Pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe for the Unborn

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe
on St. Juan Diego's tilma

Today's feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is an especially important one for millions of Catholics in the Americas and around the world who pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary for the protection of human life, especially for developing human beings in the womb: the unborn children who are faced with the danger of abortion.

The pregnant aspect of Our Lady's image on Saint Juan Diego's tilma (cactus cloth) has made Our Lady of Guadalupe a symbol for the plight of the unborn. It is a constant reminder of God's mercy and Divine Intervention in the world, and Our Lady's continued work for the salvation of souls that includes exposing the deception of the Evil One and his demons.

It is for that very purpose that Our Lady has appeared in so many places throughout the centuries: to eradicate pagan worship, debauchery, New Age and occult practices, and all other types of evil, and in the process has been, and continues to be, our light to Christ, showing us the path to Jesus.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was revealed in 1531, when St. Juan Diego unfolded his tilma (full of flowers) in front the local bishop and as the flowers fell to the floor, the exquisitely detailed painting of Our Lady was seen by all present. 

Our Lady's image also draws our attention to its supernatural power and the fact that it caused the conversion of eight million Aztecs and other indigenous people in less than ten years, in the area that is known today as Mexico. 

Saint Juan Diego was himself converted to the Catholic faith some time between 1524-1525, and was baptized by a Franciscan priest, Fr. Peter da Gand, one of the first Franciscan missionaries.

Praying for conversions is an important aspect in the fight against abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, contraception, in vitro fertilization, the death penalty, and all other threats to the value and inviolability of human life. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the powerful intercessor that we have recourse to in the fight against the Culture of Death.

It is important to remember that the fight to protect the unborn is primarily a spiritual battle that must be fought with spiritual weapons, of which the Holy Mass and group recitation of the Rosary—the two most powerful forms of prayer—are essential weapons in the spiritual arsenal to fight the good fight.

In addition to the Mass, Rosary, and your own personal prayers, you may want to consider the following selected prayers taken from Michael Brown's Marian devotional book, Seven Days With Mary, in which he dedicates one of the seven days to Our Lady of Guadalupe:

Prayer of John Paul II

Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God. Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair Love, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children. We beg you grant us a great love for all the holy Sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth. Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which come to us from your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. (47)

Morning Offering

Immaculate Heart of Mary, heart of my mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe, I unite to thy purity, thy sanctity, thy zeal, and thy love, all my thoughts, words, acts, and suffering this day, that there may be nothing in me that does not become through thee a pleasure to Jesus, a gain for souls, and an act of reparation for the offenses against thy heart. (49)

Closing Prayer

Remember, O most gracious Virgin of Guadalupe, that in your apparitions on Mount Tepeyac you promised to show pity and compassion to all who, loving and trusting you, seek your help and protection.

Accordingly, listen now to our supplications and grant us consolation and relief. We are full of hope that, relying on your help, nothing can trouble or affect us. As you have remained with us through your admirable image, so now obtain for us the graces we need. Amen. (51)  

So important is Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Americas that in 1945, Pope Pius XII decreed Our Lady of Guadalupe to be “Patroness of all the Americas,” and today in Mexico, it is a Holy Day of Obligation.

In more recent times during his pastoral visit to Mexico, Saint John Paul II, in his homily at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City on Saturday, January 23, 1999, entrusted the future of the continent and the Church to the Blessed Virgin Mary, imploring the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe to, "Save the nations and peoples of this continent. Teach everyone, political leaders and citizens, to live in true freedom and to act according to the requirements of justice and respect for human rights, so that peace may thus be established once and for all." (9)

Saint John Paul II, who was well known as a staunch defender of human life, stated during that homily, “...[T]he Church must proclaim the Gospel of life and speak out with prophetic force against the culture of death.” (8)

It was in 1995, only four years prior to that homily, that St. John Paul II released his encyclical on the Gospel of Life, Evangelium Vitae; an essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Church's teaching on the value and inviolability of human life, and the many threats to it. For those who are somewhat new to the life of St. John Paul II, here is an excerpt from Evangelium Vitae that captures the richness of this encyclical and his commitment to the protection of the unborn:

"Your eyes beheld my unformed substance" (Ps 139:16): the unspeakable crime of abortion 

Among all the crimes which can be committed against life, procured abortion has characteristics making it particularly serious and deplorable. The Second Vatican Council defines abortion, together with infanticide, as an "unspeakable crime".

But today, in many people's consciences, the perception of its gravity has become progressively obscured. The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behaviour and even in law itself, is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake. Given such a grave situation, we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to convenient compromises or to the temptation of self-deception. In this regard the reproach of the Prophet is extremely straightforward: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Is 5:20). Especially in the case of abortion there is a widespread use of ambiguous terminology, such as "interruption of pregnancy", which tends to hide abortion's true nature and to attenuate its seriousness in public opinion. Perhaps this linguistic phenomenon is itself a symptom of an uneasiness of conscience. But no word has the power to change the reality of things: procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth. (58)

If we look to the human sacrifices of St. Juan Diego's time (1500s) and our modern times, we can easily draw a parallel between the demonic worship during the Aztec era with that of today's abortions: the mass murder of innocent human beings in the womb performed in hospitals, "health care centers," "women's care clinics," and so-called "family-planning facilities" such as Planned Parenthood.

The Aztecs offered human sacrifices as part of their worship to two chief Aztec gods (demons), Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipocawhich, of which the most popular was the brutal ritual performed on top of Aztec pyramids. The Our Lady of Guadalupe web site at sancta.org details this:

Perhaps the most popular of the public rituals was taking the victims to the tops of the Aztec pyramids where they were laid on top of a flat stone. There, the priests cut open their chests and their hearts were ripped out. The bodies were then thrown down the steps of the pyramid.

After the bodies tumbled down the stairs, the priests removed the limbs, cooked and ate them. Specially hands and thighs were considered the best delicacies. The heads were placed in skull racks for public exhibition.

The atrocities committed in our modern times against human life, as during the Aztec era, are inspired and influenced by the demonic. Just as the Aztecs intentionally offered their human sacrifices to their gods (demons), so too are people today intentionally performing abortions as part of a blood sacrifice and offering to Satan.

Here in Canada, where abortion is available on demand, we are in great need of God's Divine Intervention and Our Lady of Guadalupe's intercession to eradicate abortion and all other threats to human life (euthanasia and assisted suicide, contraception, in vitro fertilization) from the landscape.

Sadly, Canada is a country whose political leaders have failed the nation by consistently rejecting God’s plan for humanity, and in the process ignored Canada’s Christian heritage, history, and identity. This failure dates back to Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the infamous 1969 Omnibus Bill that ushered in "therapeutic abortions" performed in hospitals, which eventually paved the way for Dr. Henry Morgantaler's 1988 constitutional challenge that resulted in abortion being made available on demand across the nation.

Our current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau (supposedly a Catholic like his father Pierre Elliot Trudeau) has stated on more than one occasion that anyone seeking to join the Liberal Party of Canada must support abortion. This fact alone is a telling sign of the ongoing moral crisis in Canada that seems to be increasing with each new generation.

God's Holy Law clearly states in the Fifth Commandment, "You Shall Not Kill." The Catechism of the Catholic Church elaborates on this Commandment, "Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being." (2258)

None of this has meant anything to Canada's prime ministers since Pierre Elliot Trudeau; the result of which has seen a growing moral disorder in Canada and with it the establishment of a Culture of Death.

I respectfully urge my fellow Canadians to pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe for the protection of the unborn, and for God's Divine Intervention, that the moral disorder that has taken root over the past five decades may be eradicated from the land and that Canada be restored to a Culture of Life.


Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!