The Latin Mass Society of New Zealand
Introduction
In the economy of salvation, the Blessed Virgin Mary, crowned at her Assumption as Queen of Heaven and Earth, is the Mediatrix of All Grace. She, the first and best disciple of her Divine Son, cooperates fully in His Redemptive work from the moment of His conception to the moment of His death on the cross, when her Immaculate Heart was mystically pierced at the piercing of His Sacred Heart by the Roman soldier’s spear. Always one in her glorious Immaculate Heart with His Most Sacred Heart, she continues, with maternal love, to be the channel of the immeasurable and unceasing graces that pour forth from His glorious pierced Heart into the hearts of all the faithful.
Our Lady’s work as Mediatrix became manifest with the establishment of a “sacred little house,” a place of pilgrimage, in Tepeyac in 1531, whence she might show the mercy of God to all of her children of America and of the world. As the great sign of her maternal desire to make us one with her Divine Son and, therefore, recipients of the immeasurable outpouring of God’s mercy, she left her image on the Tilma or mantle of Saint Juan Diego. To this day, the image, which has no human explanation as to its origin and whose fabric, cactus cloth, should have disintegrated some thirty to forty years after her apparitions, remains intact and radiates a miraculous maternal love.
Within eight years from the date of Our Lady’s apparitions at Guadalupe, nearly nine million Native Americans converted to the Catholic faith, giving up the diabolical practice of human sacrifice and embracing the Christian way of life with remarkable fervor and fidelity. What is more, the European explorers and settlers, and the Native Americans, who were on the verge of a most bloody conflict, united to form a new culture, the mestiza culture, which yet today looks to the Virgin of Guadalupe, La Morenita, as its source and inspiration.
I have personally experienced her maternal love while gazing upon the Tilma. Through her maternal love, Our Lady of Guadalupe brings her children to her Divine Son, the only Savior of the world, in whom we discover the wonder of our daily life in Christ, for God indeed dwells with us.
In four months, on December 12, I will be making the consecration to Our Lady at the Shrine of Our Lady Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I hope you can come to the Shrine to join me in this momentous event.
When you come to the Shrine, Our Lady of Guadalupe, with deepest maternal affection, manifests to us the great mystery of God’s love for us, inviting us to have complete confidence in His promises. Making our consecration to her, she draws us to encounter her Divine Son, the fulfillment of all of God the Father’s promises. She draws us especially to the Sacraments of Penance and of the Most Holy Eucharist, so that we may know directly in our lives the fulfillment of God’s promise of liberation from sin and death, His promise of eternal salvation.
Making our consecration at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be our response to her pure and perfect love by totally giving our hearts to her Immaculate Heart, through whom we are more perfectly united to the glorious pierced Heart of her Divine Son, Jesus the Savior.
Those who can join should take a brief moment to RSVP on the Shrine’s Site.
https://novena.cardinalburke.com/novena/reflection-eleven#reflection-one
Ninth Reflection – 12 July
Introduction
Last month, our reflection focused on the trust that Saint Juan Diego placed in Our Lady of Guadalupe, even when difficult circumstances in his life tempted him to avoid a personal encounter with her, which she corrected with the love and mercy of a mother redirecting the faltering footsteps of her child.
This month, let us turn our attention to the last direction of the Virgin Mother of God, Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is that we are to become her messengers, just as she called Saint Juan Diego to be her messenger to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga. Juan Diego experienced numerous temptations from Satan to shun Our Lady’s mission. An early snare tempted him to believe that he was the wrong person, describing himself as “just a man from the country” and, about the Bishop’s residence, “it is not my place to go or to stay” (Nican Mopohua, no. 55).
All of us can easily give way to doubt and fear before the challenge of living in Christ in our totally secularized culture. There is the tendency to doubt God’s grace and to give way to fear in responding to its “costly” demands. There is the temptation to think that we must devise some program, “some magic formula,” to transform the world. Yet it is Christ, alive for us in the Church, Who alone shows us the way. It is our humble and confident following of Christ which will transform us and our world. To help us follow Him, as He was dying upon the cross, Our Lord gave His Mother to us as our Mother.
By the mystery of the Divine Maternity, the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed into glory, never ceases to beat with love for us, the children whom her Divine Son gave to her, also as He was dying upon the Cross. When Our Lord pronounced the words, “Woman, behold thy son” (Jn 19, 26) to His Mother and “Behold thy mother” (Jn 19, 27) to Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, standing at the foot of the cross, He expressed an essential reality of the salvation He was winning for us: the full cooperation of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in His saving work.
The work that the Virgin of Guadalupe gave to Saint Juan Diego is the work that he asks us to continue today: It is the work of evangelization in the Church and in the world. Her humbling words to Saint Juan Diego are her words to us, too: “I have no lack of servants, of messengers, to whom I can give the task” (Nican Mopohua, no. 58). The Queen of Heaven can choose anyone to accomplish her desire, but she, Our Blessed Mother, has chosen you and me, her children, to be her messengers, to carry the Word of God, her Divine Son, into the hearts of all, so that they might unite their heart to her Immaculate Heart, through whom, our hearts become more intimately united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Accordingly, let her words to Saint Juan Deigo fill us with virtuous courage as we persevere in this Nine-Month Novena. “I, personally, the ever Virgin Holy Mary, I, who am the Mother of God, sent you as my messenger” (Nican Mopohua, no. 59).
In five months, on December 12, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, during the Holy Mass at 12:15 pm Central Time, I will be making the Official Act of Consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe by reciting the Official Prayer of this Nine-Month Novena.
I invite you to come to the Shrine to make your Official Act of Consecration with me. Those who can join should take a brief moment to RSVP on the Shrine’s Site.
Sixth Reflection:
Let us continue to reflect on the Third Apparition, and on the Bishop’s request that St. Juan Diego present a sign.
Our Lord calls “blessed” those who have not seen and still believe. And yet, in His mercy, Our Lord accords us an abundance of signs of His love, so that we may grow in ever greater love for Him. The tilma upon which God miraculously imprinted the image of Our Lady for us, her children, is one such sign, a truly remarkable sign of His love.
Let us take a moment to examine the signs God has given to each of us. Have we allowed our souls to grow dulled and jaded by the myopia of materialism that pervades our society? Or do we believe that God shows signs of His Love for us each and every day?
Are we putting the Lord Our God to the test by demanding exact results according to our own, limited understanding? Or do we work to appreciate God’s grace according to our present station in life?
We should know and believe that, even if we are struggling to see the signs God has shown to us, we can always turn to the wonder and love that are available to us here and now in the miracle of the Sacraments through which God the Son Incarnate acts directly to sanctify us, to bestow immeasurably and unceasingly upon us His grace and life. He is offering His mercy right now in the sacramental encounter with Him in Confession. He is offering His very life – His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – in the Holy
Eucharist.
Our Lady leads us to love ever more and more Her Divine Son. So, I implore you: as we continue in this novena of nine months, set aside more time to spend in adoration before the Most Blessed Sacrament, reposed in the tabernacle or exposed for us in the monstrance. The Sacred Host is the greatest sign of God’s love, which we have; may our love for Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament grow livelier and stronger each and every day.
Let us pray…
https://novena.cardinalburke.com/novena/reflection-six
Let us pray.
In these early days of the novena, carry the events of the first apparition in your hearts as you pray the following each day:
O Virgin Mother of God, we fly to your protection and beg your intercession against the darkness and sin which ever more envelop the world and menace the Church. Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, gave you to us as our mother as He died on the Cross for our salvation. So too, in 1531, when darkness and sin beset us, He sent you, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Tepeyac to lead us to Him Who alone is our light and our salvation.
Through your apparitions on Tepeyac and your abiding presence with us on the miraculous mantle of your messenger, Saint Juan Diego, millions of souls converted to faith in your Divine Son. Through this novena and our consecration to you, we humbly implore your intercession for our daily conversion of life to Him and the conversion of millions more who do not yet believe in Him. In our homes and in our nation, lead us to Him Who alone wins the victory over sin and darkness in us and in the world.
Unite our hearts to your Immaculate Heart so that they may find their true and lasting home in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ever guide us along the pilgrimage of life to our eternal home with Him. So may our hearts, one with yours, always trust in God’s promise of salvation, in His never-failing mercy toward all who turn to Him with a humble and contrite heart. Through this novena and our consecration to you, O Virgin of Guadalupe, lead all souls in America and throughout the world to your Divine Son in Whose name we pray. Amen.
Introduction
As our first month of the Nine-Month Novena concludes and our second month begins, some of us may be experiencing the worst temptations from Satan to surrender and stop praying the Novena Prayer every day.
Throughout the days of the apparitions, Saint Juan Diego was subject to the temptations of Satan, who placed in him the doubt that he was worthy and capable of carrying out the directions and orders of the Heavenly Queen. After his first visit to the Bishop, he was convinced that only someone of higher social status could carry out Our Lady’s mission. In a rather eloquent way, he described his own lowliness to the Virgin Mother of God:
So I beg you, my Lady, my Queen, my little Girl, to have one of the nobles who are held in esteem, one who is known, respected, honored, have him carry on, take your venerable breath, your venerable word, so that he will be believed. Because I am really just a man from country, I’m the porter’s rope, I’m a backframe, just a tail, a wing; I myself need to be led, carried on someone’s back; there, where you sent me, it is not my place to go or to stay, my little Girl, my littlest Daughter, my Lady, my Girl. Please, excuse me, I will afflict your face, your heart; I will fall into your anger, your displeasure, my Lady Mistress (Nican Mopohua, nos. 54-56).
But the Mother of God, the Mother of Divine Grace, responded by confirming him as her messenger, assuring him that he, too, was called to carry out the mission of bringing God Incarnate to the world, to his brothers and sisters.
Our Lady of Guadalupe assured him that she has many upon whom to call for the mission of her messenger, but that Juan Diego has been called and, therefore, must trust that he can carryout the mission. She replies to him:
Listen my youngest son, know for sure that I have no lack of servants, of messengers, to whom I can give the task of carrying my breath, my word, so that they carry out my will; but it is necessary that you, personally, go and plead, that by your intercession, my wish, my will, become a reality. And I beg you, my youngest son, and I strictly order you, to go again tomorrow to see the Bishop. And in my name, make him know, make him hear my wish, my will, so that he will bring into being, he will build, my sacred house that I ask of him. And carefully tell him again how I, personally, the ever Virgin Holy Mary, I, who am the Mother of God, sent you as my messenger (Nican Mopohua, nos. 58-62).
In the battle for the truth, we must never give way to discouragement, which is always the first temptation of the devil. When we are tempted to be discouraged or to be defeated, let us recall the vision of the final victory of Christ’s Redemptive Incarnation, recounted in the Book of Revelation. In the vision, Satan is determined to destroy the “woman clothed with the sun” (Rv 12, 1) and her Son. But the Divine Son of Mary is “caught up to God and to his throne” (Rv 12, 5). Thus, He brings his victory over sin and death to its fullness. In fact, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe which God left for us on the tilma (mantle) of Saint Juan Diego is the “woman clothed with the sun” who carries in her womb the Savior of the world.
Our Lady’s motherly words to Saint Juan Diego speak to us, too, as they reflect a fundamental truth of the faith: Christ’s dwelling with us in His holy Church, the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our souls, enables even the weakest person to carry out God’s will with heroic virtue. Only with the aid of God’s grace, through the intercession of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces, will we persevere in this Novena and Consecration.
Cardinal Burke
https://novena.cardinalburke.com/novena/reflection-three-april-12-2024
During the first apparition to St. Juan Diego, Mary introduced herself as the Virgin
Mother of God and our mother.
These words are as comforting and inspiring today as they were nearly 500 years ago:
“… I am honored to be your compassionate mother, yours and that of all the people that
live together in this land, and also of all the other various lineages of men; those who
love me, those who cry to me, those who seek me, those who trust in me.”
As Catholics, we say that Mary is our Mother a great deal. We call her our Blessed
Mother – enough, perhaps, that we might sometimes lose sight of what an
extraordinary thing it is that we are saying. Mary, the ever-Virgin Mother of God, is our
mother: take a moment today to reflect as deeply as you are able on the beautiful
implications of this statement.
Know in your heart that she is your mother. Know beyond doubt that her maternal care
for you is real. Recognize that she wants what is best for you—and that she desires
nothing more than to bring you in closer relationship with her Divine Son, who,
through her Divine Maternity, has become our Brother. See that it is a sign of the
unfathomable depths of God’s love for us, that He has sent Mary to us in this role, as
mother and Mediatrix of Grace.
Throughout these coming days, make it an express point to ask for Mary’s intercession
to obtain for you the good and holy things you desire, so that what you desire may
conform ever more closely to God’s plan for you.
Let us pray:
Let us pray.
In these early days of the novena, carry the events of the first apparition in your hearts as you pray the following each day:
O Virgin Mother of God, we fly to your protection and beg your intercession against the darkness and sin which ever more envelop the world and menace the Church. Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, gave you to us as our mother as He died on the Cross for our salvation. So too, in 1531, when darkness and sin beset us, He sent you, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Tepeyac to lead us to Him Who alone is our light and our salvation.
Through your apparitions on Tepeyac and your abiding presence with us on the miraculous mantle of your messenger, Saint Juan Diego, millions of souls converted to faith in your Divine Son. Through this novena and our consecration to you, we humbly implore your intercession for our daily conversion of life to Him and the conversion of millions more who do not yet believe in Him. In our homes and in our nation, lead us to Him Who alone wins the victory over sin and darkness in us and in the world.
Unite our hearts to your Immaculate Heart so that they may find their true and lasting home in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ever guide us along the pilgrimage of life to our eternal home with Him. So may our hearts, one with yours, always trust in God’s promise of salvation, in His never-failing mercy toward all who turn to Him with a humble and contrite heart. Through this novena and our consecration to you, O Virgin of Guadalupe, lead all souls in America and throughout the world to your Divine Son in Whose name we pray. Amen.