Verso

Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Prayed from December 3 to December 11, ending the day before its feast (Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12).

Day 1

At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Matthew 11:25 · BSB

Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin was an Indigenous man of the Valley of Mexico, baptised a few years after the Spanish conquest. He was neither a priest nor a scholar. The account says that early on a December morning in 1531 he was walking to Tlatelolco to keep learning the faith. Jesus thanks his Father for hiding things from the wise and showing them to little ones. That morning God chose a little one again, and the whole story that follows passes through his hands.

Father, you look for the humble and speak to them first. Thank you for Saint Juan Diego, who walked so far to know you. Give me his simple faith and his willingness to get up early for what truly matters. Amen.

Intention: For the Indigenous peoples of the Americas and their families.

Day 2

And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language.

Acts 2:6 · BSB

As he passed the hill of Tepeyac, the account says, Juan Diego heard music like birdsong and saw a young woman full of light, who called him by name. She spoke to him in Nahuatl, his own language, with a mother's tenderness. At Pentecost the crowds were amazed to hear the apostles in their own tongues. God does not ask us to become someone else before he speaks to us. He comes looking for us in the words and faces we already know.

Lord, you speak my language and know my name. Thank you for meeting Juan Diego on his road and not in a palace. Open my ears to hear you in ordinary places, and make me patient with those who speak differently from me. Amen.

Intention: For migrants who live far from their language and their homeland.

Day 3

I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

Isaiah 56:7 · BSB

The Lady told Juan Diego that she was the Virgin Mary, the mother of God. She asked for a church to be built at the foot of the hill, a place where people could come with their sorrows and find help. Isaiah promised that God's house would be a house of prayer for all peoples. Today the basilica at Tepeyac is one of the most visited shrines in the world, and the request of 1531 is still being answered every day.

Lord, your house has room for every people and every sorrow. Bless the pilgrims who walk to Tepeyac and to every shrine of your Mother. Make our parishes places where anyone, rich or poor, can come in and be welcomed. Amen.

Intention: For the pilgrims on their way to the Basilica of Guadalupe.

Day 4

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

1 Corinthians 1:27–28 · BSB

Juan Diego went straight to the bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, and had to wait a long time to be seen. The bishop listened kindly but did not believe him. Back at the hill, the account says, Juan Diego begged the Lady to send someone more important, someone people would listen to. She insisted that it be him. Paul writes that God chooses what the world thinks weak and foolish. Feeling unqualified is not a sign that God has picked the wrong person.

Lord, so often I feel too small for what you ask. Remind me that you chose Juan Diego, and that you choose me, not for my strength but because of your love. Give me courage to go wherever you send me. Amen.

Intention: For those who feel too small for what God asks of them.

Day 5

Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9 · BSB

The next day was Sunday. After Mass Juan Diego went back to the bishop, and this time he told his story again in tears. Zumárraga questioned him closely and finally asked for a sign. Juan Diego did not argue; he carried the request back to the hill, and the Lady promised him a sign for the following day. Paul urges us not to grow weary of doing good. Faithfulness often looks like this: going back, telling the truth again, and waiting.

Lord, I am tired of asking and tired of waiting. Give me the patience of Juan Diego, who went back again without bitterness. When people do not believe me, keep me honest and gentle, and help me leave the outcome in your hands. Amen.

Intention: For those who keep praying for something that has not yet come.

Day 6

As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 66:13 · BSB

On Monday Juan Diego could not go back: his uncle, Juan Bernardino, was gravely ill. Before dawn on Tuesday he set out to fetch a priest and took a different path around the hill, hoping not to be delayed. The account says the Lady came down to meet him anyway, comforted him, and told him his uncle was already well. Isaiah says God comforts us as a mother comforts her child. No detour can hide us from that love.

Holy Mary of Guadalupe, you found Juan Diego when he was trying to avoid you, worried about someone he loved. Find me in my worries too. Lord, heal the sick I carry in my heart, and comfort those who sit beside them. Amen.

Intention: For the sick, and for the families who care for them.

Day 7

The wilderness and the land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. It will bloom profusely and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

Isaiah 35:1–2 · BSB

The Lady sent Juan Diego to the top of Tepeyac, a rocky place where nothing should have been growing in December. The account says he found it full of flowers, Castilian roses among them, fresh and wet with dew. He gathered them in his tilma, the cloak of agave fibre he wore, and she arranged them with her own hands. Isaiah foretold a desert bursting into bloom. God can make something beautiful grow in the driest season of our lives.

Lord, parts of my life feel like a hillside in winter. You made roses grow where none could grow; bring life where I see only stones. Give me Juan Diego's obedience to climb, even when I expect to find nothing. Amen.

Intention: For anyone going through a dry and barren season of life.

Day 8

Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?

Song of Solomon 6:10 · BSB

In the bishop's house Juan Diego opened his tilma. The roses fell to the floor and, the account says, on the rough cloth appeared the image of the Virgin that is still kept at Tepeyac: a young woman with a dark face, hands joined in prayer, wrapped in a mantle of stars, standing on the moon. The bishop fell to his knees. The Song asks who this is, rising like the dawn. Mary came with the face of the people she was visiting.

Holy Mary of Guadalupe, you left your image on a poor man's cloak. Look on the poor of our countries with the same tenderness. Lord, let my life, like that tilma, carry something of you to the people I meet. Amen.

Intention: For the poor of Mexico and of all the Americas.

Day 9

When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” So from that hour, this disciple took her into his home.

John 19:26–27 · BSB

That same day, the account says, Juan Bernardino was healed, and the Lady told him her name: Holy Mary of Guadalupe. Within weeks a first chapel stood at Tepeyac, and Juan Diego spent his last years beside it, caring for it and telling visitors what he had seen. The Church canonised him in 2002. From the cross Jesus gave his mother to the beloved disciple. On her feast, 12 December, we thank God for giving her to us as well.

Thank you, Lord, for these nine days at Tepeyac. Thank you for Saint Juan Diego, for Juan Bernardino's healing, and for the Mother you gave us from the cross. Take every intention I have brought, and keep me, like Juan Diego, near her and near you. Amen.

Intention: In thanksgiving for Our Lady of Guadalupe and every grace of this novena.

Novenas

The reflections, prayers and intentions are our own, written for Verso and reviewed. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.