Homily for Our Lady of Guadalupe, 2^nd Sunday of Advent: December 7, 2008

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

During the time of Advent we read extensively from the prophet Isaiah, who lived over 700 years before Christ. At the center of his teaching was the holiness and power of God. Isaiah reminds the people of Israel that God in His holiness and power comes to comfort His people. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” he says. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.” John the Baptist continued in the tradition of Isaiah. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” he announced. “One mightier than I is coming after me.” “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” It is the Holy Spirit who is the great comforter of God’s people. Through the forgiveness of our sins, Christ will bring to us the comfort and consolation of God, through the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is this same Christ who will come again at the end of time so that we can share fully in the glory of God, but we must be prepared; we must be ready. The season of Advent is a time of getting ready. St. Peter says to us: “Conduct yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for…the coming of the day of God.”

The prophetic message of a holy and powerful God who loves His people and brings them comfort is as potent today as in the days of Isaiah and John the Baptist. At the foot of the cross Christ gave us his mother who would bring comfort to the disciples, to the people of God, to the Church. On December 9, 1534, Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to an Indian convert, St. Juan Diego, and left him a picture of herself impressed upon his cloak. This was a prophetic moment for the indigenous people of Mexico. It was a moment in which the all holy and powerful God, through the mother of His son, brought new comfort to a people who had suffered from the conquest of Spain. Mary spoke not to the wealthy and powerful but to Juan Diego. “I could select anyone, but I have chosen you.” She gave to a poor, simple man of faith, a leadership in bringing new hope to a people who had been humiliated and whose culture had been denigrated. She came at a moment when it was necessary to restore to civilization a respect for the culture from which the people had come and to bring the comfort of justice again to all the people. Today, as we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in 2008, Mary is entrusted to us by Jesus to be our Mother, a mother who brings us together as the people of God and comforts us in all our sufferings and tribulations. She reminds us that we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are many cultures but we are the one Body of Christ. We all belong to one another. We prepare for the day of the Lord by growing in holiness: by living with faith in the holy and powerful God; by loving one another and by respecting one another’s culture; by hungering and thirsting and working for justice for all peoples, not just for those who are citizens or legal; by working for that peace which says there is no room for war, which says that violent gangs must become kindly fraternities of friendship; by holding the dignity of the human person as sacred in the womb, on the journey through this world, and into eternity where there will be the fullness of life. Everyone has a right to eat, to clothing on their backs, to decent housing, to a good education and to necessary health care.

Mary brings us together as the Church in Christ Jesus her Son. With Mary our mother and in the name of Christ, we can be a prophetic witness to the world. By how we live; by what we do; by our love for one another; by our commitment to justice and peace; by our respect for the dignity of the human person, we can let the world know that our all-holy and all powerful God comes to comfort his people.

¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

Last Update December 10, 2008