Over twenty members from the Our Lady of Guadalupe Province gathered at San Juan Diego Friary on Tuesday morning, December 10th to celebrate their provincial patron. Vicar Provincial, Charlie Martinez, presided and preached at the liturgy. His powerful homily focused on Advent as a time of promise and fulfillment for us as Christians, friars, and devotees of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He preached:
    "Advent is the season of promise and fulfillment! The scripture readings from the Old Testament feature the promise and the New Testament readings feature the
fulfillment. So for example, Isaiah has been presenting the promise of how humanity will be restored and liberated. “In days to come, the deaf will hear and the blind will see, the lion will lie down with the lamb, swords will plow the earth.” And our Advent gospels have featured the fulfillment in the works of Jesus; giving sight to the blind, healing the lame and feeding the multitudes. And the result of Christ’s restoration is always a profound joy. Advent is a season of joy.
   But joy at a deep level sometimes isn’t easy to come by in our lives and in our world. This seems to have been true even in the ancient world. In the gospel when the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary with news of her pregnancy, we are told that “she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” So even in Mary it seems that joy at that deep level isn’t being felt. It is after the angel assures Mary that this is an action of the Holy Spirt that Mary is joyful. “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.”
    In 1531, there was no joy among the Aztecs. It was a difficult time because people were living through the collapse of their empire. The people were conquered, enslaved and abused by the Spaniards, and many people were dying due to disease ripping through their population. People had lost their dignity and hope. Talk about hopelessness! It is into this situation that Mary enters. She entered and validated the dignity and the integrity of the people. Mary made all indigenous people
sons and daughters of God. The Guadalupe story, so familiar to us, shows that God intervenes in and through Mary. God enters into the muck of our human condition and restores us. But the intervention is not solely for us. We are called to be sources
of joy to others. When Juan Diego goes to the top of the desert hill he finds roses of all colors “glowing like diamonds.” He is filled with joy because he is convinced that the roses are the sign. But when he returns to the bishop with the roses, he unrolls his tilma, showing the bishop the roses and says, “Here is the sign.” But he doesn’t know that as the roses drop to the floor, the image of Mary is imprinted on his tilma. He is now the sign to others of God’s promises fulfilled. And there was great rejoicing.
    This says something very important. We need to be sources of joy to others. When Mary made Juan Diego her messenger, by extension we also became messengers of her Son’s love, hope and joy to our world. Today, as we ask for Mary’s blessings on our feast day, let us welcome God’s invitation to be his instruments of joy so that in the words of the prophet Zechariah, we can “sing and rejoice, because He is coming to dwell among us.” May the Son of Mary be born anew in our hearts at Christmas!