”
The world is dark. People are angry and hopeless.
She says “¿No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?” (Am I not here, I who am your mother?).
Be not afraid.
This is the message of the angel to all people of good will.
This is the message of the Virgin.
Do not be disturbed. She is the source of our joy, because Jesus comes to us through her. He has made us his brothers, and her our mother, and she desires to give us a mother’s comfort and hope.
Listen to her words, again.
…my dearest… where are you going?
I want very much to have a little house built here for me…
…it is very necessary that you plead my cause…
Am I not here, I who am your mother? Let nothing else worry you…
