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Day 6 - Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for a New Culture of Life

Day 6 Novena Reflection

In 1999, after a Synod of Bishops, the late Pope - now Saint issued that apostolic exhortation to the Church in America. We should all read and reflect upon it regularly.

It expresses the late Popes passionate commitment to what he called the New Evangelization, along with his deep love for the Mary, the Mother of the Lord.

In it, he also extended the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th for the whole of the Americas.

"Let us reflect on a portion of that exhortation. This is taken from paragraph 11:

"From the beginning invoked as 'Our Lady of Guadalupe', Mary, by her motherly and merciful figure, was a great sign of the closeness of the Father and of Jesus Christ, with whom she invites us to enter into communion."

"The appearance of Mary to the native Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac in 1531 had a decisive effect on evangelization. Its influence greatly overflows the boundaries of Mexico, spreading to the whole Continent."

"America, which historically has been, and still is, a melting-pot of peoples, has recognized in the mestiza face of the Virgin of Tepeyac, 'in Blessed Mary of Guadalupe, an impressive example of a perfectly inculturated evangelization'."

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"Consequently, not only in Central and South America, but in North America as well, the Virgin of Guadalupe is venerated as Queen of all America."

"With the passage of time, pastors and faithful alike have grown increasingly conscious of the role of the Virgin Mary in the evangelization of America."

"In the prayer composed for the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops, Holy Mary of Guadalupe is invoked as 'Patroness of all America and Star of the first and new evangelization'."

"In view of this, I welcome with joy the proposal of the Synod Fathers that the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother and Evangelizer of America, be celebrated throughout the continent on December 12."

It is my heartfelt hope that she, whose intercession was responsible for strengthening the faith of the first disciples (see Jn. 2:11), will by her maternal intercession guide the Church in America, obtaining the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as she once did for the early Church (see Acts 1:14), so that the new evangelization may yield a splendid flowering of Christian life."

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization, pray for us.

Novena Prayer Asking the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Beloved Father, through the life, death and resurrection of your only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, we have become your adopted sons and daughters.

Through Baptism we are now members of His Body, the Church, which is Your family.

Before your Son and our Savior gave up the last drop of His Sacred blood - and breathed his last breath - to set us free from sin and death -

He turned to His Beloved Mother at the foot of the Cross.

And said
'Woman, behold your son.'
Then he said to the disciple whom he loved with a special affection, John, and said,
'Behold your mother'" (John 19: 26-27).

The Mother of Jesus is the Mother of His Church - and our Mother.

And Now Dear Father, in the name of Jesus, and under the maternal care of Mary, His Mother, under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we ask for the end of the culture of death.

We ask for the spread of a new culture of life in the Americas.

We pray for the new evangelization of the Church and the conversion of the Americas to Jesus Christ and His Church.

And here, I present my own personal intention: