May Jesus Christ be
praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.
Tonight we gather to
celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
We gather to celebrate the feast of our loving mother. We gather to remember the message that she
gave to St. Juan Diego and we gather to gaze upon the image that she left with
us. We are here tonight, dear brothers
and sisters, because the Virgin loves us.
We are here tonight because the Virgin invites us to life.
The Virgin of Guadalupe
invites us to life in the Church. The
message that Our Lady gave to St. Juan Diego was that she wanted a chapel
built. She wanted a chapel for the
people of God to gather so that they could worship the Father in spirit and in
truth. She wanted a chapel built so that
the holy people of God could participate in the one sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. She wanted a chapel built so
that the precious gifts of life in the Sacraments of the Church could be
celebrated for the people of God. The
Virgin of Guadalupe invites us to life in the Church because she loves us.
Do you love the Virgin?
Do you love the Virgin
enough to respond to her invitation to life in the Church? Do you love the Virgin enough to assist at
the Holy Mass on every Sunday and every holy day and not simply on the twelfth
of December? Do you love the Virgin
enough to bring your children to be educated in the faith of Christ? If you do not brothers and sisters, then you
do not love the Virgin enough.
But the Virgin loves
you.
The Virgin invites you
to life in the Church because she invites you to life in Christ. She invites you to share in the life of her
Son. She invites you to grow in Christ
Jesus under her loving protection. She
invites you to grow in the grace of your particular vocation protected by her
loving arms. She protects me, with her
loving image and her loving hands, so that I can be a Father to you.
Let us love the Virgin
of Guadalupe. Let us respond to her
invitation to life in Christ and in his Church.
Let the flowers that we bring and the prayers that we offer be our sign
that we desire to love the Virgin more. And
let every breath of our lives cry out: Viva la Virgin! Viva Cristo Rey! Amen.
Preached
in Spanish at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
