October 2009 Newsletter

This newsletter is a publication of the Mystical Order of the White Rose, a multi-faith devotional and spiritual support organization. We support and share information about mystical, monastic, contemplative and creative ways of living. We encourage prayer, the reading of sacred scripture(s), lectio divina, meditation, journaling, solitude, fasting, silence, kindness, hospitality, worship, simplicity, creativity,active involvement in spiritual and/or religious communities, and loving service to others. You can view past issues here and you can subscribe to it here .

Image of the original tilma.

Table of Contents

-- Update: The Turning of the Years and Some Changes by Cynthia Kiteley Lee

-- Excerpt: The Story of the Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe by China Galland

-- Quotation: The Words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego

-- Prayer: A Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

-- Cultural Commentary on Our Lady of Guadalupe by Jeannette Rodriguez

-- An Anecdote About Roses and Thorns -- author unknown

-- Links of Interest

-- Daily Multi-Faith, Multi-Media Devotionals for October 2009

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The Turning of the Years and Some Changes

by Cynthia Kiteley Lee

Daily Multi-Faith, Multi-Media Devotionals

Putting together these monthly issues of the Mystical Order of the White Rose Newsletter is a joyful and stimulating task for me.l It has been 21 months (one year and three months) since I founded the Mystical Order of the White Rose and began publication of the newsletter.

I will continue to list links for past issues of the newsletter, but I will be omitting the Daily Multi-Faith and Multi-Media Devotionals section of past issues. That way I can recycle the Daily Devotional pages every year.

If I did not do this, I would, after just a few years, end up with thousands of pages and the added work of reinventing each month's devotionals. My website hosting service for this website only allows me 500 pages, unless I want to pay an extra $1 a month for every additional 50 pages I use.

All of the past issues for 2009 newsletters will have their full quota of Daily Devotionals. The 2008 newsletters will not. Once the wheel of the year turns and we find ourselves in 2010, I will recycle the 2009 newsletter pages and remove their Daily Devotional sections.

Daily Delivery of the Daily Devotionals to Your Email Inbox Now an Option

Although I have a blog for the Mystical Order of the White Rose, and could put daily devotions there, I have decided to offer newsletter subscribers the option of receiving the daily devotionals in their email inbox on a daily basis.

It has become apparent to me over the years that people are much more likely to read mail that arrives in their inbox than to go to the trouble of finding the link for the most recent newsletter and then finding the devotional for the day they want.

If you would like to have your Daily Devotionals delivered by email, please let me know and I will send you the link you need to use to subscribe to automatically delivered daily devotionals. You can reach me at: mysticalwhiterose@gmai.com

OR.... Bookmark the MOWR Newsletter Link or Add it to Your Favorites List

That way you can easily bring up the newsletter link and just scross down that page to the day and devotional that you want.

Upcoming Newsletter Themes

Themes for the Mystical Order of the White Rose Newsletter in months to come include: The Tarot, Early Celtic Christianity and Monasticism, Writing One's Own "Rule" and Poetry as a Spiritual Practice. If you have suggestions for additional themes, please let me know at: mysticalwhiterose@gmail.com.

Time and Task Management News & Challenges

Apologies for the lateness of this issue. In addition to a full-time day job that I love, I have another life as a newsletter publisher, home business programs administrator, and online and offline marketer. I publish six newsletter (including this one); five of them are published monthly; four of them are e-newsletters. The members in the two home business programs I founded and administer pay me for services and information. Assisting them and delivering the agreed upon services and information is, naturally, a priority for me.

I hired a local lady to assist me with my "home biz" tasks last March. This month a second assistant will be coming on board. I believe this will free up time for me to focus more strongly on other tasks that are important to me. These include producing the monthly Mystical Order of the White Rose Newsletter on a rmore regular, timely basis and writing reports and books. You can find out more about that other life by clicking on this link. I also maintain one blog and have another one set up that I would like work on.

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The Story of the Apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe

by China Gallant

Roses. Legend has it that in Mexico, on December 9, 1531, the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared and told the Indian peasant Juan Diego to pick roses where Juan Diego knew only cactus could bloom on Tepayac Hill. This Virgin had dark skiin and black hair like Juan Diego. She wore a black belt above her waist, traditional Indian style, indicating that she was pregnant. He was to take the roses in his cape to the bishop and to report this vision. He was to tell the bishop that the Virgin wants a church built here.

