Our Lady of Guadalupe

Date: May, 31

In the first chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel (Luke 1:26-57), the Archangel Gabriel announces two wonderful events to the Blessed Virgin Mary, that she herself will bear “the Son of the Most High,” and that her aged cousin Elizabeth was in her sixth month.

Despite being newly pregnant with Our Lord, Mary “hastens” to Judea from Nazareth to help her kinswoman through her final months.

After Elizabeth’s and Zachary’s child (John the Baptist) was born, Our Lady returned to Nazareth. The Church celebrates the Feast of the Visitation.

• “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed^* that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:42-45)