“For nothing will be impossible for God”

Today, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe we reflect on the role Mary plays in being a vessel through which we grow closer to Christ. This image of Our Lady is one of the few that depict Our Mother with child, which ties in so perfectly with the Advent season as we wait for the coming of Christ. In the Saint Thomas More Chapel, on the right side, is a small Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Looking in, you can see the tabernacle in the center, and behind that is a beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe looking lovingly down on the Body of Christ from her position as Mother of the Church.

Many times, I’ve wondered the significance of this image of Mary: Why was this the image chosen to reside by the tabernacle as the patroness of our community? In what way does Our Lady of Guadalupe serve as a guide to Yale students and the greater community? How might Mary be an example to us as we prepare this Advent for the coming of Christ?

Since her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531, thousands of natives converted to Catholicism. Over the next few centuries millions of people on the American continent have converted through Our Lady’s intercession. Today, over 20 million people visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe each year.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is described as “Patroness of All America and Star of the first and new evangelization,” and Pope Saint John Paul II wrote, “It is my heartfelt hope that she . . . will by her maternal intercession guide the Church in America, obtaining the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as she once did for the early Church, so that the new evangelization may yield a splendid flowering of Christian life”.

Therefore, the significance of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Yale is profound: Our Lady watches over a secular place with so many students in search of a greater truth, students who come from all places of the world, and students who will become our future leaders. As Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego and spoke to him in his native language, in his native place, and in his native culture, may we speak to those around us who are unaware of the coming of Christ or who have since forgotten His importance with understanding and charity.

May the Gospel through Our Lady of Guadalupe’s powerful intercession “penetrate the hearts of the men and women of America and permeate their cultures, transforming them from within” because, as the angel proclaimed to Mary, “Nothing will be impossible for God”.

Our Lady of Guadalupe pray for us!

*Quotations are from Pope Saint  John Paul II