Juan Diego is turned away three times. Trying to hide the roses from the bishop's attendants to no avail, he opens his cape and the roses have become a part of it. Juan Diego is then admitted to the bishop's presence. He kneels and reaches for the roses to hand the bishop and his cape falls to the ground. On the cape is the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe imprinted on the cloth. The roses have fallen to the floor and lie scattered everywhere, their scent filling the air.

This is one telling. Eduardo Galeano tells us another in Memory of Fire. The apparition Juan Diego saw on Tepayac Hill spoke to him in Nahuatl, the Aztec tongue, when she told him that she was "the mother of God."

It was the bishop, Zumarraga, who decided that the apparition was Guadalupe, the Dark Madonna from Estremadura, Spain, that was appearing to Juan Diego. It was Zumarraga, the Indian's protector, who was the keeper of the branding iron that stamped the Indians' faces with the names of their proprietors, Galeano says. Zumarraga knew that Tepeyac had been the site of the Aztec worship of the earth goddess, Tonantzin, who clad herself in snakes, hearts, and hands. The Indians loved Tonantzin, Galeano tells us; they called her "our mother."

Tontantzin, whose name meant "mother" in Nahuatl, had the crescent moon and the maguey or century plant as her sign. The maguey was quickly pre-empted by the Church for the Dark Virgin of Mexico, whether in the form of Guadalupe or another favored Madonna, Los Remedios, The Remedy.

Juan Diego's tilma, his cape, still exists. It is said that if one looks very closely into the eye of the Virgin imprinted on the cloth, the figure of Juan Diego, standing before her, can be discerned still.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Dark Madonna who appeared as a pregnant Indian woman, is the Madonna that Pope Pius XI declared to be the patroness of all the Americas, from Alaska to the tip of Tierra del Fuego in South America.

There are roses of fire.

- p. 246-248, Longing for Darkness--Tara and the Black Madonna; A Ten-Year Journey by China Gallant

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Detail from original tilma.

The Words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego

Let not your heart be disturbed, Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve or be disturbed by anything.

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Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

O Our Lady of Guadalupe,

Mystical rose, ...help all those who invoke you in their necessities, and since you are the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of God, obtain for us from your most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, burning charity, and the precious gift of final perseverence. Amen.

- Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. p. 22 American Madonna (booklet)

Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast Day is December 12

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Cultural Commentary on Our Lady of Guadalupe

by Jeannette Rodriguez

The Marian phenomenon throughout history has been powerful precisely because it is a female representation of the divine, bearing attributes otherwise excluded from mainline Christian perceptions of God as Father, Son, and Spirit. In official religiosity, the femine face of God has been suppressed and excluded, and female images of God have migrated to the figure of Mary. ....

Toward a more gender-inclusive theology of God, the Marian tradition offers its powerful maternal and other female images of the Divine. Through this process of integration, the figure of Mary no longer has to bear the b uden of keeping alove female imagery of the Divine, and figure of God becomes our loving Mother to whom we entrust our needs. Again, for some, it may be difficult to image the male face of God as a lovingv provider, but the Marian image is not meant to replace but to enhance the personhood of God.

pp. 26-27 Goddess of the Americas--Writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe

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An Anecdote About Roses and Thorns

     A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it.

      He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom... it died.

      So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects.

      We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

       Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them.

      This is one of the characteristic of love... to look at a person, know their true faults and accepting that person into your life... all the while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the "rose" within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.

                                                     Author Unknown

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Links of Interest

The Light of the World Church, Mexico

Background, history and lingusitic analysis re: apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Autumn Foliage Slide Show - stunning photographs

Comprehensive Our Lady of Guadalupe Website

Poetry for Our Lady of Guadalupe

Global Chill Music for your listening pleasure.

August 2009 Article: latest findings on Our Lady of Guadalupe Apparition

ShadowFae's Monthly Newsletter -- Spirituality, astrology and more.

Spirit and Sky -- A spiritual knowledge repository.

The Mystery in Our Lady of Guadalupe's Eyes

Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery (Trappist)

Prayer cards, medals, books and more relating to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

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Daily Multi-Faith, Multi-Media Devotionals for October 2009

Each day we should expose ourselves to the inspiration of others. Thousands of saints and wise men and women have left us messages of hope and encouragement. Read what is honest. Read the scriptures and the commentaries. Read great literature and poetry. Read the psalms. Read that which expresses the anguish and the exhilaration of experience, and teaches us that we are not alone.

- John McQuiston II, p. 88, Always We Begin Again--The Benedictine Way of Living