The image of our Lady of Guadalupe is so powerful to many because she looks like Juan Diego, the man to whom she appeared - she has dark skin, dark hair, she is dressed like a humble native, etc. The image hangs today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and the basilica is the most visited church in the world.
After my introduction, we listened to the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" as it focuses on the king reaching to and helping a poor man "on the feast of Stephen." I called the students' attention to the last line:
"Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing, Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing."
We then prayed the Magnificat monastic style, again, a prayer of Mary that she prayed after learning she would be the mother of God. In the prayer, she expresses her joy that God has "lifted up the lowly" like her and "filled the hungry with good things." We then listened to the gospel of the day which was the story of the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, offered intentions, and together prayed this final prayer:
O Lady of December,
A woman wrapped in a poor cloak on a barren hill,
We wait for you to show us Christ's Light again,
To remind us all of the dignity of every human person,
To pray for us to be generous with justice,
Bringing it like roses to your daughters and sons,
To all those who have been waiting. Amen.
A woman wrapped in a poor cloak on a barren hill,
We wait for you to show us Christ's Light again,
To remind us all of the dignity of every human person,
To pray for us to be generous with justice,
Bringing it like roses to your daughters and sons,
To all those who have been waiting. Amen.
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