We Are Guadalupanos!

We are all Guadalupanos! This is a term used for a person who is devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  We can certainly make this heartfelt and bold proclamation for all the world to hear. But we must ask ourselves, “What does it really mean to be a Guadalupano?
           
By our baptism, we are immersed in the death of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that we may be raised up with Him by the glory of His Resurrection. We believe that the Passion and Death of Our Lord on the Cross, his saving Sacrifice for us, gives the waters of Baptism the power to immerse us in this act of redemptive sacrifice, making us sons and daughters of God the Father and saving us from our sins. Who stood at the foot of Jesus’ Cross? Holy Mary, His Mother. What gift did Our Lord give to all people in the person St. John the Beloved Disciple? The tremendous gift of Holy Mary, His Mother, to be our Mother also. We can say that we become Guadalupanos at the baptismal font when we are immersed in His Death, for surely Our Lady is there, as she stood at the Cross of her Son. We are Guadalupanos because we have been entrusted to her as her children and she has been given to us as our Mother.
           
We are Guadalupanos!
           
To be Guadalupanos means that we must call upon her each day. In the story of the Annunciation in St. Luke’s Gospel, we hear the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Our Lady: “Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you.” These blessed words are found in the prayer, the Hail Mary, that is loved by us from our earliest days must be on our lips, flowing from our hearts daily. The Hail Mary should help form the rhythm of prayer in our daily lives. We must take up her Rosary again and allow the mysteries of the life of her Son to form our hearts to grow in love of God. Each family should try each day to gather together at home, from the youngest to the oldest, to pray her Rosary. “The family that prays together, stays together.”
           
We are Guadalupanos!
           
To be Guadalupanos means that we gather together before the altar of God every Sunday and Holy Day and even daily, if possible, to have that incredibly profound encounter with Jesus, the Son of Mary, in the celebration of His Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Holy Mass. We are called to fall down in adoration before His Sacred Body and Precious Blood, truly and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament. We must come together and be united with the Sacrifice of Jesus made present on the altar in the company of Our Lady. For, do we not believe that she was present at His Sacrifice offered on the Cross? Surely she will gather us before His Sacrifice made present again on the altar!
           
We are Guadalupanos!

To be Guadalupanos means we recognize that we are in the midst of that great cosmic battle between good and evil that is so clearly described in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation.
“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.”

“Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems… then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth to a son…destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and His throne…a loud voice in heaven said, ‘Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed.’ ”
           
Yes, my dear friends, we are caught up in this great battle between Our Lady and the dragon. We see it all around us as people choose sin, darkness, violence, acts that kill children, especially in their mothers’ wombs, abandonment of the poor and the vulnerable in our society. We are called to choose to be on the side of Our Lady—to hear her voice as did St. Juan Diego. “Listen and understand, my littlest son, let nothing frighten and affect you or trouble your heart…Am I not here, who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow?” We need to be under her protection, who is the Immaculate Mother of God. We must choose the good. We must choose life. We must choose holiness!
           
We are Guadalupanos!
           
To be Guadalupanos means to be sent on mission by Our Lady, just as St. Juan Diego was. She sent him to proclaim the truth of her Son, His Gospel, and His Church. She gathered those rare Castilian roses and placed them in his tilma as proof of her loving presence and care for her children. So too, she places the roses of faith, hope and love in our hearts. Her Son Jesus has entrusted to her the power to share these graces with us so that we, too, may proclaim to the world the presence of the Mother who brought forth the Savior of all. We must imitate her so that, like her, we can say to God, “Let it be done unto me according to Your word!” We must bear in our own lives her image of humility, faith, and love. For to imitate and love her is to draw closer and closer to her Divine Son. We must accept the mission she gives us to proclaim her Son Jesus Christ to all the world!
           
We are Guadalupanos. True? Yes, we are Guadalupanos. We belong to her!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid

Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh