Mother of God, Seat of Wisdom
Feast of the Dedication of the Church of St. Mary of the Snow
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
La Crosse, Wisconsin
5 August 2026
Sir 24, 14-16
Lk 11, 27-28
Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Why does the Church of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe here celebrate the Dedication of the Church of Saint Mary of the Snow, the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, with such particular joy? The Shrine Church here enjoys the Spiritual Bond of Affinity with the Papal Basilica dedicated to the mystery of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, defined at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431. In virtue of the Spiritual Bond of Affinity with the Papal Basilica, the faithful may obtain in the Shrine Church the same spiritual benefits obtained by a pilgrimage to the Papal Basilica, that is, today, they receive, under the usual conditions, a plenary indulgence for themselves or for one of the faithful departed. In addition, in virtue of the same Spiritual Bond, they may obtain a plenary indulgence in the Shrine Church: 1) on its titular feast, December 12th, 2) on all Solemnities of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, 3) on a freely-chosen day, once yearly, and 4) as often as they take part in the pilgrimage of a group of faithful to this holy place for the purpose of devotion. The extraordinarily generous grant of plenary indulgences by the Apostolic Penitentiary and the Papal Basilica is a sign of the importance of the dogma of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, magnificently honored in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major and in this Shrine Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Virgin Mother of God.
The Bishops at the Council of Ephesus, in communion with the Roman Pontiff Pope Celestine, confirmed the teaching contained in the letter of Saint Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, to the heretic Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople, in which Saint Cyril affirmed, in accord with the teaching of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the following regarding the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation:
For this [Jesus] was not an ordinary man who was at first begotten of the holy Virgin, and then the Word descended upon him: rather, ‹the Word› united flesh to himself from his mother’s womb and is said to have undergone begetting in the flesh in order to take to himself flesh of his own…. For this reason [the holy Fathers] have not hesitated to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, not certainly because the nature of the Word or his divinity had the origin of its being from the holy Virgin, but because from her was generated his holy body, animated by a rational soul, a body hypostatically united to the Word; and thus it is said that ‹the Word› was begotten according to the flesh.[1]
Thus, the Council Fathers at Ephesus defended the central truth of the Incarnation, the truth that God the Son united our human nature to His divine nature in the immaculate womb of the Ever Virgin Mary.
God the Son became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary for one only reason: to suffer, die, rise from the dead, and ascend to the right hand of God the Father, and to send into the hearts of the faithful, from His glorious-pierced Heart at the right hand of the Father, the sevenfold gift of God the Holy Spirit for their eternal salvation. By our cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit, God the Son restores us to communion with God the Father, He saves our human nature from sin and eternal death, He gives us happiness during our earthly pilgrimage, no matter how arduous the way may be, and the fullness of happiness at the destiny of our pilgrimage: eternal life – in the presence of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – with the angels and all the saints.
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is, therefore, in her whole being and forever the most beloved companion, co-worker, of God the Son in His work of the Redemptive Incarnation. Today’s Epistle reminds us that the Virgin Mary is the Seat of Wisdom, that Divine Wisdom, God the Son, the Word, became flesh in her immaculate womb. In his commentary for today’s solemnity, the Blessed Ildephonse Schuster wrote:
The praises of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, are also applied to her who held him at her breast and was the “seat of wisdom.” For this reason Mary shares with Christ his sovereignty over the elect – that is, the Christian people, to whom as their queen, their mother, and their advocate she distributes the treasures of the redemption…
Not only did she remain inviolate, but her divine motherhood consecrated the undefiled virginity of Mary, for so great was the joy that poured into her soul at the moment of the Incarnation, and so strong were the bonds of love with which Christ drew unto himself the spirit of his mother, that from that instant the body and soul of Mary remained unalterably consecrated to God alone.[2]
The Blessed Virgin Mary is totally for Christ in her virginity and in her maternity. In the same way, she is totally for us, the members of His Mystical Body, the Church.
