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Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Zechariah 2:14-17 or Revelation 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB
Judith 13:18BCDE, 19
Luke 1:26-38 or 1:39-47
Summary
I have been given an honor. The gospel readings for today, for the Feast of Our
Lady of Guadalupe, are the basis of my favorite prayer, the Hail Mary. In these
readings, the Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary and announces her impending
pregnancy and the birth of our Lord. When Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth,
Elizabeth?s baby moves with joy at the sound of Mary?s voice, and Elizabeth ac-
knowledges that Mary?s baby is the Lord.
Reflection
So many things that are learned in rote as children, and that stay with you
throughout your adulthood, achieve different meaning when seen through the lens
of experience. The Hail Mary was one of the first prayers I remember learning.
My mother and father taught me to say it with my nighttime prayers (remember
those?) and we recited it during rosaries and for innumerable other occasions,
including during our Advent Wreath family gatherings at home. For a very, very
long time, to me, they were just a simple grouping of words whose familiarity
gave me some modicum of comfort. And, to be truthful, often gave me frequent
boredom. (Any adult who tells you they were never bored in church is not being
wholly truthful.) But, miraculously along the way, I discovered that those forty
one little words strung together really meant something. They were the words of
an angel, words of pronouncement, descriptions of a miracle, the harkening of
the beginning of the Christian faith.
And also, they were words that opened a monu-
mental change for Mary in her simple life. Can
you imagine her feelings of joy, yet her fear? I
absolutely get the fear. How does a young
Jewish girl explain this to her parents? Her be-
trothed? Each time I was expecting my children,
I was occasionally overcome by fear, and I had
