Word to the Wise
Friday, December 12, 2008 - Our Lady of Guadalupe
[Zechariah 2:14-17 OR Revelation 11:19A; 12:3-6A; 10AB and Luke 1:26-28 OR Luke 1:39-47]Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
As I write this reflection, I am in a Mexican-American neighborhood in southeast Austin, Texas, to visit what will become my future assignment next Spring. (Full time itinerant preaching) I recall well my time as a pastor in San Antonio, about an hour south of here, in a similar neighborhood and the impact of the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe! Just four days earlier, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation, the church would have a sprinkling of folks for Mass. On the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, it would be full! I could not help but be amused and wonder what the honoree thinks of all this! She's the same lady, but her children are all very different! At the very least, the words from Zechariah, quoted above, pick up one of the major elements of the significance of the feast. The appearance of Mary to a poor Mexican peasant in 1531 became a symbol of God's care for the very least of human persons. See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord. In the case of Our Lady of Guadalupe, that presence is expressed in her image appearing on just about any kind of surface it can be put on down in this part of the country! Furthermore, devout folks will get up very early in the morning to sing a greeting called Las Mananitas before Mass. Her image has marched before striking farm workers and other movements to secure better housing and other necessities for Hispanic peoples in the American Southwest. Those words of Zechariah have some important implications for the American Catholic church as immigration patterns show that more than half the Catholic population in the south of the United States is now Hispanic, particularly Mexican! The simple fact is that Our Lady of Guadalupe has arrived and is setting up housekeeping! AMEN
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