In these last few weeks, our Catholic Church has celebrated many Marian feasts, honoring the highest disciple, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
From the festivities of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá (November 18), Our Lady of Divine Providence (November 19), the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (November 21), the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary (December 8), and the most recent, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas and Star of the New Evangelization (December 12), we have walked alongside her as the living testimony of missionary discipleship.
Moreover, our rich blend of Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic cultures show us a vision, not only new, but different from the Catholicism celebrated around the world.
When we dive deeper into the mystery of our faith, into the missionary call written by Jesus in our hearts, and into the blessing of our Mother Mary, we can see our missionary vocation as God’s will for each one of us.
Let us see the words that Our Lady of Guadalupe proclaims to Juan Diego, a saint whom we have just celebrated on December 9.
In the apparition, the Virgin speaks to him: “Juanito: the smallest of my children, I am the ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God. I want a temple to be built here for me to show my son and lavish all my love, compassion, help, and defense on all those who live on this earth and on all those who call on me and trust me.”
Our Lady’s ultimate desire is to bring her son Jesus into the world, and as disciples, our mission is exactly to bring others to Jesus Christ, Mary being a direct vehicle to the compassion and mercy of God the Son.
The Virgin Mary also reminds us of the importance of worship; that is why she asks Juan Diego for a temple or church so that the people can worship the Lord together.
The adoration of the missionary disciple does not need to consist of too many words or thoughts, but of great courage and determination not to stray from the Lord.
The words, the songs, and the prayers in the Holy Mass are also a vehicle to communicate with Jesus himself present in the Eucharist.
Attending Sunday Mass, one of the four holy habits of discipleship, is crucial for the formation and growth of the disciple and for holiness.
However, if we read the other words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, we can also see some of the other holy habits such as monthly confession, daily prayer, and personal sacrifice.
With Mary and Jesus, we have compassion (which we see face to face in the sacrament of Confession), we see help (which we offer in our daily prayers to the Lord), and we see defense (which we strengthen when we do mortification — when we deny ourselves in order to receive Christ into our lives instead).
May this season of Advent and Christmas, and as we dive even deeper into the Go Make Disciples evangelization initiative, show us our missionary call to grow in holiness and go out and evangelize as the Virgin Mary did.
And, as St. John Paul II shares with us in his encyclical, Redemptoris Missio (“Mission of the Redeemer”), “I feel that the time has come to commit all the energies of the Church to a new evangelization and mission ad gentes. No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church, can evade this supreme duty: To announce Christ to all peoples.”