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The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is very dear to my heart. Once upon a time, when I was a missionary with Life Teen, I was blessed to be in Mexico on December 12th. It was truly an incredible experience. There are altars in the streets, and dancers in traditional costumes. There is singing and praising God and masses are packed.
The apparition is also a favorite of mine. For me, what resounds most in my heart is the fact that Our Lady chose a poor, indigenous man, someone that most people in society would have overlooked, and who, in fact, was overlooked when he was trying to get her message to the Bishop. But Our Lady paid attention to him, close attention. When St. Juan Diego tried to avoid Tepeyac Hill and Our Lady because he was rushing to get a priest for his sick Uncle, Our Lady met him along his way, letting him know that she had already taken care of the situation- his uncle was well.
We celebrate many of the Marian feasts each year, but this one is big, so I’m planning ahead. And I thought I’d share with you a round-up of resources available for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Craft
My plan for our craft this year is to print copies of the Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring page from St. John the Baptist’s Collection onto card stock. Then the kids will color them, and we’ll finish up by making rose prints using the same method as for St. Therese’s Feast Day around the border of the page. If you aren’t inclined towards painting, you could always skip that step and make it a simple coloring page.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Books
I love reading books to my kids on feast days. Here are a couple that are fabulous and well-worth a read.
This is a chapter book about Saint Juan Diego. I’ve loved this series for years, and have used them when I was teaching. I am so excited that G is finally old enough to appreciate them.
This is the picture book we have. The story is well-told, and the illustrations are gorgeous. It’s a favorite all year long, but gets special attention during Advent each year.
This is my absolute favorite Our Lady of Guadalupe book, buuut we only have a kindle edition, which makes it less fun. It’s hard to come by because it’s out of print, but if you come across a used copy, snap it up right away.
Liturgical Food For Our Lady
I’m not super great at planning meals that fit the liturgical season (if you want to be- please get a copy of Kendra Tierney’s Catholic All Year and make your life easier), but this is a feast day that I can handle, albeit very, very simply. For lunch on the 12th we will be having quesadillas and Mexican hot chocolate. Here’s an easy recipe for the hot chocolate.
Other Fun Things
We will also be busting out our Juan Diego and Our Lady peg dolls courtesy of Catholic Icing- they’re part of her printable peg doll set, which is helpful for those of us who can’t imagine creating one so detailed.
For those of you who can’t imagine painting any part of a peg doll, Shining Light Dolls has a super cute OLG doll.
And since our diocese subscribes to Formed, we’ll be watching the Juan Diego cartoon that’s available on the service too.
Hopefully this little round up makes it easier for your family to celebrate this beautiful feast day.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
We love OLG too. My dad bought a huge painting of OLG back in the 80s and it has hung in their living room forever. My MIL had a little icon of OLG by her bed through her illness and eventual death when my husband was 13. OLG is etched on her tombstone.
My daughter was born Dec 12. She is named after my mil and my mom. My MIL’s middle name is the same as my mom’s confirmation name.
I can’t help but think God chose that day to comfort us as we mourn my MIL.
Demi has a beautiful book “Gifts of Our Lady of Guadalupe.” It seems to be widely available, but the storytelling is not quite as warm as DePaola’s.
I tried to comment once already but got an error message. If this shows up twice in slightly different forms, don’t think me a weirdo. 🙂
Oh I love this! It sounds like Our Lady of Guadalupe is definitely a patroness of your family; it sounds like she’s been close by both you and your husband! Thank you for sharing that!
And thanks for telling me about Demi’s OLG book. I love her writing style, though I absolutely agree that it’s not as warm as De Paola’s. He is my absolute favorite author!