MY SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS ALPHABET

C - is for Christ Jesus who was born in Bethlehem.

H - is for the Holy Family - Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Let our families imitate them.

R - is for the Redemption of sinners, the reason of the birth of the infant King.

I - is for Isaiah, the prophet who foretold the birth of Jesus from a virgin.

cc photo by A. Strakey on flickr

S - is for the Star that guides the Three Wise Men to Jesus from afar.

T - is for the Twenty-fifth of December, Christendom's most unforgettable date in the calendar.

M - is for Myrrh, frankincense and gold, the Magi's gift to the redeemer.

A - is for the Angel, God's most faithful messenger.

S - is for the Shepherds, who first saw the holy infant who will rule over Satan forever.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."  

                                  

                                                 - John 3:16

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

cc photo by Wonderlane on flickr

On the dawn of December 9, 1531, while on his way to church to attend a holy mass, Juan Diego - a poor Indian - saw a beautiful Lady on top of Tepeyac hill. The Lady told him of her desire that a church be built in her honor.

Juan Diego immediately reported to Bishop Zummaraga the Lady's message, but the bishop didn't believe him.  On his way home, he saw again Our Lady at Tepeyac Hill, and he begged her to entrust the task instead to an important and noble person so that the bishop will believe her message, but the Lady told Juan Diego to tell the bishop that it was she, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God who sent him.  

Juan Diego went again to the bishop.  This time, the bishop asked him for a tangible sign.  Juan Diego told the Lady of the bishop's request for a tangible sign. The Lady told him to come back the following day at the hill to get the sign the bishop was requesting for.  

On December 12, 1531, the Lady instructed Juan Diego to go to the top of the hill, pick the flowers that he could find, and give them to the bishop. When he arrived at the hill, he was stunned to see Castillan roses, for it was winter and the place was very dry.  He gathered the roses and wrapped them in his cloak now popularly known as tilma.  He immediately went to the bishop and as he unfolded his tilma to show the bishop the flowers, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary was imprinted on it.  The next day, the bishop went with Juan Diego at the hill to see the apparition site. The Virgin Mary's image on the cloak is now known as the Our Lady of Guadalupe.

cc photo by Joaquin Martinez Rosado on flickr

Presenty, Juan Diego's tilma to which the image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe was imprinted, is enshrined at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City near Tepeyac Hill.  Juan Diego was canonized by Pope John Paul II - who described him as a model of humility - on July 31, 2002.


The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is so miraculous that both the image and the tilma became subjects of different scientific examinations and investigations.


The feast of the Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated every 12th of December.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!


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References:
- http://www.sancta.org/nican.html
- http://www.sancta.org/juandiego.html 
- http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/O/ourladyofguadalupe.asp 
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL AND THE DOGMA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

The Miraculous Medal

cc photo by Tetraktys on Wikimedia Commons

On November 27, 1830, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared for the second time to St. Catherine Laboure.  She was standing on a globe.  Her arms were outstretched downwards.  An oval frame formed around her on which were written the words "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."  Then Mary instructed Catherine to have a medal struck after this model. Countless extraordinary blessings were attributed to the medal after its propagation in 1832 that in 1834, people began calling it the miraculous medal. 


Immaculate Conception

cc photo by MyBiggestFan on flickr

Largely because of the widespread use of Mary's miraculous medal, and the countless debates on the issue of Mary "as conceived without sin," on December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX solemnly declared Mary's Immaculate Conception as a dogma in his encyclical Ineffabilis Deus.  

Our Lady of Lourdes

Altar of the Our Lady of Lourdes at the
Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, Cebu City, Philippines

Four years later, on the sixteenth apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette on 25 March 1858, in Lourdes, France. Bernadette asked her who she was.  She answered "I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION."  

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References:
- Discover Lourdes, ©MSM, 1994-2002. ISBN 2-909998-22-3, p. 27
- The Miraculous Medal Apostolate Affiliation Booklet, pp. 2-4