Uzziah said to Judith, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth, and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to cut off the head of the leader of our enemies. Your hopewill never depart from the hearts of those who remember the power of God. May God grant this to be a perpetual honor to you, and may he reward you with blessings because you risked your own life when our people was brought low, and you averted our ruin, walking in the straight path before our God.” And all the people said, “Amen. Amen.”
A Reading from theCommentary on Lukeby St. Ambrose of Milan
When the angel was announcing the mysteries to the Virgin Mary, he also told her as a precedent, to help her to believe, that an old and barren woman had conceived. This was to show that God can do everything that pleases him. When Mary heard this she hurried off to the hill country. This was not because she disbelieved the oracle, or was uncertain about the messenger, or doubted the precedentoffered, but because she was overjoyed with desire, eager to fulfil a duty of piety, and impelled bygladness.
Where could she who was filled with God hasten to, except to the heights? There is no such thing as delay in the working of the Holy Spirit. The arrival of Mary and the blessings of the Lord’s presence are also speedily declared.As soon as Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice the choice of words and their precise meaning. Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice; but John was the first to experience grace. She heard according to the order of nature; he leaped because of the mystery. She recognized the arrival of Mary; he the arrival of the Lord. The woman recognized the woman’s arrival; the child, that of the child. The women speak of grace; the babies make it effective from within to the advantage of their mothers who, by a double miracle, prophesy under the inspiration of their babies.
The infant leaped, the mother was filled with the Spirit. The mother was not filled before the son, but after the son was filled with the Holy Spirit, he filled his mother too. John leaped and the spirit of Mary rejoiced. As John leaped, Elizabeth is filled, but we know that Mary was not filled but her spirit rejoiced. For he who cannot be comprehended was working in his mother’s womb in ways beyond comprehension. Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit after she had conceived, and Mary before.Blessed are you, she said,who believed.
But you too, who have heard and have believed, are blessed. Every soul who has believed both conceives and generates the Word of God and recognizes his works. Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you to magnify the lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one to exult in God. According to the flesh one woman is the mother of Christ, but according to faith, Christ is the fruit of all men. Every soul, indeed, receives the Word of God, provided it remains unstained and free from sin and preserves its chastity in unviolated modesty. The soul who has been able to reach this state magnifies the Lord, as Mary’s soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her saviour.
Musical Selection
You Are The Fountain Of My Life Under Your Shadow And In Your Protection I Fear No Evil, No Pain, No Worries
Maria, Oh, Most Merciful Mother Gentle Virgin With The Name, Guadalupe On A Mountain We Find Roses In Winter All The World Has Been Touched By Your Love
Here In The Crossing Of Your Arms Could There Be Anything Else That I Need? Nothing Discourage, Nothing Depress Me
Maria, Oh, Most Merciful Mother Gentle Virgin With The Name, Guadalupe On A Mountain We Find Roses In Winter All The World Has Been Touched By Your Love
You Are The Star Of The Ocean My Boat Is Small And The Waves Are So High But With You To Guide Me I’ll Reach My Homeland
Maria, Oh, Most Merciful Mother Gentle Virgin With The Name, Guadalupe On A Mountain We Find Roses In Winter All The World Has Been Touched By Your Love
You Are The Dawn Of A New Day For You Gave Birth To The Son Of The Father All Of My Lifetime I’ll Walk Beside You
Maria, Oh, Most Merciful Mother Gentle Virgin With The Name, Guadalupe On A Mountain We Find Roses In Winter All The World Has Been Touched By Your Love
All The World Has Been Touched By Your Love
Prayer
O God, Father of mercies,
who placed your people under the singular protection
of your Son's most holy Mother,
grant that all who invoke the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe,
may seek with ever more lively faith
the progress of peoples in the ways of justice and of peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.(Our Lady of Guadalupe; December 12)