predication.net

We need moments for ourselves, sitting in silence and the dim light of candles like salt.

 The most significant Christian holiday, Easter, was preceded by a preparation period called Lent. A similar model was considered before the feast of the birth of Jesus Christ. The period called Advent saw the light of day relatively early, in the 5th century, in Ravenna. However, its introduction throughout the world took several more centuries.

Advent varied in length, eventually settling on four weeks, except in Orthodox churches, the Archdiocese of Milan, and other areas, where Advent still lasts six weeks today.

The perception of Advent was also different. It went from a penitential period similar to Lent to joyful anticipation. Today, Advent is a symbiosis of both.

Lifestyle

When a senior citizen who lived alone in an apartment building was asked what he did all day, he replied: “I wait one day for the lady with the pension and thirty days for the lady with the scythe.”

Everyone is waiting for someone or something. For a day of peace, healing, a new job, reconciliation, finding a partner… But also for a Friday concert, a visit from friends we haven’t seen in a long time, a party… Even those who feel like they have everything and don’t have to wait for anything are waiting to feel better and be happy.

The several-week pre-Christmas Advent, which means both arrival and waiting for it, thus turns into a lifelong epoch. And suddenly, it is no longer just a short preparatory period. It is, so to speak, a lifestyle.

Waiting

Waiting has a passive quality. It reminds us of a sad look out the window, a nervous walk through an airport, or tears when parents have no idea where their children are.

Even the pre-Christmas Advent is presented as a period of inactivity. But we need moments for ourselves, sitting in silence and the dim light of candles like salt. These are opportunities to synchronize the busy body with the restless soul for many new beginnings and active waiting.

We don’t have to wait for many things with folded arms. What we are waiting for can often be met; sometimes, it won’t even come without our activity.

If we are waiting to meet our life partner, we can do something about it. We can come out of our shells if we are waiting for reconciliation. If we are looking for relationship improvement, we can start with ourselves. Advent is also a symbiosis of peace and stirring up dust, contemplation and action, passivity and activity.

Simply put, we can wait for what we get under the tree or become someone’s Christmas present.

Time of hope

Waiting is necessarily accompanied by hope. “The world will belong to the one who can offer it the greatest hope,” says Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Many messiahs appear today, offering mountains and valleys, and many people believe them.

When the visions of the messiahs turn out to be, at best, dead ends, the people who believed them cling to new hope. Hope is what keeps us alive.

Christians believed that Jesus and his message brought them hope. However, if we look at this from the express perspective, we will find that Jesus did not offer a weightless life. Nor did he provide answers and solutions to all questions and problems—quite the opposite.

“The Advent cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ means that the whole of Christian history must be lived in deliberate emptiness, in deliberate fulfillment. Perfect fullness is yet to come, and we are not to demand it now,” writes Richard Rohr, somewhat surprisingly. And he explains: “This keeps our lives open to grace and a future created by God, not by us.” And this is precisely the hope of Christians.

It is a hope that does not even look like hope because it does not expect a solution or fullness here and now. However, it leaves room for God, who knows best how to fulfill this hope.

Advent allows us all to slow down so we can speed up in life and realize that if we don’t have everything, we have a place within us that God can fill.

In this passage, we hear the words of patriarch Jacob, who, before his death, calls together his dearest ones—his twelve sons—and prophesies their future to them and their descendants. This passage, given below, is supplemented by those sons skipped in the epistle (verses 3-7)

Then Jacob called his sons and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what will happen to you in the coming days. Come and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the beginning of my fruitfulness, overflowing with pride and power. You are fierce like water, but you cannot overflow your banks. You entered my father’s tent; you defiled my bed. Simeon and Levi, two brothers, their knives are instruments of violence. My soul will not enter thei; myunsel, my glory will not be united with their assembly! They killed men in anger, they wantonly mutilated oxen. Cursed be the fierceness of their anger and the cruelty of their hatred. I will divide them in Jacob, I will scatter them in Israel. Judah, your brothers will bless you: your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons will bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; you have risen from the prey, my son. He couched, he couched as a lion’s whelp, he is like a young lion, who will dare to rouse him? “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the government from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; to him the obedience of the peoples will belong. (Gen 49:1-10) He

Then, he prophesies the future for the other eight sons. Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin. With these last words, he blessed them. He blessed each one with a special blessing. This is how the Old Testament patriarch said goodbye to his sons before he was laid to rest with his ancestors. This prophecy was written in the time of Isaiah, i.e. the 8th-7th century BC. The prophecy for Judah points to the importance of his lineage, from which the Lord’s Anointed One would come. He would bring salvation to all humanity. The beginning of the Bible states: The Lord brought man into paradise, where he was to live forever. But after the grave sin of the first people – “you will be like God” – the Lord expelled man from paradise. The first hint of the Redeemer is in the words: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.” (Genesis 3:15).

In today’s passage, there is another hint of the Redeemer: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a ruler from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and unto him shall the obedience of the nations be.” The righteous of the Old Testament bore with great sorrow the thought that they must die and wait for the Redeemer. Jacob did not want to die, for he was to be gathered with the others in the so-called Sheol. But how the righteous rejoiced when the Savior Jesus Christ Himself visited them in Sheol after His most grievous suffering, terrible death, and glorious resurrection, and announced to them His victory over sin and death, and communicated the deliverance to the souls of the righteous, that they were delivered from Sheol and paradise was open to them. They had waited for the heavenly paradise to open to them for four thousand years, and they would be free.

What about us? Do we appreciate that God calls us to live in this time, that we do not have to wait for a Redeemer? After a good, virtuous life, can we come to heavenly glory after death? Let us be grateful to the Lord God for our life, for helping us at work and in the household, for giving us children to care for, that we can raise them, that we can set them up for life, that we can help our neighbors and that we do not have to endure the suffering that our predecessors experienced during the protectorate and under totalitarian regimes. With great respect, hope, and love, let us rejoice and accept the Son of God. Let us take him into our hearts so that he may always be present in us and so that we can bring him into our workplaces, families, and nation.

Already in the books of the Old Testament, the arrival of the Savior who will come out of the chosen nation was heralded. It is already mentioned in one of the books of Moses, where we hear a word from the book of Numbers: I see him, but not now; I look at him, but not close. The star rises from Jacob, and the wand rises from Israel. The entire Jewish nation recognized this word and eagerly awaited its fulfillment. Another powerful promise that the Savior who will come to this earth will rule with a scepter of iron comes from King David, who prophesied in Psalm 110 with the words: The Lord will extend the power of your scepter from Zion: rule among your enemies. From the day of your birth, the reign in sacred splendor belongs to you. I begot you like the dew before the rising of the pupil. (Vs. 2-3)

Years passed, and the Israelites expected the arrival of a mighty ruler with a sword and an iron scepter. Still, God comes in the secret of the house of Nazareth to the Virgin promised to Joseph, where with the words of an angel, he fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s family forever, and his kingdom will have no end. (Lk 1, 31-33)

The promised Messiah came, who was not born into the luxury and wealth of this world but into the stench and poverty of the Bethlehem barn, where no one had prepared a festive welcome for His arrival. The time is coming when we, too, prepare for the birth of the world’s Savior. A characteristic feature of this period is that we are often absorbed in buying gifts and slavishly cleaning and decorating our homes, which usually brings more nervousness than joy. And when we finally sit at the Christmas dinner table, we are exhausted. Jesus gives us instructions on how to fully experience Christmas when every year he is born and waits for your embrace.

Prayer: Lord, we ask that we live this time with our eyes fixed on the simple crib. Let our homes not become an exhibition of wreaths and Christmas decorations, but a place ready for the arrival of the King. Amen.

Questions: Are you ready to embrace the coming Jesus?

John of the Cross, Presb and the doctor Eccl.

CURRICULUM VITAE

He came from a poor Spanish family. At 21, he entered the Carmelite order in Medina del Campo. After meeting Teresa of Avila and with the consent of the superiors, he participated with her in spreading the reformed Carmel. He had to endure many hardships, but in suffering, he achieved a profound union with God and the pinnacle of mystical life. He held several positions, but according to his wish, he ended up freed from them and the glory associated with recognition. Likewise, he died after great suffering. The spiritual writings he left behind testify to his wisdom.

A MYSTIC THEOLOGIST ON THE JOYFUL WAY OF THE CROSS

He was born in 1542 in the small village of Fontiveros in Castile as the third son of Gonzalo de Yepes, who a family of wealthy merchants disinherited after the death of his parents. She did not like that he chose poor Catalina Alvarez, an orphan, as his wife. John’s ancestors on his father’s side were supposedly noblemen. His father died after a long illness when John was about two years old. Poverty and worries about how to provide the children with the most necessary things prompted his mother to set out with Francisco and little John (son Alois died before John was born) over a long distance to their uncle. The painful journey of begging did not fulfill expectations. When they were back in Fontiveros, five-year-old John (pronounced Spanish Juan) almost drowned in a lake. The incident is said to have been accompanied by a vision of Mother Mary, who was reaching out her hand to him, but he did not give her his out of respect for her so as not to soil it. Then, a peasant pulled him out. (He felt the protection of Mother Mary for the second time somewhat later when he fell into the well.)

In 1548, mother Catalina moved with her sons to Arévalo, but the family’s poverty did not decrease. In 1551, another move followed to the commercial town of Medina del Campo (today Valladolid). There, his mother placed John in a group for poor orphans, where he was educated for 8 years. He did well in his studies, but his attempts at tailoring, woodcarving, or painting were unsuccessful. From 17, he worked as a nurse in a hospital. He went around begging for alms for poor patients. With a desire to study, he spent several hours a day in the Jesuit college and more at night overbooks. He finished his humanistic studies with the Jesuits in 1563 when he entered the Carmelite monastery of St. Anne in Medina. After a year’s novitiate, he took vows and, under the name John of St. Methods, was sent to study at the University of Salamanca, where in 1567, he was ordained a priest. He had his primogeniture in Medina. Due to his desire for a stricter life, he considered transferring to the Cartesian order. Still, he met Teresa of Jesus, learned about her reform, and finally agreed to cooperate. He had not yet completed his studies. On August 15, 1568, he participated in founding a monastery in Valladolid, where Teresa introduced him to the life they began to live according to the original rules, including the method and meaning of their so-called recreation.

In Duruelo near Avila, he was given a house as a gift, which he repaired. Teresa called it Bethlehem and obtained permission from the provincial. John and two others, the prior of Medina, Father Anthony, and the deacon Joseph, took new vows there on the first Sunday of Advent, in the presence of the provincial, regarding the reform of the order. John’s new name was “John of the Cross,” and Anthony had “of Jesus” added. Thus, the first male community of the “Barefoot” was founded. The Reformed were called so because they walked barefoot, unlike the other Carmelites. The division into barefoot and shod took hold and persists.

John of the Cross was put in charge of the education of the novices. On 11 June 1570, the convent moved from Duruelo to Mancera de Abajo, near Salamanca. In the autumn of the same year, John went to Pastrana, where there were more novices. However, on 25 January 1571, he had already founded a monastery of Displaced Carmelites in Alba de Tormes. In April, he became rector of the College of Discalced Carmelites in Alcalá de Henares.

In the Monastery of the Incarnation in Avila, Teresa of Jesus became prioress in October and, through the visitor, requested John of the Cross as confessor and advisor for her convent for the following year. John stayed in Avila, with minor breaks, from May 1572 to the beginning of December 1577, when he was captured on the night of December 4 and secretly transported to the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Toledo. There, he was illegally tried as a seditionist despite all the credentials he had received from the nuncio and the apostolic visitor. They also offered him many benefits if he withdrew from the reform. In vain. Therefore, they imprisoned him in a small, windowless room with a stool and a breviary. They took away his hooded scapular so that he would suffer the cold, and they gave him only bread and water for food. They only dared to commit evil deeds after the late nuncio Ormanet was replaced by Felipe Seg, who no longer favored reform.

John endured suffering with patience and responded to evil with love. He also gave the guard a wooden cross that he wore on his heart. He filled his time with prayer and composed mystical poems. However, his body did not want to endure the conditions in prison. When John felt his life was at stake, he escaped. He did not know where his prison was located. The tied blanket with the robe, with which he lowered himself from the prison, was supposedly tied to a loop that would not usually have been able to bear the weight of it. There was more than two meters to the bottom. After jumping down, he discovered he was in greater danger in the yard. He had to get up from there to a niche behind the wall. Finally, he managed to get to the Discalced Carmelites at dawn. He was in such a state that he could only eat porridge made from boiled pears. He soon took refuge in the monastery of “El Calvario” in Andalusia in southern Spain, where he became abbot in the autumn.

He started in Baez on July 14, 1579, as rector of the college of “Our Lady of Carmel,” which he led until the beginning of 1582. In the meantime, in March 1581, he participated in the provincial chapter in Alcalá de Henares because Pope Gregory XIII had consented the previous year to establish his province of the Discalced.

From January 1582, John of the Cross was stationed in Granada, and in October 1585, he became provincial vicar in Andalusia. After two years, he returned to the priory of the Granada Convent of the Martyrs. He was a sought-after confessor and wrote about prayer and the spiritual journey. During his time in Granada, he not only rebuilt the monastery, but also managed to write the book The Ascent of Mount Carmel, considered his best work. He also made many journeys, drawing strength from prayer.

As a vicar in Andalusia, he founded other monasteries. In April 1586 in Cordoba at the chapel of St. Roch, in June another in Seville and later that year in La Manchuela. That year, a wall fell while a house was being rebuilt, crushing his room and him. Onlookers thought he had not survived, but then they saw his smile and heard him attribute protection to the Virgin Mary.

Pope Sixtus V. 10. 7. 1587 Bosý authorized a vicar general subject to the superior general. In the first chapter in Madrid on 18. 6. 1588, John of the Cross was elected the first general definitor. When the vicar general M. Doria introduced a new form of governance, he appointed John the third councilor. The council seat was in Segovia in the middle of the following year. John also became the principal of the community there.

At the extraordinary Madrid chapter in 1590, he tried to mitigate the extreme measures that Doris had begun. At the next regular chapter a year later, John was stripped of all his functions, and with humility and inner peace, he left for the Andalusian province. After a month in the hermit convent of La Peñuela, he fell ill. He suffered from inflammation of his right leg and, therefore, went to the convent in used for treatment. He arrived with a high fever and underwent a serious operation without anesthesia. From December 7, his fever rose dangerously, and on December 11, he received the sacraments for the journey to eternity. Shortly after midnight on December 14, when he kissed the cross with the words: “Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit” – he died.

He was beatified in 1675 and canonized in 1726. In 1926, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI. Through his writings, he teaches the path to union with God and complete transformation into the Beloved.

In writing The Flame of Love…, he asks: “Why are you impatient, my soul, when from now on you can love God completely in your heart?”

RESOLUTION, PRAYER

From John’s example, I will learn to respond to evil with love. On this “divine path” to accept crosses with love for the conversion of others and to ascend “Mount Carmel” – where “the glory and honor of God dwells” – with a joyful flame of love in my heart.

O God, who gave to Saint John of the Cross a great love for the crucified Christ and the ability to adhere entirely to You; grant that we may follow him in this and attain the vision of Your glory. Through Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, a world without end.

 Whether God fulfilled his promises to the chosen people arose during the Babylonian captivity. The answer to this question is today’s first reading. The Old Testament prophet presents God as the Redeemer who will defeat the Babylonians. God speaks to his people with a statement already known from the books of the Law: I am the Lord, your God. In other words, the same God of the Fathers is at work here, and he has already proven himself several times in the history of the Old Testament people of God. He presents himself as one who teaches and guides the people. Then comes the reproach. They would have been saved if the people had obeyed God’s commands. So, God is not to blame for his promises not being fulfilled. The people themselves are to blame for their unfaithfulness.

As God taught the people in the Old Testament, so did Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus also reproaches his contemporaries for being moody and unstable. They are like children playing in the square at a wedding and a funeral simultaneously, spoiling each other’s play. Jesus’ rebuke to his contemporaries, Jesus applies their attitude to John the Baptist and himself. John the Baptist lived a life of repentance, and he did not suit them, so they accused him of being possessed by the devil. Jesus was with sinners, which seemed to them to be worldly; therefore, they did not accept him. Then Jesus makes a statement: Well, wisdom is justified by works. God’s wisdom manifested in John the Baptist’s acts of repentance. God’s wisdom was also manifested in Jesus and his dining with sinners. Both did works of God’s wisdom. You need to observe and evaluate the surrounding deeds in the spirit of faith. After all, God shapes each person differently according to their life circumstances. Therefore, we should not adopt superficial slander and name-calling of other people. Naturally, when someone is impure, he also judges others according to himself. Immersed in things, events, and people, he will keep us on the path Jesus leads us on. Whoever follows Jesus will have the light of life.

It would be interesting to conduct a poll on our idea of ​​God. The question is not new; different religions have long presented their images of their deities. Let’s see how the Old Testament approaches this topic.

The image of the God of Israel is a particular theme in the Bible. The Ten Commandments contain not only the prohibition of worshiping other gods but also the prohibition of depicting them: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth!” (Deuteronomy 5:8 ). In his speech, Moses explains that the prohibition to make an image also applies to the God of Israel: “be very careful, for you did not see any figure when the Lord spoke to you in the midst of the fire on Horeb” (Deuteronomy 4:15). Today’s excerpt from Isaiah can also be read in these intentions.

The prophet asks, “To whom will you liken God? And what form will you set next to him?” (Isaiah 40:18 – Ecumenical translation). This question arises in the context of the Babylonian captivity, a period when the Israelites were exposed to the worship of the god Sin and the cult of the God Marduk, both of which were part of the Babylonian culture. The Babylonians were famous for their astrology and their spectacular celebrations. In this context, the ‘invisibility’ of God serves a dual purpose. On the one hand, it protects God from triumphalism and excessive pride. On the other hand, it creates a crisis (v. 27) about whether God Yahweh is really what he says: mighty (v. 26), eternal and wise creator of all things (v. 28).

The opening rhetorical question about our reading suggests that the God of Israel is not just different from other deities, but incomparable. The term holy (Heb. qadoš) expresses this uniqueness (v. 25) in a way that sets our God apart. The eternal God, or more precisely the God of Eternity, is also the creator of the ends of the earth (v. 28). Eternity conceals all time; the most distant past and the most distant future, and the ends of the world represent all space. Therefore, every moment and place is in God’s power (Berges, 159-160). There is nothing to which He does not give being. We don’t know what God looks like. But it’s not really about his appearance at all. Isaiah directs the readers’ attention elsewhere. God does not lose strength or grow old (v. 28). Time does not rob him of vitality. As is common in other cults, he does not need people to charge him with life energy. Still, he distributes it to exhausted and weak people (v. 29). While natural powers are waning, God is the source of new inexhaustible power (v. 31). The key that opens the door to the source is hope, expectation, and reliance on God. This concept of hope as a source of strength should inspire and empower us all. As we light the candles on the Advent wreath, let our hope and trust in God grow with the increasing light. The Advent season, focusing on the anticipation of Christ’s birth, is a fitting time to reflect on the nature of God as revealed in the biblical text. Let us recognize him when we look into the face of the baby who will be born in a few days in Bethlehem. I add my heartfelt congratulations to Lucia and wish everyone a blessed day.

Let’s stop today at the verb to try, which we heard in the first reading. What does it mean? It can be replaced by the words irritate, anger, anger, worry. It also describes a bit: to tempt. King Ahaz, to Isaiah’s offer to ask for a sign, replies: “I will not ask, I will not tempt the Lord.” All the alternative meanings of the word tempt fit the context and complete the situation. Tempting God means putting his goodness and omnipotence to the test by word or deed.

Ahaz completes the story. King Ahaz of Judah devoted himself to idolatry and even burned his son in sacrifice to Moloch (2 Kings 16, 3). When the Syrian and Ephraim armies entered Judah to depose him, the frightened king sent word to Tiglath-Pileser, the mighty ruler of Assyria. He handed him the treasures from the Jerusalem Temple with a request that sounded like a blasphemous prayer: “I am your servant and your son. Come and save me … “(2 Kr 16.7).

Could such a king accept the offer of God’s help, ask for a sign, pray? Certainly not. That’s why he says that he doesn’t want to tempt God. Therefore, Isaiah gave him a sign in the prophecy: And thus the Lord will provide you with a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.” This sign has two meanings. The first was fulfilled in the reign of Ahaz’s son Hezekiah. For the Jews, Hezekiah became a messianic figure, a symbol of God’s affection for his people – and a call to the people to be faithful to Yahweh.

At the same time, this prophecy of Isaiah foreshadows Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah. He was born of a virgin and was called Emmanuel, “God with us”. “Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call his name Immanuel, which in translation means: God with us” (Mt 1, 23). He came to save people from something more significant than conquerors. He came to free us from sin and death. God always fulfills what he promised – even after centuries! Jesus assured us that he would always be with us until the end of time, and through the Eucharist, he fulfilled his promise (Mt 28, 20). He is always “God with us.”

Jan Didakus /Juan Diego/ Cuauhtlatoatzin

John Didacus

CURRICULUM VITAE

He came from an Indian tribe in Mexico. Raised in paganism, he lived according to his conscience, and after the arrival of the Franciscans, he accepted the faith with his wife. He became a sincere Christian, and from December 9 to 12, 1531, he experienced four encounters with the Virgin Mary, who demanded the construction of a church on Tepeyac Hill. She sent flowers for the bishop as a sign and created an extraordinary, breathtaking image on his mantle. After completing the task, he became a churchwarden in the new church, a witness to the faith, and a model of Marian worship.

CV FOR MEDITATION

SERVANT OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

He was born around 1474 in Cuautitlán, 20 km from Mexico City. He was initially named Cuauhtlatoatzin – Talking Eagle (“the one who speaks the language of an eagle”). His upbringing followed Aztec principles focused on self-control and preparation for battle. As a boy, he graduated from a kind of Aztec military academy. Here, he learned how to lead battles and capture the enemy so that he could be a living sacrifice to the god Huitzilopochtli. As an adult, he married the Indian Maintain – “venerable pasture”.

In 1524, when the first Franciscans began to operate in the region, he went to Tenochtitlan, two miles away, to follow them and accept Christian teachings about God. Turibius of Benedetto baptized him and his wife. At the same time, he took the new name Jan Didakus (in the local language, Juan Diego) and his wife Malintzin-Maria Lucia. After five years, she became seriously ill and died. Jan Didakus then moved to his uncle Jan Bernardino in Tolpetlac, where he was much closer to the church in Tlatelolco (the original name was probably Tlatilolco). Every Saturday and Sunday, he set out barefoot on a three-hour journey to attend Holy Mass. At that time, only Aztecs of the upper social classes wore sandals. He went out into the cold morning dressed in a tilma woven from the fibers of the agave plant.

He was 57 when he left so early on December 9, 1531. That day, near a hill called Tepeyac, he heard a sweet, unusual song, which, at first, he thought was a bird’s song. Suddenly, it was replaced by a voice calling his name. On the hill, he found a very beautifully dressed girl and was amazed at the radiance and charm of the one who addressed him in his dialect.

She presented herself to him as the perpetual Virgin and Mother of the true God, the Author of life, who created and sustains all things. She told him she longed for a temple to be built where she had shown him. There, she wanted to show her love, favor, help, and protection because she was the kind Mother of all. She promised that there she would listen attentively to the cries of those who came to her, show them favor in their need, and bring relief in every distress.

