December 13

by David Lins  |  12/13/2020  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

Saturday, December 12th, is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It commemorates a poor villager by the name of Cuauhtlatohauc. He was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. On December 9, 1531, he was headed to Mass to honor the Blessed Mother. Well, she decided to visit him first. Much of what happened next seems fantastical to our skeptical minds.

In fact, Mary has appeared several times throughout the world. But a word of caution: please be careful to understand which apparitions have been approved by the Church. This doesn’t mean you can’t potentially take good and faith-building messages from other apparitions that haven’t been condemned. It just means you need to discern critically when hearing any of their “messages.” Put simply: proceed with caution.

This Sunday’s second reading (1 Thes 5:16-24) describes the Church’s approach to these visions—a great model for our own approach. “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances.” But it continues, and this is important, “Test everything; retain what is good.” Thus, we have the Church’s approval process!

If you hear that the Blessed Mother said this or that to a visionary, please do the research and discover whether that location has been vetted and approved by the Church.

On an individual level, we must live sacramental lives so that our souls aren’t weighed down in sin, but raised up with grace. This state of greater spiritual sobriety will open us to spiritual truths, alert us to contorted deception, and aid us in knowing the difference.

Ultimately, any devotion to, or message from Mary that is true, will perfectly reflect her last recorded words in Scripture, “Do whatever he tells you.” That is, Mary always directs us to following her Son.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, help us to follow your Son more perfectly.

Questions? Comments? Email David at dlins@oloj.org.

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