The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is affiliated with the basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. Anyone visiting the Shrine on August 5th, the anniversary of the Dedication of Saint Mary Major, can receive the same graces they would receive at the basilica in Rome. Saint Mary Major was built after an older couple in ancient Rome decided to use their fortune to honor the Blessed Virgin, since they had no children to whom they could leave it. That night they both dreamed the same dream: Our Blessed Mother appeared to them and asked them to build her a church on the Esquiline hill. When they approached the bishop of Rome, Pope Liberius, they discovered that he had had the same dream that night. To mark the spot of the basilica, our Lady sent snow to cover the hill - snow during the month of August in Italy, where the summer heat is nearly unbearable. It was truly a miracle.
How often people doubt the possibility of such miracles in their own lives, all the while wishing someone would send a miraculous snow to bring relief in the insurmountable heat of the difficulties which cause them anxiety.
Our Lady sends her aid to those who seek it. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe offers a place where one can do just that. Whether the miracle is large or small, hidden or not, Our Lady of Guadalupe always sends her aid - be it the immediate resolution of all one’s problems, the healing of all their physical ills, or simply a renewed trust that she will arrange all things, an invigorated hope in her Divine Son. It matters not whether they come to Saint Mary Major on the Esquiline Hill, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill, or the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe that sits atop a hill in Wisconsin. Maybe they only climb a hill in their heart. Our Mother sees all of her children and knows everything that they need and desire. Always she reminds them in her words to Saint Juan Diego, “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 anything more?”
