When St. Juan Diego stepped foot out of his rustic little home on December 9th, 1531, he was intent on going about his regular Saturday routine. An early morning walk to Mexico City, then Mass in honor of Our Lady, followed by ongoing catechetical lessons with the friars. After a day filled with grace, it would end with the long walk back home. Those were Juan Diego’s plans. However, Our Lady had different plans for him that day.
What St. Juan Diego thought would be an ordinary Saturday in December, turned about to be an extraordinary one and the beginning of a grace-filled event which would bear fruit not only in his life, but in the lives of millions of Catholics for centuries to come.
Getting Out of the Routine
Today, we want to invite you to share in that grace-filled event by joining us in this year’s Totus Tuus Maria novena dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Perhaps a new liturgical year and a new month which we began on Sunday caught you just going about your routine in life. Although you had all the intentions of starting off Advent and closing out 2024 on the right spiritual foot, so to speak, Sunday came and went. And perhaps, today still finds you having done nothing serious about putting those good intentions into action.
A New Guadalupe Novena
Here’s your chance to change that! From Wednesday, December 3rd to Thursday, December 11th we will posting an original Guadalupe Novena using the texts from the Nican Mopohua[1] and dedicating each day to a particular intention. Besides helping you grow in the habit of prayer, the novena will also provide you the opportunity to learn more about the story of Guadalupe, listen to Our Lady’s compassionate and encouraging words, and most important of all, open your souls to the working of God’s grace.
For this was Our Lady’s intention behind the little interruption she brought to Saint Juan Diego’s day on December 9th, 1531—she interrupted his routine to bring about an increase of grace. Still today, she wants to bring about the same increase of grace in our own lives. So take some time away from your regular routine these next nine days, give some extra time to Mary, and pray with us this novena of grace in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The best way to prepare for Christmas—and for the Jubilee Year 2025—is by turning to Mary, the Mother of Christ, and letting her mold your heart and enrich it with her grace.
So, seize the day and seize this opportunity and make it all Hers!
[Download Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe]
[1] The Nican Mopohua was written between 1545-1547, by Antonio Valeriano, an indigenous man educated by the Franciscans. It recounts the story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego.
