A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (LK 1:26-38)
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
In today’s reading for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Luke tells us in concrete detail about the annunciation. At a specific time and place in history, through the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit, Mary would conceive and bear the Son of God, Emmanuel. At another specific time and place in history, Mary appeared to Juan Diego. She identified herself to him in relation to God, who transcends all times and all places: “I am the perfect and ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the God of truth through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near us, the Lord of heaven and earth.” God, who entered human history once long ago, never ceases to be present. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we have an abundance of God’s gifts so that we are free to respond by living lives full of grace in the presence of the Lord.
God, just as Gabriel found Mary, you find me in the ordinariness of this specific time and place. Help me realize that you are active in my life, that you are with me, and that through your Son I have all I need to receive the fullness of your grace. I have in Mary the example of life lived in complete abandonment to your will; without the stain of original sin, Immaculate Mary experienced the unobstructed fullness of your grace. Help me see in Mary a model for eliminating the things in this life that prevent me from receiving all of the grace you desire to give me for the sake of your glory. Help me always be ready to say yes to you in recognizing your will.
From the Gospel acclamation: “Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise; from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.” Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.