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OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE MASS
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
In his homily for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Francis focused on the miraculous image preserved on the tilma, or cloak, of St Juan Diego, to whom Our Lady appeared.
Basilica of Saint Peter on Tuesday, December 12, 2023
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The first thing that comes to mind is the image of the Virgin printed on the tilma.
It is the image of the first disciple, of the mother of believers, of the Church itself, which remains imprinted in the humility of what we are and have, which is not worth much, but which will be something great in the eyes of God. She is printed on the tilma.
The Virgin asks Juan Diego for a small job, to pick some flowers. Flowers, in mysticism, mean the virtues that the Lord instills in the heart, they are not our work. The act of collecting them reveals to us that God wants us to welcome this gift, to perfume our weak reality with good works, eliminating hatred and fears.
If you look at the message of Guadalupe, the words of the Virgin: “Am I not here, for I am your mother?”, they take on a new meaning. That “being” of the Virgin, that “being” is to remain permanently imprinted on those poor clothes, perfumed by virtues collected in a world that seems incapable of producing them. Virtues that fill our poverty in the simplicity of small gestures of love, that illuminate our tilma, without us realizing it, with the image of a Church that carries Christ in its womb.
The image, the tilma, the roses, this is the message. It's that simple, without gloss. Along with the assurance that She is my mother, that She is here. And this message defends us from so many social and political ideologies with which this Guadeloupan reality is so frequently used to justify itself, and make money. The Guadalupe message does not tolerate ideologies of any kind. Just the image, the tilma, the roses.
Basilica of Saint Peter on Tuesday, December 12, 2023
_________________________________
The first thing that comes to mind is the image of the Virgin printed on the tilma.
It is the image of the first disciple, of the mother of believers, of the Church itself, which remains imprinted in the humility of what we are and have, which is not worth much, but which will be something great in the eyes of God. She is printed on the tilma.
The Virgin asks Juan Diego for a small job, to pick some flowers. Flowers, in mysticism, mean the virtues that the Lord instills in the heart, they are not our work. The act of collecting them reveals to us that God wants us to welcome this gift, to perfume our weak reality with good works, eliminating hatred and fears.
If you look at the message of Guadalupe, the words of the Virgin: “Am I not here, for I am your mother?”, they take on a new meaning. That “being” of the Virgin, that “being” is to remain permanently imprinted on those poor clothes, perfumed by virtues collected in a world that seems incapable of producing them. Virtues that fill our poverty in the simplicity of small gestures of love, that illuminate our tilma, without us realizing it, with the image of a Church that carries Christ in its womb.
The image, the tilma, the roses, this is the message. It's that simple, without gloss. Along with the assurance that She is my mother, that She is here. And this message defends us from so many social and political ideologies with which this Guadeloupan reality is so frequently used to justify itself, and make money. The Guadalupe message does not tolerate ideologies of any kind. Just the image, the tilma, the roses.
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