For What It's Worth by Erin

Mary do we know?... Do we know how awesome you are, holy and full of grace? That because of your “May it be done to me according to your word” (LK 1:38), all that we celebrate now is possible?
 
Tucked into this second week of Advent are two feasts about Mary. One (12/8) is about who Mary is (“the Immaculate Conception”), conceived without the Original Sin that taints you and me. That is why she is the perfect choice to be the mother of Jesus, and she said “yes”!  The rest, as they say, is history, or to be more precise, ‘salvation history’. More about that some other time.
 
The second feast is based on Mary’s appearance to St. Juan Diego, and a great multitude of Mary miracles contained in the unexplainable image on the cactus-fiber tilma left by Mary to confirm her appearance to the skeptical clergy of the time. This image is on display even today in the minor Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City. We celebrate this on December 12 ^th. Because of Mary’s appearance and this image, by 10 years after she appeared, 9 million converted to the Catholic faith.
 
If you don’t know the story, you should! Google it or check out this
simple telling from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.