Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Be Inspired.
In Sue Monk’s award-winning The Secret Life of Bees, a ship’s masthead recovered and renamed and dubbed ‘The Black Madonna’ plays a significant role as a statue character. Every year, during the feast of the Assumption, women gather and rub honey on the statue as honey is a preservative.
The story’s vertical progress becomes horizontal, getting to the depths of this ritual’s meaning. The principal characters need to remember their history and life struggles, honor that history, and find strength in a transcendent power that is compassionate and a protector of humanity.
Sound familiar? It should, for many of our inanimate statues in our churches became animated through our prayers.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of many Marian feast days celebrated, preserving her life’s story. No matter how Mary is dressed, whether cloaked with the sun or shown holding the infant Jesus, she represents in an inanimate form some connection to an event or some history of importance. Here is Mary for everyone.
That fictionalized masthead turned sacred reminds us of our innermost need to honor, respect, preserve our struggles, and confront our need to pray.
Our Marian rituals are not singular and isolated. Even though they are celebrated separately, they remain central to our liturgies. Mary remains in our liturgies. Her history and presence turn our attention to God’s plan of salvation. In short, she leads us to prayer in our liturgy, Benedictions, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. She is part of our salvation history, celebrated daily at Mass.
We surely can take our statues for granted; however, the multiple Marian feast days worldwide encourage us to take another look and be inspired.
Prayer:
Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede on our behalf. Mention our names. We have fallen and scraped our knees and stayed out too late. Speak for us, dear Mother. We want to make amends.
