This Advent
without planning I began a character study into our blessed Mother Mary- since
my initial conversion I have been so in love with Jesus that I sort of have dismissed
Mary. Though multiple people have tried
to explain to me her very important role in our salvation story I still am
slowly developing a deeper devotion to her.
I grew up in a patriarchal society where I often heard the false
teaching that women were inferior and I think I unconsciously have placed Mary
in that erroneous category of lesser worth.
Why go to Mary when I can run to Jesus has been my dominating
mentality. Yet, this December as I began
to explore Mary’s role as Jesus’ mother I began to capture and relate to her
more deeply and to understand why we venerate her. Having also grown-up in a matriarchal home
where my mom ran the household and took the responsibility of raising, educating
and forming honorable children- I see that Mary is truly special because she not only gave birth to Jesus she raised the Son of God! From the moment
the Angel Gabriel gives her the message that she is to be the Saviors mother
she doesn’t hesitate. Though she understands
the difficulty of God’s mission for her, she surrenders to God’s will entirely. Surrendering our will to God is an ongoing
process for all of us, but for Mary she trusts God completely and immediately. Not only does she quickly submit, but she
sings a song of joy magnifying God and acknowledging her smallness. And that’s where her greatness lies- she’s
great and worthy of veneration because God CHOSE her! If God chose Mary than who are we to reject
and diminish our blessed Mother as “just the human” who carried Jesus. To diminish her is as terrible as to place
her above God. This weekend we celebrated
the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the church was packed and Father reminded
us to love Mary, but never forget that our blessed Mother ALWAYS leads us to
Jesus. Father pointed out how in Hispanic
communities the Guadalupana Festivity
usually brings large numbers, but Christmas services usually have low assistance. It’s important that as we
grow in our Catholic faith we begin to order our spirituality according to the
truths of our faith- to love God how He wants to be loved. He wants us to love Mary, to seek her intercession
and to have her as a role model of faith (for she is His favored one), but to always remember
that He’s the King of Kings the only one worthy of honor.
This is the
first year that I participated (as an adult) in the Guadalupe festivities and
it was such a transforming experience. I
love my culture our colorful, cheerful beauty.
Our over the top aesthetics and high values of family and community unity.
I love our Mariachi music and our Aztec dancers. I love the rainbow of ribbons in our hair,
the embroidered flowers on our clothes our indigenous-mestizo roots. I love our religiosity… And I love how our Catholic faith makes room
for all that Mexican awesomeness! This
year, as I sat in a triduum dedicated to the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe I
took a really close look at the image of our Virgencita and I realized how blessed I am to have an image of mi Madrecita that looks so much like
me. Morenita
in skin color, lover of loud colorful clothes, jewelry wearing and radiating
in glitter from the stars (have I mentioned how much I love all things glitter)! She even has our party personality – loves partaking
in peregrinations around our neighborhoods… She’s so much like me and yet she makes
me want to be more like her. To love her
is to love her Son and to get to know her is another path towards God. We Mexicanos have been so blessed because the
Mother of our God came to visit us tangibly in el Cerro de Tepeyac. She came
looking like us with a message of love- God loves the marginalized, the weak,
the poor, the brown- He loves ALL equally, we are each individually special to Him simply because He chooses us over and over again. Wow! Though others will reject us- God loves us to
infinity and beyond and our Mother Mary is there to carry us in her arms towards
Jesus for healing. We are completely loved
by God- may this Advent be a time to feel God’s love through Mary who gave us
the greatest gift of all- God the Son. Amen.
Beautiful braids.
Beautiful service.
Celebrating our roots.
Kids in traditional costumes.
Que Viva la Patroness of the Americas and of our Diocese.
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