THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

December 4, 2005

The Good News

...Holy Mother Mary

The liturgical season of Advent is a four-week period of preparation for the great feast of Chirstmas, the birth of Jesus.  A principal figure of the Advent season is the Blessed Virgin Mother.  

The role of Mary was to unfold the plan of God in an unique way.  By her positive response to God’s invitation, she becomes the mother of His Son Jesus.  She nurtures Him in her womb then gives birth to Him Who is Our Lord and Savior.  Throughout her life on this earth and now in heaven, Mary gives us Jesus for she knows that we need Him.  Mary loves her Son Jesus totally and completely and her maternal love includes all of us for we, too, are indeed her children.

The Church presents to us the image of Mary in a special way during the Advent season by designating two very important Marian feasts:

On December 8th, the Church Universal celebrates a feast in honor of Our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception.  To emphasize the solemnity of that day and feast, the Immaculate Conception is always a holy day of obligation.  The Immaculate Conception is the terminology we use to describe the fact that Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by the singular grace of God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, was preserved free from original sin; that by the grace of God, Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life; that by espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, Mary gave herself entirely to the Person and work of her Son, thereby perfectly serving the mystery of redemption.

As people living in the United States, we have an added claim on the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title of the Immaculate Conception for it was under the title of the Immaculate Conception that she was named Patroness of our country.

Four days later, on December 12th, we celebrate another feast day in honor of Mary.  This is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  This feast commemorates a series of apparitions of the Blessed Mother to Saint Juan Diego at Tepeyac.  These apparitions occurred in 1531 shortly after the Spanish conquest of current day Mexico.

Within a decade after the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, eight million native people converted from idol worship to Catholicism because of Mary’s image.  They called her God’s Mother and praised her because, as they said, “she freed them from the great evil.”  Yes, Mary had promised to make her Son known and visible to the people and at her chapel at Tepeyac they came to know Jesus.  News of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe spread throughout the Americas and millions and millions more came to know, love and serve God.  Mary truly brought them to her Son Jesus and thus they were baptized and became devout members of the Church.  Now, almost 500 years later, millions and millions of Hispanic Catholic people continue to practice the faith, guided by special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, who continues to lead them to Jesus.

Through the on-going immigration of Hispanic people to the United States, a more lively practice of our Catholic faith has now entered our country.  As a result, there is a new impetus for evangelization and liturgical renewal.  Again, Mary the mother of Jesus, brings us to Him!