Friday 12 December 2025
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Isaiah 48:17-19. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life – Ps 1:1-4, 6. Matthew 11:16-19.
To serve the poor
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Mother of the Americas, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and Multilateral Organisations Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said at a Mass at the Mexico City shrine in July this year. The archbishop recalled the story of the apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1531 to an Indigenous convert Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (whose feast day we celebrated on 9 December 2025). He stressed the shrine was not only a place of memory but also a missionary outpost. ‘The call remains alive here: to honour God, to love our neighbour, to protect life, to serve the poor, to welcome the migrant, to be a Church that is, in Pope Francis’ words, “a field hospital”, offering mercy, healing, and hope.’ As the psalm says, ‘Happy are those who follow the Lord, they will have the light of life’.
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