Sunday, December 12, 2010

Our Lady of Guadalupe

In 1531, Saint Juan Diego was on his way to Mass when he heard music coming from Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. He also heard a woman's voice calling his name. A "Lady from Heaven" identified herself as the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth. She sent Juan Diego to the local Bishop to request that a church be built on the site.

The Bishop was skeptical. Juan Diego told Our Lady that the Bishop doubted the request. Our Lady sent him back a second time with the request. The Bishop then asked for a sign that the request was really from Our Lady.

When Juan Diego told Our Lady, she told him to go to the top of Tepeyac to gather roses miraculously growing in the middle of the winter. Juan filled his tilma with the beautiful roses, to present to the Bishop. When Juan released the tilma, the flowers fell to the floor, and revealed a miraculous image of Our Lady imprinted inside.

The bishop immediately fell to his knees, and came to believe in Juan Diego's message. A church was built on the location of the apparition, and 8 million people converted to Catholicism in a short period of time upon hearing of or viewing the miraculous image of Our Lady.

Five hundred years ago, the Aztecs were deeply entrenched in cruel human sacrificing rituals and cannibalism, where public showcases of torture and death were normal and accepted. It is estimated that one out of every five children in Mexico were sacrificed. With the conversion of the Aztecs, Our Lady of Guadalupe ended these rituals.

Today, millions of unborn children are killed every year around the world. The number of unborn killed by abortion far outweighs the number of sacrifices the Aztecs performed.

In 1999, Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born. Through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, nations can be converted from the altar of sacrifice that is legalized abortion.

Countless miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn, pray for us!

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Prayer for Life to Mary Bright Dawn of the New World

O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life:
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son may proclaim the Gospel of Life
with honesty and love to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace to accept that Gospel as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely,
in order to build, together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.

(The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II)

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