The Christmas Rose

Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Mystical Rose, made Castilian roses to grow on Tepeyac, in the middle of winter. "At midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold" was born the Christmas Rose - Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Shakespeare ponders in his Romeo and Juliette, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But is that true? A rose is a rose and is called such for a reason. It is a symbol of love. Our Lord - Love Incarnate. His Mother - the "Mother of Fair Love, of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope" (Sir. 24:24). It is on the third Sunday of Advent that the priest and the tabernacle are clothed in rose - the color symbolic of joy. For on this Sunday, the Lord draws nigh - closer than the two Sundays before, and in the liturgical texts, we are bid to rejoice in hope - for He comes and does not delay. 

Joy. Love. Love brings joy. And the incarnation of Love Himself, in the womb of the Mother of Fair Love, is the cause of our joy. 

This Christmas and New Year, let us put ourselves under the patronage of the Mystical Rose - Our Lady of Guadalupe. Assisting her in labors for souls, we gather the spiritual roses of Tepeyac hill, and help to gather souls into the little house she requested to be built. Praying the Daily Prayer of Those Consecrated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, we become the messenger of the Mystical Rose this Christmas - the season of His Love, His Life, His Gift.