So it is that, when the Virgin Mother of God, Our Lady of Guadalupe, appeared to Saint Juan Diego on December 9, 1531, she introduced herself with these words:
Know, know for sure my dearest and youngest son, that I am truly the ever perfect Holy Virgin Mary, who has the honor to be the Mother of the one true God for whom we all live, the Creator of people, the Lord of all around us and of what is close to us, the Lord of Heaven, the Lord of Earth.
I want very much that they build my sacred little house here, in which I will show Him, I will exalt Him upon making Him manifest, I will give Him to all people in all my personal love, Him that is my compassionate gaze, Him that is my help, Him that is my salvation.
Because truly I am honored to be your compassionate mother, yours and that of all the people that live together in this land, and also of all the other various lineages of men; those who love me, those who cry to me, those who seek me, those who trust in me. Because there [at my sacred house] truly will I hear their cry, their sadness, in order to remedy, to cure all their various troubles, their miseries, their pains.”[3]
Contemplating the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary as it is so wonderfully honored in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, in which the Manger of the Infant Jesus, God the Son Incarnate, is the principal relic, let us pray, through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, that we may more and more cooperate with the divine grace flowing into our hearts from the glorious-pierced Heart of her Divine Son. Let us not forget that God has left the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe upon the Sacred Tilma of Saint Juan Diego as a constant reminder of how totally the Mother of Christ loves Him and loves all who are alive in Him through the Sacrament of Baptism. She will not fail to help us to be, with her, co-workers of Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of our souls.
Blessed Columba Marmion, reflecting on the Admirabile Commercium, the Admirable Exchange, by which God the Son united our human nature to His divine nature to pour forth His divine life into our human lives, reminds us that God’s love, expressed immeasurably in the Incarnation, continues at work in our lives, above all through the Holy Eucharist. He writes:
If we will have it so, the admirable exchange still continues. For it is likewise through His Humanity that Christ infuses divine life into us at the Holy Table. It is in eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood, in uniting ourselves to His Humanity, that we draw at the very wellspring of everlasting life: Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sangiunem, habet vitam aeternam (Joan. VI, 55) [“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Jn 6, 56].
Thus, each day, the union established between man and God in the Incarnation is continued and made closer. In giving Himself in Communion, Christ increases the life of grace in the generous and faithful soul, making this life develop more freely and expand with more strength; He even bestows upon such a soul the pledge of that blessed immortality of which grace is the germ and whereby God will communicate Himself to us fully and unveiled: Ut natus hodie Salvator mundi, sicut divinae nobis generationis est auctor, ita et immortalitatis sit ipse largitor. [“that as the Saviour of the world born on this day is the author of our divine generation, so may he be the giver of immortality” Postcommunion of Christmas Day)].
This will be the consummation, magnificent and glorious, of the exchange inaugurated at Bethlehem in the poverty and humiliations of the Crib.[4]
Privileged to celebrate solemnly the Dedication of the Church of Our Lady of the Snow, let us ask the Mother of God, our Mother, to assist us in cooperating faithfully, each day, with her Divine Son Who never fails to pour forth into our hearts an abundance of divine grace. Let us pray that we may always be, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, among those whom Our Lord praised with these words: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”[5]
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
[1] “Council of Ephesus (Third Ecumenical): June 22-September 431,” in Heinrich Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum / Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals, rev. Peter Hünermann, ed. Robert Fastiggi and Anne Englund Nash for the English edition, Editio XLIII / 43rd ed. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012), p. 94, no. 251.
