Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12)
In December 1531 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared four times to St. Juan Diego, a humble Indigenous convert, on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. She asked for a church to be built there, and as a sign for the bishop she had Juan Diego gather roses, blooming out of season, into his cloak, or tilma. When he opened it before Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, the roses fell to the floor and her image appeared on the cloth. That image still hangs in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is honored as Patroness of the Americas and a protector of unborn children, and her feast on December 12 falls in the middle of Advent. When Juan Diego was worried about his dying uncle, she said to him: "Am I not here, I who am your mother?" Pray the prayers below on her feast, in a novena from December 3 to 11, or whenever you need a mother's help.
The Prayer
O God, Who art pleased that, placed under the especial patronage of the most blessed Virgin Mary, we should receive an abundant measure of unceasing favours, do Thou unto us, Thy suppliants, grant that we, who this day rejoice on earth in this commemoration of her, may be gladdened by the sight of her in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
A Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the true God, you came to Juan Diego as a loving mother and spoke to him in his own language. Speak to my heart as well. When I am anxious or afraid, remind me that I am held in the fold of your mantle and the crossing of your arms. Protect every child waiting to be born and every mother who is frightened. Watch over families far from home and all who are poor or forgotten. Bring the peoples of the Americas to your Son, Jesus Christ, and let the roses of Tepeyac bloom again in hearts grown cold. "Am I not here, I who am your mother?" Yes, Mother, you are here. Stay with me, and lead me to Jesus. Amen.
Our Lady's other great Advent feast is the Immaculate Conception on December 8. Browse more of Mary's titles and the saints who loved her in our Catalog of Saints A–Z, and ask the help of St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
See also: Prayer to the Immaculate Conception, The O Antiphons, Christmas Novena (December 16–24), Advent Wreath Prayers, St. Andrew Christmas Novena, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Prayers.
Sources: The first prayer is the collect for the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe from The Roman Missal Adapted to the Use of the Laity (Toronto: W. E. Blake & Son, c. 1914), public domain. Our Lady's words "Am I not here, I who am your mother?" come from the Nican Mopohua (1649), the traditional account of the apparitions. The second prayer is not a traditional text. This is an original prayer written for Daily Catholic Prayers.
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