The Healing Journey

December 12, 2025

“I hear their weeping and their sorrows … their necessities and misfortunes.”
— Our Lady of Guadalupe

Ann always had a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. In her home, there was a replica of her image and a statue of her. Over the years, she prayed to her and was certain she had interceded for her family in the crises that life sent their way.

The patroness of the Americas, Mexico and the pro-life movement, “La Virgen Morena” — the brown-skinned Madonna is revered by millions worldwide. Today is her feast day.

On a December morning in 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to an Aztec convert to Christianity who was walking to Mass. She gave him a message that is as meaningful today as it was 500 years ago.

Speaking in his native tongue, she told Juan Diego: “My son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-Virgin Mary and mother of the true God, who gives life and maintains its existence. … Here I will show and offer all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection. I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who have confidence in me. I will hear their weeping and their sorrows … their necessities and misfortunes.”

She asked for a church to be built in her honor on Tepeyac Hill, near what is now Mexico City. Today, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the most popular Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, visited by more than 20 million people a year.

A simple peasant, Juan Diego took her request to the bishop, who asked for a sign. On December 12, Our Lady told him to go to the barren hillside, where he found dark pink Castilian roses — not found in Mexico or in winter — and she arranged them in his tilma.

When he arrived at the bishop’s residence and opened his cloak, the roses fell out, and there was an image of the Virgin as a young pregnant woman dressed in the native style, with her head bowed and her hands clasped in prayer. The bishop got his miracle and had a church built there in her honor.
On her feast day, Ann went to the florist and bought a bouquet to put in front of her statue. As she unwrapped the flowers, a card fell out that said, “December roses.” And she realized it was more than a coincidence that she would be giving Our Lady roses just like the roses in winter that fell from Juan Diego’s tilma almost 500 years ago. It was a gift to her and a gift from her.
©J Pisani

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