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Wednesday, December 12, 2001

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Our Lady of Guadalupe


Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Psalm 1
Luke 1:26-38

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she reverses the curses

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers." —Genesis 3:15

When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, the result was three curses. The devil was cursed, and the Lord put enmity between us and him. Females were also cursed through the pains of childbearing (Gn 3:16). Males were cursed through manual labor (Gn 3:17).

These three curses have been turned into blessings by Jesus. In Jesus, Mary reverses the curses. At Jesus' Incarnation, the archangel Gabriel announced that Mary was blessed among women. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out: "Blest are you among women and blest is the Fruit of your womb" (Lk 1:42). Mary herself magnified the Lord and said: "All ages to come shall call me blessed" (Lk 1:48). ("Blessed" is the opposite of "cursed.")

The Lord has empowered Mary to reverse the curses because she and the other disciples of her Son put the devil's enmity to death by quickly crushing him under their feet (Rm 16:20). (Look at Mary's feet in a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.) Moreover, Mary's childbearing was not a curse, but the birth of the One Who freed us from the curses. (The picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows Mary pregnant.) Finally, Mary spent her life doing hard work. In her work, she was blessed, not cursed. (Our Lady of Guadalupe wears the work clothes of a peasant woman.) Love Jesus as Mary does. Reverse the curses.

Prayer:  Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us and all the countries in America.

Promise:  "You have found favor with God. You shall conceive and bear a Son and give Him the name Jesus." —Lk 1:30-31

Praise:  Our Lady of Guadalupe left her image on the cloak of a Mexican Indian and it is miraculously intact today.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, May 30, 2001


Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, June 4, 2001