Before all else, I offer my deepest thanks to Our Lady of Guadalupe for the miracle she granted me in December 2023. By her intercession, I was healed and am still alive.
When I was a small Filipino child in the Philippines, I had her image on my bedroom wall — and even today, I still do. While I know that devotion to her is strongest in Mexico and the United States, like many Catholics around the world, I love Our Lady of Guadalupe.
To us Catholics, the Apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe are more than an inspirational tale — they are sacred history. The apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe represents Mary’s maternal love for all people, especially the poor and humble. Back then, it became a divine bridge between cultures and the Catholic Faith in early colonial Mexico. And the tilma — a humble cloak made of cactus fiber — bore her miraculous image and became a powerful instrument in leading millions of indigenous people to embrace the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
The Church affirms four Apparitions to Saint Juan Diego, all occurring between December 9 and 11, 1531.
I want to clarify that a fifth apparition occurred — to his healed uncle, Juan Bernardino — yet Juan Diego never saw her again after December 11.
Today, I will reflect on the event of December 11, when Juan Diego tried to avoid the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was the fourth and final Apparition to him. And December 11 — which is today, as I write this, 494 years later — makes this reflection even more personal and timely.
My Reflection
1. On December 11, 1531, Saint Juan Diego was in a rush. His beloved uncle, Juan Bernardino, was gravely ill. Urgently seeking a priest to administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick (formerly known as Last Rites), Juan Diego made a deliberate decision: he would avoid the path that led him to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the preceding apparitions. He had seen her three times already, and although her presence brought peace, he feared any postponement could cost his uncle’s life. So he took a different road — around Tepeyac Hill.
2. As we recall this narrative of the last Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we are struck by this moment: Juan Diego, who had been so obedient and faithful, tried to avoid her.
3. I think this part of the narrative is often overlooked — yet it holds something profoundly personal between Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, because so many of us can relate to this exact feeling.
4. In his human worry and desperation for his uncle’s life, Juan Diego chose a different path.
5. But I want to be clear that there’s a world of difference between being weak in the moment and choosing to leave the path of faith entirely. Juan Diego did not abandon God, and he did not reject the Most Blessed Virgin Mary — he simply acted in human limitation, as many Catholics do when they stop praying due to desperation but don’t renounce the Faith.
6. In our modern times, we can relate to what happened during this final Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego. Modern life now is even fuller of requirements that cause anxieties — even despair for us modern people— when everything seems lost and Heaven appears silent, when our prayers go unanswered and we are overwhelmed by affliction, hardship, and sorrow. Many of us Catholics in this era begin to lose hope.
7. And when we lose hope, instead of beseeching and begging God even more, we often choose another path — we avoid God and the Most Blessed Virgin Mary — just as Juan Diego did that day.
8. During our avoidance, we place our trust in ourselves — or turn toward other human beings, and place our reliance on them. While it is natural and understandable to seek assistance and help from others, what many Catholics fail to understand is that depending solely on ourselves often worsens the situation. It usually doesn’t end well.
9. What we must do — above all — is keep our faith in God, by remaining steadfast in our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In her title as Our Lady of Guadalupe, even though Juan Diego avoided her that day, Mary sought him out.
10. Even Juan Diego went to the other way, the Lady appeared to him anyway. She met Juan Diego where he was.
11. Then the Lady asked where he was going — gently and knowingly. She saw through his attempt to avoid her. And rather than reproaching him, she spoke words that have resonated for centuries as the most maternal and consoling of all heavenly messages. In her native Nahuatl:
“No estoy yo aquí, que soy tu Madre?” — in English, “Am I not here, I Who Am Your Mother?”
Here is the full message she gave to Juan Diego, as remembered through tradition:
“Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything. Do not be afflicted by the illness of your uncle, who will not die now of it. Be assured that he is now cured.”
12. Our Lady of Guadalupe said it herself: that nothing should frighten or grieve us, and our hearts should not be disturbed. I think of this in the context of today — when human beings attack us in person or on social media, bully us, taunt us, and when the world feels like it is against us.
13. Because Our Lady of Guadalupe will be there for us as our Mother — defending her child from the bully, and tell us back home that she is on our side — that everything is going to be okay, with a snack treat back home to cheer us up.
14. Our Lady of Guadalupe also assures us that when we are sick — whether physically, mentally, or spiritually — or in anguish, including the pain of brokenheartedness, she is our protection and our health.
