Phoenix, Ariz., Aug 8, 2009 / 04:40 am
Following the opening sessions of the International Marian Congress in Phoenix, Arizona, Bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut and Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus William Lori led participants in a Marian meditation, reflecting on how Mary continues visit her children and bring Christ to them today, as she did when she appeared to Juan Diego in 1531.
Bishop Lori began by recalling the Visitation saying that “from the very moment the Virgin Mary learned that her cousin, Elizabeth, was with child, Mary hastened through the hill country to be with her.”
While Mary visits her children constantly, there are other times when, “in God’s providential love, her presence is seen and felt,” recalled Bishop Lori before mentioning Marian apparitions in Lourdes, France and Fatima, Portugal.
“Yet it was Mary’s visitation to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill that, in many ways, was most like her original visit to Elizabeth,” he explained. “Just as Mary had journeyed through the hill country to see Elizabeth, so now she journeyed through the hill country of Mexico to see a poor campesino of no standing. Like Eliazbeth, her aged cousin who was with child, Juan Diego also needed help, not only because he was poor but indeed because his uncle was gravely ill.”