Our Lady said to St Juan Diego: ‘Listen, put it into your heart, my youngest and dearest son, that the thing that frightens you, the thing that afflicts you, is nothing: do not let it disturb you. Am I not here, I who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need something more? Let nothing else worry you or disturb you’.

The image imprinted on Juan Diego’s tilma or cloth is still unfaded and in perfect condition after over 500 years, and is one of the images ‘acheiropoieta’, or ‘not made by human hands’.

May Our Lady of Guadalupe bless us, and keep us all under the protection of her mantle this day, as we continue our Advent journey.