On the afternoon of Monday, December 12, around 3,000 believers gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica, including many Spanish speakers, to participate in the Holy Mass dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Along with the Pope, more than 300 priests, bishops and cardinals celebrated it.
Inese Steinert – Vatican
In his homily, Francis dwelled on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose imprint was miraculously marked in December 1531 on the cloak of St. Juan Diego, the visionary of Our Lady of the poor Aztec tribe.
The Pope said that it is the image of the first disciple, the mother of the faithful and the Church itself, which shows in a humble imprint who we are and what we belong to. The Holy Father paid particular attention to roses, which are associated with the miraculous vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He clarified that roses symbolize the virtues that the Lord plants in the heart and which “are not our own work.” “Collecting roses reveals to us that God wants us to accept this gift and make our fragile reality fragrant with good deeds, growing in virtue and eradicating hatred and fear,” said Francis.
“The image of the Virgin Mary on Juan Diego’s cloak signifies her presence among us,” the Pope continued to explain. He added that “this presence always lingers on those poor clothes that smell of the virtues gathered in a world that seems incapable of nurturing them.”
At the end of the homily, the Pope said that the cloak and the roses show that Mary is a mother who is with us all. They convey a simple message that protects us from many social and political ideologies that often use the Guadalupe reality to justify the lust for money. “The message of Guadalupe does not tolerate any kind of ideology,” the Pope assured.
2023-12-12 22:34:24
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