15. Our Lady of Guadalupe asks us to be happy simply because we are within her maternal care. Unlike certain groups like Born Again Christians and other backyard sects who mock her and speak appallingly against the Mother of God, we must remain in her care. In our worst and most desperate times, the more we should remain in her maternal embrace, not turn solely to human beings — because human beings often have their own motives, their own limitations. They can only do so much.
16. But God is omnipotent, and His Mother — the Blessed Virgin Mary — is the most exalted of all creatures. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches (CCC 971), “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” What we ask of God and of Mary comes with no selfish intention from Them. They do not manipulate or withhold love. There are no hidden motives — only pure love and Divine Providence. This is why we are guaranteed Their help, Their faithfulness, and Their presence on our side.
17. If we turn instead to human beings, using our free will to trust ourselves more than we trust God, we will eventually miss what God’s will actually intended for us. We fail to see what the true plot of our life story was meant to be.
18. When Our Mother — Our Lady of Guadalupe — is with us, she says, “What else do you wish?” This is not a rhetorical question. It is her invitation to trust her completely. With her, we already have everything that truly matters.
19. But let’s be honest — some Catholics may say: ‘I keep praying to her. I’ve begged for healing for a long time, for justice, for help in my suffering… but nothing’s changing. So how can I say I have everything?’
20. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us in CCC 2735: “We do not pray to change God’s will, but to obtain what He has prepared to give us.”
21. And in CCC 2848: “Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony.”
22. So when Our Lady tells us, “What else do you wish?” — she is not offering an earthly solution to every earthly problem right away. She is offering access to divine victory, to spiritual treasures that never fade — to grace, protection, and perseverance. These are the “everything” that the world cannot give, and that no suffering can take away.
23. But — and this is the part so many overlook — if we do not give up, if we stay close to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and if we truly surrender our lives and timing to Divine Providence, she may still grant what we asked for, in ways far more beautiful than we imagined.
24. Just as she did for Saint Juan Diego.
25. Juan Diego himself actually did not ask for a miracle. He just wanted to save his uncle. And in trying to solve it himself, he thought avoiding Mary was the better option.
26. Juan Diego’s life became far more beautiful than he could have imagined. She gave him words of hope. Then — in a way he didn’t expect — she granted his request: his uncle was healed, the sign was given, and the Church herself was changed forever. He received the grace of seeing the Mother of God with his own eyes. His name was written into sacred history, and even today, he is remembered across the world. He was beatified, and later canonized by the Catholic Church. And now, he rejoices in Heaven — with the very Lady he saw that day on Tepeyac Hill.
27. Most of us will not become Saints raised to the altars like Saint Juan Diego. But Our Lady of Guadalupe promises us that by staying in her fold, we already possess everything we truly need — and that there is nothing more we should wish for. As Psalm 23:1 (New American Bible Revised Edition) says:
“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.”
28. So in the story of our own lives — no matter who we are or where we come from — Mary will meet us where we are – and write it in the most beautiful version. Even when, due to human weakness or desperation, we are tempted to stop praying and turn to human help instead, we must not reject the Most Blessed Virgin Mary as others do. And we must not stray onto the path of sin.
29. Even if we feel tempted to avoid the Mother of God, as long as we keep our hearts open to her, we can trust that she will meet us along that path — gently, lovingly, and without reproach.
30. That is why, rather than losing hope and placing everything into our own hands, we must continue begging Our Lady of Guadalupe, and wait for her to grant us the graces and consolations we seek. Because with Mary, in her mercy and unconditional love, she will meet us where we are — before we fall deeper away. Because yes — she will search for us, but the farther we wander, the harder our hearts become, and the more we risk missing the moment she appears.
Conclusion
So if your heart is still open to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary — even if you have been avoiding her — come back before you convince yourself it’s too late.
Let her find you — already waiting for her.
***
For the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, you and I — let us pray together one of my favorite prayers, the Magnificat, which I pray every day, next to the Hail Mary. It is the Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary found in Sacred Scripture, and it is the most fitting prayer for this reflection, because it proclaims how God lifts up the lowly and remembers His promises of mercy. This is exactly what Mary did at Tepeyac: she appeared not to the powerful, but to the poor and humble — and she lifted them up in love and protection.
The Magnificat
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
(divineoffice.org translation)
Saint Juan Diego, pray for us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us!
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
Mama Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Email: [email protected]
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- My Reflection on the Final Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego - December 11, 2025
- Why the Rosary is the “Weapon”: My Reflection on Our Lady of the Rosary and the Battle of Lepanto - October 7, 2025
- Mustard Seed Faith: The Unprofitable Servant - October 5, 2025
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