June Reflections

NINE-MONTH NOVENA
Eighth Reflection from Cardinal Raymond Burke June 25th

Am I not here, I who have the honour to be your mother? Are you not in my shadow and
under my protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hollow of my
mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more?

Our Lady spoke these most consoling words to Juan Diego at a deeply sorrowful
moment. Juan Diego had failed to meet our Lady’s request, and his uncle, Juan
Bernardino, whom he loved dearly, was near death.

We are reminded through the tradition of Holy Mother Church that Our Lady was no
stranger to sorrow: the Church names seven particular sorrows of Mary, and praying the
Rosary draws us into contemplation of five Sorrowful Mysteries in which she participated
with all her heart.

We know, too, that her Son, Our Lord, also felt great sorrow. We read in Scripture that
Jesus wept over Jerusalem, that he wept at the death of Lazarus, that he perspired
blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. And we know from the studies of the Word of God
by the Church Fathers that Christ felt the full weight of sorrow for our sins during His
Passion and Death.

We will never escape sorrow in this world: indeed, Our Lady followed Our Lord’s will
perfectly, and even she was beset by sorrows that we cannot imagine.
But we must never let this sorrow devolve into fear, nor into despair.

We must embrace sorrow as an opportunity to grow closer to Christ, to offer up our
suffering and thereby unite our lives more closely with His. Does He not teach us that to
be one with Him we must take up our cross daily and follow Him?

And if the suffering in this world ever grows so great that we feel we cannot bear it, we
must not hesitate, even for a moment, to call out to Our Blessed Mother, who will not fail
to keep us safe “in the hollow of her mantle, in the crossing of her arms.”

Let us pray…

O Virgin Mother of God, we fly to your protection and beg your intercession against the darkness and sin which ever more envelop the world and menace the Church. Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, gave you to us as our mother as He died on the Cross for our salvation. So too, in 1531, when darkness and sin beset us, He sent you, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Tepeyac to lead us to Him Who alone is our light and our salvation.

Through your apparitions on Tepeyac and your abiding presence with us on the miraculous mantle of your messenger, Saint Juan Diego, millions of souls converted to faith in your Divine Son. Through this novena and our consecration to you, we humbly implore your intercession for our daily conversion of life to Him and the conversion of millions more who do not yet believe in Him. In our homes and in our nation, lead us to Him Who alone wins the victory over sin and darkness in us and in the world.

Unite our hearts to your Immaculate Heart so that they may find their true and lasting home in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ever guide us along the pilgrimage of life to our eternal home with Him. So may our hearts, one with yours, always trust in God’s promise of salvation, in His never-failing mercy toward all who turn to Him with a humble and contrite heart.

Through this novena and our consecration to you, O Virgin of Guadalupe, lead all souls in America and throughout the world to your Divine Son in Whose name we pray.

Amen.

NINE-MONTH NOVENA
Seventh Reflection from Cardinal Raymond Burke June 12th

This month, let us reflect on the Fourth Apparition of Our Lady to St. Juan Diego.

In an effort to attend to his gravely ill uncle, St. Juan Diego did not meet Our Lady’s request to return to Tepeyac Hill. He must have felt great shame for this, for he took a detour to avoid Our Lady as he made his way to bring the priest to his dying uncle.

Of course, there is no outwitting Our Blessed Mother, who descended from Tepeyac to meet Juan Diego as he was taking this detour.

Let us take a moment to reflect on Our Lady’s words, perhaps the most famous from these apparitions. Instead of scolding Juan Diego, she consoles him. Our Lady knows, too, all that worries us; with her words to Saint Juan Diego, she is also speaking to us, nearly 500 years later, so that we may also take comfort in them.

“Listen, put it into your heart, my youngest son, that what frightened you, what afflicted you is nothing; do not let it disturb your face, your heart; do not fear this sickness or any other sickness, nor any sharp or hurtful thing. Am I not here, I who have the honour to be your mother? Are you not in my shadow and under my protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more?”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, there is nothing else that we need. Let us fly to the protection of our Heavenly Mother. Let us bring to her all that causes us to fear. And let us be one in heart with her Immaculate Heart which is ever one with the will of God and through which, in all things, she brings us ever closer to Him Who alone is our salvation.

Let us pray…

‍‍‍O Virgin Mother of God, we fly to your protection and beg your intercession against the darkness and sin which ever more envelop the world and menace the Church. Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, gave you to us as our mother as He died on the Cross for our salvation. So too, in 1531, when darkness and sin beset us, He sent you, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Tepeyac to lead us to Him Who alone is our light and our salvation.

Through this novena and our consecration to you, O Virgin of Guadalupe, lead all souls in America and throughout the world to your Divine Son in Whose name we pray.

Amen.