From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Who shall be approved as truly patient [4]   
      
   4. “Be thou therefore ready for the fight if thou wilt have the   
   victory. Without striving thou canst not win the crown of   
   patience; if thou wilt not suffer thou refusest to be crowned.   
   But if thou desirest to be crowned, strive manfully, endure   
   patiently. Without labour thou drawest not near to rest, nor   
   without fighting comest thou to victory.”   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ-- Book 3, Chapter 19   
      
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   December 12th - Our Lady of Guadalupe   
   Patroness of Latin America   
   (1531)   
      
   One of the most beautiful series of apparitions of the Queen of Heaven   
   occurred on the American continent on a December day of 1531, only   
   ten years after the Spanish conquest. A fervent Christian Indian in his   
   fifties, Juan Diego, a widower, was on his way to Mass in Mexico City   
   from his home eight miles distant, a practice he and his wife had   
   followed since their conversion, in honor of Our Lady on Her day,   
   Saturday. He had to pass near the hill of Tepeyac, and was struck   
   there by the joyous song of birds, rising up in the most melodious of   
   concerts; he stopped to listen. Looking up to the hilltop, he   
   perceived a brilliant cloud, surrounded by a light brighter than a   
   fiery sun, and a gentle voice called him by name, saying, “Juan,   
   come.” His first fear was transformed into a sweet happiness by this   
   voice, and he mounted the slope. There he beheld the One he had   
   intended to honor by hearing Her Mass. She was surrounded by a   
   radiance so brilliant it sent out rays that seemed to transform the   
   very rocks into scintillating jewels.   
      
   “Where are you going, My child?” She asked him. “To Saint James to   
   hear the Mass sung by the minister of the Most High in honor of the   
   Mother of the Saviour.” “That is good, My son; your devotion is   
   agreeable to Me, as is also the humility of your heart. Know then that   
   I am that Virgin Mother of God, Author of Life and Protector of the   
   weak. I desire that a temple be built here, where I will show Myself   
   to be your tender Mother, the Mother of your fellow citizens and of   
   all who invoke My name with confidence. Go to the bishop and tell him   
   faithfully all you have seen and heard.”   
      
   Juan continued on his way, and the bishop, Monsignor Juan de   
   Zumarraga, a Franciscan of great piety and enlightened prudence, heard   
   him kindly and asked questions, but sent him home without any   
   promises. Juan was disappointed, but on his way past the hill, he once   
   again found the Lady, who seemed to be waiting for him as though to   
   console him. He excused himself for the failure of his mission, but   
   She only repeated Her desire to have a temple built at this site, and   
   told him to return again to the bishop. This he did on the following   
   day, begging the bishop to accomplish the desires of the Virgin.   
   Monsignor said to him: “If it is the Most Holy Virgin who sends you,   
   She must prove it; if She wants a church, She must give me a sign of   
   Her will.” On his way home, Juan Diego found Her again, waiting, and   
   She said to him, “Come back tomorrow and I will give you a certain   
   mark of the truthfulness of your words.”   
      
   The next day Juan was desolate to find his uncle, with whom he lived,   
   fallen grievously sick; the old gentleman was clearly on the brink of   
   death. Juan had to go and find a priest in the city. As he was passing   
   the hill, Our Lady again appeared to him, saying, “Do not be anxious,   
   Diego, because of your uncle’s illness. Don’t you know that I am your   
   Mother and that you are under My protection? At this moment your uncle   
   is cured.” “Then please give me the sign you told me of,” replied   
   Juan. Mary told him to come up to the hilltop and cut the flowers he   
   would find there, place them under his cloak, and bring them to Her.   
   “I will tell you then what to do next.” Juan found the most beautiful   
   of roses and lilies, and chose the most fragrant ones for Mary. She   
   made a bouquet of them and placed it in a fold of his cloak or tilma   
   -- a large square of coarse cloth resembling burlap. “Take these   
   lilies and roses on My behalf to the bishop,” She said. “This is the   
   certain sign of My will. Let there be no delay in raising here a   
   temple in My honor.” With joy Juan continued on to the city and the   
   bishop’s residence, where he had to wait nearly all day in the   
   antechamber. Other visitors noted the fragrance of his flowers, and   
   went so far as to open his mantle to see what he was carefully holding   
   in it, but found only flowers pictured on the cloth. When finally he   
   was admitted to the presence of the prelate, he opened his cloak and   
   the fresh flowers fell on the floor. That was not the only sign; on   
   his cloak there was imprinted a beautiful image of the Virgin. It   
   remains today still visible in the Cathedral of Mexico City, conserved   
   under glass and in its original state, having undergone no   
   degeneration in 470 years.   
      
   Juan found his uncle entirely cured that evening; he heard him relate   
   that Our Lady had cured him, and had said to him also: “May a   
   sanctuary be raised for Me under the name of Our Lady of Guadalupe.”   
   The bishop lost no time in having a small church built at the hill of   
   Tepeyac, and Juan Diego himself dwelt near there to answer the   
   inquiries of the pilgrims who came in great numbers. In effect, nearly   
   all of the land became Catholic in a few years’ time, having learned   
   to love the gentle Lady who like God their Father showed Herself to be   
   the ever-watchful friend of the poor. In 1737 the pestilence ceased   
   immediately in Mexico city after the inhabitants made a vow to   
   proclaim Our Lady of Guadalupe the principal Patroness of New Spain.   
   In 1910 She was proclaimed by Saint Pius X “Celestial Patroness of all   
   Latin America.” Recent studies of the image of Our Lady on the tilma   
   have discovered in one of Her eyes the portrait of Juan Diego, the son   
   She chose to favor by this triduum of heavenly apparitions and   
   conversations.   
      
   Source: Message Marial, by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (FEC   
   Press: Montreal, 1947).   
      
      
   Quote:   
   He who loveth God with all his heart feareth not death, nor   
   punishment, nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect love giveth sure   
   access to God. But he who still delighteth in sin, no marvel if he is   
   afraid of death and judgment.   
   --Thomas à Kempis   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,   
   and his ears are open to their prayer.   
   But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil. (1 Pet 3:12)  RSVCE   
      
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)