[2] “L’elogio di Cristo, eterna Sapienza, viene applicato anche a Colei che lo portò in seno e ne fu la sede. Maria per tal motivo entra a parte della sovranità di Cristo sul popolo eletto, che è la famiglia cristiana, alla quale la Vergine distribuisce, siccome regina, madre e mediatrice, i tesori della Redenzione…
Non solo rimase illibata, ma la divina maternità consacrò l’intemerata verginità di Maria ; giacché fu tanto il gaudio che le inondò l’anima nel momento della divina Incarnazione, e Cristo attrasse a sè lo spirito di sua Madre con tali forti vincoli di dilezione, che il corpo e l’anima di Maria rimasero in quell’istante definitivamente consacrati a Dio solo.” A. I. Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum. Note storiche e liturgiche sul Messale Romano, Vol. 8, 2a ed. (Torino-Roma: Casa Editrice Marietti, 1932), p. 138. English translation: Ildefonso Schuster, The Sacramentary (Liber Sacramentorum: Historical and Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal, Vol. 4 (Parts 7 and 8), tr. Arthur Levelis-Marke (New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1929), p. 410.
[3] “Sábelo, ten por cierto, hijo mío, el más pequeño, que yo soy en verdad la perfecta siempre Virgen Santa María, que tengo el honor de ser Madre del verdaderísimo Dios por quien se vive, el Creador de las personas, el Dueño de la cercanía y de la inmediación, el Dueño del cielo, el Dueño de la tierra.
Mucho quiero, mucho deseo, que aquí me levanten mi casita sagrada, en donde lo mostraré, lo ensalzaré al ponerlo de manifiesto, lo entregaré a las gentes en todo mi amor personal, a Él que es mi mirada compasiva, a Él que es mi auxilio, a Él que es mi salvación.
Porque, en verdad, yo me honro en ser tu madre compasiva, tuya y de todos los hombres que vivís juntos en esta tierra, y también de todas las demás variadas estirpes de hombres, los que me amen; los que me llamen, los que me busquen, los que confíen en mí. Porque ahí, en verdad, escucharé su llanto, su tristeza, para remediar, para curar todas sus diferentes penas, sus miserias, sus dolores.” “Apéndice A – El Nican Mopohua”, in Carl Anderson y Monseñor Eduardo Chávez, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Madre de la civilización del amor (México, D.F.: Random House Mondadori S.A. de C.V., 2010), p. 214, nn. 26-32. English translation: “Appendix A – The Nican Mopohua,” in Carl Anderson and Msgr. Eduardo Chávez, Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love (New York: Doubleday, 2009), pp. 173-174, nos. 26-32.
[4] “Si nous le voulons, l’échange admirable se continue encore. Car c’est aussi par son humanité qu’à la table sainte le Christ nous infuse sa vie divine; c’est en mangeant sa chair et en buvant son sang, en nous unissant à son humanité, que nous puisons à la source même de la vie éternelle: Qui mange ma chair et boit mon sang, a la vie éternelle… [Jn 6, 55].
Ainsi, chaque jour, se continue et se resserre l’union établie entre l’homme et Dieu dans l’Incarnation. En se donnant dans la communion, le Christ accroît dans l’âme généreuse et fidèle la vie de la grâce; [Dieu qui, par le vénérable échange qu’opère ce sacrifice, nous rendez participants de votre divinité, une et souveraine, faites qu’après avoir connu votre vérité, nous arrivions par la sainteté de votre vie à la posséder pleinement. Secrète du 4ème Dimanche après Pâques.] il la fait se développer plus librement et s’épanouit avec plus de force; “il lui confère même le gage de cette immortalité bienheureuse dont la grâce est le germe, et où Dieu lui-même se communiquera à nous en toute plénitude et sans voile”: Que le Sauveur du monde qui en naissant aujourd’hui nous fait naître à la vie divine, nous accorde aussi un jour l’immortalité. [Postcommunion de la messe du jour.]
Ce sera la consommation, magnifique et glorieuse, de l’échange inauguré à Bethléem, dans la pauvreté et les abaissements de la crèche.” Columba Marmion, “Le Christ dans ses mystères,” Œuvres Spirituelles (Paris / Maredsous, Belgique: Buchet/Chastel, Pierre Zech Éditeur / Maredsous, 1998), pp. 429-430. English translation: Columba Marmion, Christ in His Mysteries, tr. Mother M. St. Thomas, 9th ed., rev. (Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland: The Cenacle Press at Silverstream Priory, 2022), pp. 129-130.
[5] Lk 11, 28.