(Please read the passage cited above first.)
I
My sisters and brothers,
Today we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent. St Paul writes that ought to rejoice always. We live in hard times. Many cannot work, many are sick, the economy is not good. If we look only at the hardships, we can be unhappy, bit if we look for God, we can he happy.
In 1531, in Mexico, there were many ominous signs for the native peoples: earthquakes; wars; eclipses. On the twelfth of December, the day of the solstice there was also a full moon. Disaster after disaster catastrophe after catastrophe happened to the indigenous peoples of Mexico that year. Their warriors were killed in battle and their gods were angry and dying. The indigenous peoples knew the signs on earth and in the skies. How could these indigenous people rejoice in these circumstances?
In that year, on the winter solstice with its full moon, December 12, the Lord, our God, sent the Mother of Christ to these indigenous peoples. She wore the garments of an Aztec princess and spoke their native language. On the ill never die and who will day and in the hour of darkness, the Lord our God revealed the treasures of his mercy and grace for the native peoples of Mexico.
In the ten years following the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, many of the natives of Mexico were converted to the Christian faith and these people could rejoice in the Lord.
In our day, there are many difficult situations, political, economic, religious, and personal. St auls tells us to rejoice in the Lord because the Lord is near. We need the same faith that the Mexican natives of 1531 and that St Paul’s Philippians had. We have met the true God who will not be angry, because our God is all-powerful, ever-living, compassionate and loving. We can rejoice in the Lord our God forever.
The Lord, our God, is near, even here, with us. We can present our petitions and prayers to God, full of faith and thankfulness.