On the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Perhaps a post-postcolonial appropriation of the original vision, I confess that the image above is a bit over the top. However, I think that it captures a marvelous fusion of Western (Anglo?) and indigenous spiritual imagination. In the midst of all the later accretion, the simple Aztec girl who appeared to Juan Diego continues to out-shine the sun and moon. In real life the Mother of God belongs to every culture, just as every daughter or son of these cultures belong to her as mother of the Redeemer. Let us celebrate her role in the great mystery of the incarnation in her feast today as we anticipate the great feast yet to come.

Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab

God's temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed."

Collect:

O God of power and mercy, You blessed the Americas at Tepeyac with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. May her prayers help all men and women to accept each other as brothers and sisters. Through Your justice present in our hearts, may Your peace reign in the world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever.