Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 12, 2020
Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”
And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”
What is this mystery that follows the Annunciation? The contrast between the loftiness of the Annunciation—the intimations of an angel, a woman conceived without sin, the Spirit who quietly overshadows her—and the humanity of the Visitation invites us to grow in gratitude for the gift of the Incarnation.
Mary sets out “in haste” to share what she has received with her dear cousin Elizabeth, immediately recognizing that, in a certain sense, her Son is not only her own. Mary’s good news is so much greater than herself that she doesn’t need to express it in words before Elizabeth and her unborn son know it as well; “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb.”
Mary and Elizabeth share much more than familial blood and their pregnant condition. Their joyful embrace is a celebration of the eschatological family, the family Christ’s birth will establish, in which every human being belongs. Although over 33 years will pass until Christ entrusts us to Mary from the Cross, here at the Visitation we see that the life with the Father for which Christ came is open to all of us and not just Mary.
This Gospel reminds us that we can await Christ’s coming with as much enthusiasm as his holy Mother—we are all Elizabeth and John. We are all relevant as part of his family, the human family, to the coming event.
We remember today in a special way Our Lady of Guadalupe’s coming to another Juan, who embraced her message and transformed a nation. May we also grow in our own devotion to the Blessed Virgin, with every invocation of her name and through the mysteries of this season.
Prayer
Blessed are you, O Lord our God. On this Advent weekday we hear the words of the prayer that has now become part of our personal Catholic devotion for centuries: “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you, how blessed are you among women; how blessed the One to be born of you.” Lord, we too are blessed to be called brothers and sisters of your Son, Jesus Christ. Give us wisdom to treasure all that is pure gift and a sign of your divine grace. Amen.
Saint of the Day
In December of 1531, a poor native Aztec Indian named Juan Diego was walking through the hills outside of Mexico City on his way to Mass. He heard sweet music and a woman’s voice calling his name from a hill called Tepeyac.
Juan Diego climbed the hill and found a woman who looked like she was also Aztec and dressed in traditional Aztec clothing. She identified herself as the Virgin Mary and instructed Juan Diego to tell his bishop to build a shrine on Tepeyac hill to encourage faithfulness in the people of Mexico City.
When he heard Juan Diego's request, the bishop was skeptical and asked for a sign. When Juan Diego went back and gave this message to Mary, she told him to go to the top of Tepeyac hill and pick the roses he would find there. Juan Diego gathered the roses in his tilma, a cloak-like a poncho, and Mary arranged the flowers and told him to take them to the bishop.
When Juan showed the bishop the roses, they saw that an image of Mary was left upon Juan’s cloak. The bishop was immediately convinced and built a shrine on Tepeyac. Soon, some 8 million people had come to the faith because of Mary’s apparition.
Juan Diego’s tilma was framed and kept in the shrine. It was made of a rough material from cactus and should have decayed within a few decades, but 500 years later is still an object of wonder for millions of pilgrims today. (Recent analyses have revealed that recorded in the image of Mary's iris there are small images of Juan Diego himself, which further indicates its supernatural origin.)
Our Lady of Guadalupe was declared patroness of the Americas. And, as, in the image of Guadalupe, she is portrayed as an expectant mother (her pregnancy is indicated by the high-waisted black sash) she is depicted as pregnant with Jesus, she is also the patron of the Right to Life movement. (For a short reflection on the placement of this feast during the Advent season, read this essay from theology professor and Guadalupe scholar Maxwell Johnson here.)
This feast day is celebrated on Notre Dame's campus with a vibrant Mass in the Basilica led by the Spanish-language student choir. A number of images of Our Lady of Guadalupe are presented on campus—the most recent shown below was painted along St. Joseph Lake by artist Bea Bradley.
Our featured image for the day can be found in a side chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and is brought out for veneration annually for the Guadalupe Mass. It was painted by Maria Tomasula, professor of painting in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design. In the video below, Director of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, Dr. Joseph Becherer, explains two different paintings of Our Lady of Guadalupe: a piece from 18th century in the Raclin Murphy collection and Tomasula piece in the basilica.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas and of the Right to Life movement—pray for us!
View and personalize a card with a prayer to of Our Lady of Guadalupe here on FaithND.
Image Credit: Maria Tomasula, Virgin of Guadalupe, 2008, Oil on board. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. Pat and Robert Kill Family Endowment for Excellence for Latin American Art, 2009.001. ©Maria Tomasula, 2020