Feast of the Holy Family

O Come All Ye Faithful - Anne Murray

Soldier Sits Down Next To Stranger In Airport, Then Finds Out He Paid For His Family Vacation

Away in a Manger

The Marian Shrine community wishes you a very happy Christmas.  May the peace of Christ child live in our hearts and our neighborhood and spread through the entire world.

O Holy Night - Josh Groban

Set to scenes from The Nativity Story... O Holy Night - by Josh Groban. Video Created by Youtube channel Tonycdrive.

The Christmas Shoes

Son Surprises Mom for Christmas

André Rieu - Christmas in London

WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving

Christmas commercial

CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR THE HOMELESS

While most of us want the best phone or the biggest TV for the holidays, there are a lot of people out there who just need the basics like food and clothing. So this year, instead of shopping for people who already have a lot... I decided to spend my money shopping for people who don't have much at all. All of this was filmed with Google Glass.

Sport Respect Moments

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

An elder Mexican man makes his way to Mass in the early morning twilight of December 9, 1531. He is a peasant, a simple farmer and laborer, and he has no education. Born under Aztec rule, he is a convert to Catholicism, and each step he takes this morning is a step into history.

The morning quiet is broken by a strange music that he will later describe as the beautiful sound of birds. Diverting his path to investigate the sound, Juan Diego comes face to face with a radiant apparition of the Virgin Mary.

Juan Diego is 57 years old. He has just encountered the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, the site of a former Aztec Temple. His wife has died two years earlier, and he lives with his elder uncle, scratching his living from the earth as a humble peasant farmer. Why should this unlearned, man be chosen by Our Lady to carry a message to the Bishop? Perhaps because she would find none other as humble as Juan Diego.

Juan Diego is dazzled by the incredible beauty and miraculous nature of Our Lady's appearance. She appears as a native princess to him, and her words sound more beautiful than the sweetest music ever made.

Our Lady calms the startled traveler, and assures him of who she is. She instructs Juan Diego to visit his bishop and ask that a temple be built on the site of her appearance, so that she will have a place to hear petitions and to heal the suffering of the Mexican people. "Now go and put forth your best effort," Our Lady instructs.

Frightened and saddened, Juan Diego sets off in a great hurry, time is running out, and Juan Diego is afraid his uncle will die without a last confession. On the road, in his way, Our Lady appears for a third time. Upset and afraid, Juan explains himself. Our Lady replies, "Am I not your mother? ... Are you not in the crossing of my arms?" she asks.

Juan Diego is skeptical again. It's December, what flowers could grow on the summit of the hill in this cold?

Nevertheless, he obeys and atop the hill he finds a great number of flowering roses which he picks and hastily gathers into his cloak.

For the third time, Juan Diego is ushered in to see the Bishop. The skeptical cleric has waited for two days to see what sign Our Lady has for him. Juan opens his tilma, letting the roses cascade to the floor. But more than the roses, both men are astonished to see what is painted on his humble tilma - an exquisite image of Our Lady.

In the image, she stands as she appeared, a native princess with high cheekbones. Her head is bowed and her hands are folded in prayer to God. On her blue cloak, the stars are arranged as they appeared in the morning darkness at the hour of her first apparition.

Under her feet, is a great crescent moon, a symbol of the old Aztec religion. The message is clear, she is more powerful than the Aztec gods, yet she herself is not God.

At the same time Our Lady is appearing to Juan Diego, and directing him to cut the flowers on Tepeyac Hill, she also appears to his uncle, Juan Bernadino who believes he is about to die. As soon as she appears, the fever stops and Juan Bernadino feels well again. She tells Juan Bernadino, she wants to be known as "Santa Maria, de Guadalupe."

Our Lady of Guadalupe did not appear again, for her mission was complete. The temple was built and remains there today, in what is now a suburb of Mexico City. Juan Diego's tilma, woven from cactus fibers, with a shelf-life of just 30 years at best, remains miraculously preserved.

On October 12, 1945, Pope Pius XII, decreed Our Lady of Guadalupe to be "Patroness of all the Americas." Her feast day is December 12, and it is a Holy Day of Obligation in Mexico.

Our Lady of Guadalupe had this to say to Juan Diego:

"Know for certain, least of my sons, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near and far, the Master of heaven and earth. It is my earnest wish that a temple be built here to my honor.

What goes around comes around

Thank you

Pope Francis explains the Immaculate Conception

Pope Francis explained the meaning of the Immaculate Conception during his address before praying the weekly Angelus in St. Peter's Square, Dec. 8.

I believe in Miracles

There's a lot going on in our world right now...

And it can sometimes feel overwhelming, difficult, or even impossible to stay positive.

That's one of the reasons I am so grateful that you and I are in this community together.

A community of people who BELIEVE in something greater than our own individuality...

A community of people who BELIEVE that one person can make a difference...

And we are a community of people who BELIEVE that collectively we can change the world.

In that spirit, enjoy today's video -- about what we BELIEVE about all of that, and a whole lot more. :)