Hear the words of the Blessed Mother, spoken to Juan Diego in 1531...

"Listen, put into your heart, that the the thing that frightens you, that thing that afflicts you, is nothing; do not let it disturb you?  Am I not here, am i not your  mother?

Are you not under my shadow and protection?  Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the embrace of my arms? Let nothing else worry you or disturb you"

In these words Juan Diego found comfort and courage to continue his mission.

Today's feast is more then a commemoration of an apparition. It is looking back to a beginning of the transformation of a society, a culture, a civilization.

It was these words that enabled a civilization to be transformed.

The Aztecs went from offering human sacrifices to come to the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist, discovering the power of the sacrifice of Christ that brings life and joy.

IT was also these words that transformed the Spaniards.  Mary through Juan Diego taught them to welcome the natives, to welcome the poor and lowly not to mistreat them.

In these words and in this image, a civilization of love began.

How much do we need to rediscover this civilization for ourselves, for our families, for our community, for our world.

Each time we look upon this image we are remind of the task at hand.  The mission did not end with Juan Diego but it begins a new with each of us who call her mother, who call him savior.

We pray that God will trace in our actions the lines of the mother's love and trace in our hearts her readiness of faith so that we may be instruments of that transformation of that civilization.

Like Juan Diego we must respond to life in faith and no longer react.  It is faith it is not instinct that drives us and determines our actions and our response of love.

It is not fear, it is not jealousy, it is not lust, it is not selfish desires, it is not hate, it is not resentment, it is not our differences;

we must be ready to respond in faith so we can build the civilization of love.  This is how we become children of such a mother as our lady of Guadalupe.