Collect taken from the optional memorial of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin.
Collect: O God, who by means of Saint Juan Diego showed the love of the most holy Virgin Mary for your people, grant, through his intercession, that, by following the counsels our Mother gave at Guadalupe, we may be ever constant in fulfilling your will. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son…
“O God, who by means of Saint Juan Diego showed the love of the most holy Virgin Mary for your people,”
– In line with His great love of the humble and lowly, God took this unimportant man and used him to do what armies of missionaries could not – convert the Americas. And He did so through Mary, our dear mother.
“grant, through his intercession, that, by following the counsels our Mother gave at Guadalupe, we may be ever constant in fulfilling your will.”
– Mary told Juan Diego to build a temple to honor her and through her to honor her son. She told him that she was a mother who heard all the laments and troubles of God’s people. She told him not to worry or be disturbed by anything because we are cared for. Truly, if we honor Mary, if we bring her our concerns, if we trust and set aside anxiety, we will be constant in fulfilling God’s will.
Questions & Advice: Do you put much emphasis on importance and influence within the Church? Do you expect God to remedy our problems through political power and important people? Do you truly confide in Mary and take comfort in her intercession?
Read about the Mary in the Catechism (2673-79). Spend some of your daily prayer time reflecting on how important you seem in your own eyes. Ask God to help you really embrace the fact that he is close to the lowly and uses the humble to accomplish his plans. Consider praying the litany of humility. Commend all of this to Mary and resolve to really hand your worries over to her.
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| Sancte Joanne Diege, ora pro nobis! |