by Anonymous, Inspired by the late Dorothy Day. December 2024
December 12 is a day of quiet reverence and steadfast hope. It is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and for the people, especially the poor and forgotten, it is a day that reminds them of their dignity and worth in the eyes of God. Our Lady came not to the powerful or the privileged but to Juan Diego, a simple man, a laborer, someone whose life was steeped in toil and struggle.
On the hill at Tepeyac, she spoke in the language of his people, the Nahuatl tongue, affirming that their lives and their culture were not invisible to God. She asked for a church, a place where the poor could gather and find refuge, where their prayers would rise like incense to heaven. She left her image on his tilma, an image that has endured centuries, a beacon of love and solidarity.
Today, the streets fill with pilgrims. They come barefoot, some crawling on their knees, carrying flowers and candles. The procession is both a celebration and a prayer, a living act of faith in the face of hardship. These are not people untouched by suffering. Many live in poverty, facing daily struggles that seem insurmountable. But they walk because they believe. They walk because the Virgin has promised them that they are not alone.
In her, they see a mother who cares for them, who intercedes for them, who understands their struggles. And in honoring her, they find strength to continue, to organize, to fight for justice, and to live with the dignity that God intended for all His children.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a reminder to us all. It calls us to stand in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, to build a world where love and justice reign, and to remember that, in God’s eyes, every person is precious. It is a day of joy, yes, but also a day that challenges us to live our faith in action, to make the world a little more like the Kingdom of God.
You can learn more about Our Lady of Guadalupe online on many sites. Even Wikipedia provides a decenter summary at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadal…