In the summer of 2018, I had the opportunity to study in  Mexico for six weeks. During that time, I was able to visit the Basilica of  Our  Lady of Guadalupe, which was always  a dream  of mine. That summer, I had my  first opportunity to look at the very same  tilma that the Blessed Mother had left her image on in the 1500s.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe holds the image of Our Lady  of Guadalupe that miraculously appeared on the tilma or  cloak of Juan Diego in December of 1531. This image is one of the most famous images of the Blessed Virgin Mary  in the Catholic Church.
I have always marveled at the fact that while many  left the Catholic Church  in Europe during the 1500s that the faith in the so called new world, i.e. the Americas, was being built up through the intercession of Mary. Mary’s appearance on the tilma of Juan Diego was one of the greatest evangelization moments in the Church. Basically, the apparitions  of Our Lady to  Juan Diego caused a mass conversion of many people to the faith in the area of Mexico.  
This is one of the reasons that  the people of Mexico are so devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She also increased the faith throughout the Americas, and this is the reason she holds the title of patroness of the Americas.   Although we do not have the opportunity to celebrate  the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the usual way, since it falls on a Sunday of Advent this year. We  will still celebrate this festive day in our parish. The date of December 12 is one of the most important  ones in the country of Mexico, but it is also a great feast day throughout the Americas. We will celebrate  the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the third Sunday of Advent, also called “Gaudete Sunday” or the “Joyful Sunday”  with that exact word, JOY.  As we near Christmas day with less than two weeks left in the Advent season, we  look with joy to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is fitting that the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe falls at the halfway point from  the beginning of  December to Christmas day.
The Blessed Mother always seeks to bring us closer to Jesus Christ, her  son, and this is one of  the reasons that she comes to us in apparitions. My prayer this Sunday is that Our  Lady of Guadalupe will help us to  prepare joyfully for Christmas, and I hope through her intercession that many will experience a reconversion and return to the faith.  Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mystical Rose, make intercession  for the holy Church, protect the sovereign Pontiff, help all those who invoke you in  their necessities, and since you are the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God,  obtain for us  from your most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, of sweet hope in the midst  of the bitterness, of a life of burning charity, and the precious gift of final perseverance.
Amen.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Saint Juan Diego, pray for us.