Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem! – Zeph 3:14
Reflection
The Church, ever realistic, interjects a moment of real rejoicing in our sober Advent preparations. Advent began by calling to mind the Last Day. In the first themes of Advent we reflect on our death and what our judgment will be like at Christ’s Second Coming. But the tone of the season gives way this Sunday to celebration and joy.
Today, we might think too of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the joy she gave the Americans when she appeared at Tepeyac hill. The miraculous image she imprinted on St. Juan Diego’s tilma is annually the cause of admiration and joy. Why? She tells us herself. She said to Juan Diego, “I will give Him to the people in all my personal love, in my compassion, in my help, in my protection: because I am truly your merciful Mother, yours and all … those who seek me, those who trust in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their complaints and heal all their sorrows, hardships and sufferings.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe promises to give the Lord to us! She will hear our sorrows and look on us with love! Rejoice then, for we have such a tender and compassionate mother!
Prayer
O God, who see how your people
faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity,
enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation
and to celebrate them always
with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
And today we celebrate...