On this Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, let us first of all gratefully remember her visit and maternal closeness. When she appeared to St. Juan Diego on the Hill of Tepeyac, she presented herself as the “ever perfect Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God.” She also hastened attentively to embrace the new American peoples, at their dramatic birth. We can continue to praise God for the wonders He has worked in the life of the Latin American peoples. God, in his way, “has hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to the lowly and humble, to the lowly in heart” (cf. Mt 11:25). In the wonders that the Lord has fulfilled in Mary, She recognizes her Son’s manner and mode of conduct in salvation history. He lifts up the humble, comes to the aid of the poor and the lowly, fills with goodness, with blessings and hope those who trust in his mercy from generation to generation, while He puts down from their thrones the wealthy, the powerful and the overbearing. In light of the Magnificat, let us feel compelled today to ask for a grace, a wholly Christian grace, that the future of Latin America be forged by the poor and by those who suffer, by the meek, by those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, by the merciful, by the pure in heart, by the peacemakers, by those who are persecuted for the sake of Christ’s name, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (cf. Mt 5:1–11). May the grace be forged by those who today, are relegated to the category of slaves, of objects to be exploited or simply be rejected, by the idolatrous system of the throwaway culture. And should we be frightened by such a bold plan or should worldly pusillanimity threaten us, may She return to speak to our heart and enable us to hear her voice, that of Mother, of Good Mother, of Great Mother: Why are you afraid? Am I not here, I, who am your Mother?
—from the book The Joy of Advent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis
