The Most Loving Mother in all Heaven and earth loves . . . You!

​She said: “Juanito, the most humble of my sons, where are you going?” He replied: “My Lady and Child, I have to reach your church in Mexico, Tlatilolco, to pursue things divine…” She then spoke to him: “Know for certain, dearest of my sons, that I am the perfect and ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, the Lord of all things and Master of Heaven and Earth. I ardently desire a temple to be built here, where I will show and offer all my love, compassion, help, and protection to the people and those who look for me. I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all who live in this land and of all mankind. I will hear the weeping and sorrows of those who love me, cry to me, and have confidence in me, and I will give them consolation and relief. Therefore, so that my designs might be fulfilled, go to the house of the Bishop of Mexico City and tell him that I sent you, and that it is my desire to have a temple built in this place.”

And a few days later, on the day which is today, she most beautifully says to Juan and to us:

Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one:
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

It's a tall order, to let nothing discourage us or depress us, but she absolutely IS HERE who is our Mother, and she is not only lovely and loving, but good and powerful. So let's heed her advice, snuggle up under her starry mantle, and enjoy her Advent embrace. Our Lord is in her womb, so by sitting on her lap we are already near to Him. Hello, little Jesus! Thank You for making Yourself so tiny for us - now You are our size! Please come soon! We're waiting!

Is there anything else that you need?
Perhaps a nap, a cup of coffee or tea, a gorgeous display of bright roses to brighten your day . . . ah, but who can imagine with what love Almighty God fashioned that Mama's dear face for us . . . He has given her to us as our own, and she has confirmed it as Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

As Archbishop Luis Martinez says: "There are words from Heaven in the apparition of Guadalupe that come from the immaculate lips of Mary and that enclose rich and unknown treasures of light, tenderness, and hope . . . Those words are ours, and with them Mary lulls us into a small dream. We sleep on her lap. Those words breathe tenderness and demand trust. Listen to what she says: 'Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not life and health? Are you not on my lap and under my care? Do you need anything else?' We have not heard the same thing from the lips of our mother on earth. For our mother in heaven has a love more intense and passionate and a tenderness more exquisite and delicate than all that we know here below. Read and reread those words attentively . . . Read them and you will taste in the depths of your heart the softness that they contain. Read them, and your soul will be flooded with tenderness - with that tenderness that you feel but which no human language can explain." 

Ah! Let us love Mary as she desires - with the abandon of a child on its mother's lap . . . Our little sister St. Therese advised the same behavior with our Heavenly Father:

"Holiness does not consist in this or that practice; it consists in a disposition of the heart, which makes us always humble and little in the hands of God, well aware of our feebleness, but confident to audacity in the Father's goodness." 

She said this on August 3, 1897 - this was the day (in 1992) on which my dear buddy Jon Syren did just that - abandoned himself so well that he got to go to Heaven. And what about us? On this day of December 12 (and every day after this Today of Guadalupe), we needn't be afraid of anything - life or death and all they contain! We need only remember Our Lady's words, along with the Little Flower's.

Okay, talk about tall orders! I can't seem to remember much these days, but let's go for this, with or without remembering: Confident audacity in Mary's maternal love! That's it. I was thinking of saying we can strive for that confident audacity, but let's forget striving today, and let's just rest in her arms.

Ah, Mamacita! Teach us your love, show us your love, let us drown in your love, let us be amazed by your love as the Bishop and his friends were on this day when you revealed not only the beauty of God in His flowers, but the beautifullest beauty of all - the beauty of your tender, loving gaze upon us.

To Marcel you said, dear Mary:

"My dear little one. You have just been looking at me. It is not surprising therefore that I hasten to ask you this question. It is something really astounding. My child, by a simple glance you have drawn to yourself my compassionate gaze. So what do you want? Are you very troubled? That is very unfortunate, my child. I am very sorry for you. Today, the feast day, when you should be relaxing , all you do is worry yourself. It is very painful. But, my child, why trouble yourself in this way? I was once in the same situation as you; my soul also needed to believe, to hope, and to love like you. Although aware of the wonders that God was working in me, I had, nevertheless, to believe, since I had no conception of the graces that the divine Father was granting to me. If , at that time, I had not had the need to call on the virtue of faith, I would no longer have been a humble creature like you, my children. If, therefore, I still had need to believe, with much greater reason have you, my child . . . 

"My dear child, remain in peace, all right? Little Jesus has not scolded you; neither have I. Our sole intention, both of us, is to get rid of your troubles. Do not worry. I love you dearly. See, I have more pity for you than for little Jesus. IN that case, it is He whos should be sad; but you, what reason have you to be sad? Come, my child, I am kissing you, I am giving you twice as many as I am giving little Jesus, nevertheless, little Jesus is very happy with that." (Conversations, 426) 

What have we to fear? Not a thing at all, not with Mary so loving and our mother, which she is. Let's heed the holy Archbishop's advice then, and read, and re-read:

Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one:
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

Draw me, dear Mother; we shall run!