Go find roses in the snow!

St. Juan Diego, oremus!

O God, who by means of Saint Juan Diego showed
the love of the most holy Virgin Mary for your people,
grant, through his intercession,
that, by following the counsels our Mother gave at Guadalupe,
we may be ever constant in fulfilling your will.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Today is the feast of St. Juan Diego, the anniversary of the first time this poor weaver, farmer, and laborer heard our Lady's voice, urging him to tell the bishop to build a church on Tepeyac Hill in her honor. When the bishop asked for proof, Juan went to the hill and found Castilian Roses blooming from the frozen ground and he gathered them into his tilma. As great as the miracle of the winter roses was, they were not what got the bishop's attention for it the image of the Mystical Rose was imprinted on Juan's tilma ...

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and through his Cross, continued in the intercession of saints (especially his Mother!) and the Church in the world, He brings Life where there was only the frozen hardness of Sin and Death. Go! Share the flowers of grace you've received with someone this winter, reveal the image of Christ in each other and the beauty of Our Mother to the world.

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Our Lady of Ashes

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