For this reason, she sent him to Bishop John of Zumarrága, and both were to participate in realizing her wish. The bishop listened to him, but he found Didaku’s words untrustworthy. He invited him to come again so that he would think about his wish for the time being, but at the same time, he made it clear that he was not serious about the matter. That very day, John Didakus went to the place of the apparition to complain to the Queen of Heaven about his failure and ask her to send someone more suitable in his place. However, she had a reason for choosing him, a small peasant.

On Sunday, he went to the bishop again, and the bishop got rid of him by demanding a sign. At the same time, he had him followed, but below the hill of Tepeyac, Jan Didakus disappeared from the pursuers’ eyes. At the top, Didakus presented the bishop’s request to the Mother of God, and she told him to come the next day for the desired sign.

Didakus had to go home and, the next day, first called a doctor for his sick uncle. When Didakus brought him in, the doctor discovered the seriousness of the illness and declared that he was helpless. The dying uncle expressed his desire for Holy Confession and urged Jan to go and get a priest for him on the night of Monday to Tuesday the 12th. John Didacus was, therefore, in a great hurry and wanted to miss the place of the apparition, so he went a little lower. However, the Virgin Mary blocked his way. She revealed to him that she knew the situation well and showed herself as the one who had the power to protect her servants and help them. She emphasized that he should not be discouraged by anything and did not need to worry about his uncle’s illness. She said: “Am I not here, your Mother? Am I not the source of life? … He will not die from the illness he suffers from; be assured in your heart that he is already healed.” (The sudden healing was later proven.) John believed her words, even when she sent him to the top for flowers, where otherwise only cacti grew and perhaps even snow lay. Nevertheless, he picked beautiful, fragrant Castilian roses and other flowers there to serve as a sign to the bishop. An even greater sign was the image that the Mother of God caused to appear on John’s tilma – an agave cloak – when it was opened before the bishop. This image provided later amazing revelations, described in the monument to P. Mary 12. 12. The bishop believed him and decided to build. He kept John until the next day and then sent him with an escort to Tepeyac, where the Virgin Mary appeared to him 4 times. Since he also spoke to his uncle, the escort accompanied him. He testified that the Virgin Mary suddenly healed him at the time above when she also appeared to his nephew (December 12), and added that he must go to the bishop to tell him everything he had seen, how he had been miraculously healed, and that they should call that sublime image Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Since the completion of the shrine of the “Lady of Heaven” (1533), Jan Didakus took care of this small church with great love and righteousness as a churchwarden and bore witness to the pilgrims who came and encouraged them with the example of his life. His life force was the Eucharist, which Bishop Zumarraga allowed him to receive thrice a week, although this was unusual. He deeply revered the Mother of Jesus in prayer and penance. He was not attracted to earthly things, and he showed significant manifestations of faith, hope, love, humility, and obedience to spiritual shepherds. Furthermore, he took care of the shrine until the end of his life and, according to tradition, died at the end of May 1548. However, the anniversary of his meeting with the Virgin Mary is also given, on which the Pope established his memorial and inclusion in the church calendar in 2002.

A significant miracle for the beatification process was the sudden change in the life of drug addict Juan José Silva Barragán three days after an injury that was incompatible with life. The perfect recovery occurred in the intensive care unit in Durango, Mexico City, after the prayers of John Didacus.

Pope John Paul II elevated him to the veneration of the altar on May 6, 1990. He proclaimed his canonization on July 31, 2002, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the presence of 12,000 people, with another 30,000 people watching the ceremony on giant screens around the sanctuary.

RESOLUTION, PRAYER

We are all to bear some witness of trust in God’s love, especially where it is lacking. After reflecting on how much of this trust has been evident in my life, I will prayerfully decide to take a concrete step of correction.

O God, in Saint John Didacus’s life, you have shown the love of the Most Holy Virgin Mary for your people. Grant us, through his intercession, that we may be obedient to the warnings that this our Mother gave us in Guadalupe, and may we always strive to do your will. Through your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, a world without end.