the lord is with you, do not be afraid .... our lady of guadalupe 2018

Today we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  In the seminary where I came from, after completing the building for the senior high school seminarians we were searching for a patron to whom we could dedicate our small chapel.  It so happened that on that very week of the search, the archbishop was supposed to be operated for an obstruction in one of his internal organs. It was a dangerous operation.  And so the night before the operation some priests brought to him the tilma of the Guadalupe, placed it on his stomach and prayed the rosary.  The morning of the operation he was wheeled to the operating room and as he was being prepared, the anesthesiologist said she could not proceed with the operation because something is wrong with the blood analysis.  And so the operation was postponed and he was wheeled back to his room.  The operation never happened. They could no longer locate the obstruction.  And that miracle made us decide to enthrone the tilma to the little chapel and dedicated it to her.

We always define our life as to what we do, what we achieved, what you achieved in your children.  We define our life by our successes through our talent, hard work and strength.  But there is another side to our lives which we often forget, a very important side to every human endeavor.  And it is that part which says “The Lord is with you, do not be afraid.”  And I believe this is the reminder of Our Lady of Guadalupe to all of us.  Mary was assured of God’s strength when she started out answering her call.  And she is imbibing that to us too in Guadalupe, “The Lord is with you, do not be afraid.”