Our Lady of Guadalupe is pregnant in her image. She reveres life. Today she repeats her historic role of ending human sacrifice by mediating graces for life through her Missionary Images to close abortion centers, to prevent abortions and to heal mothers who have suffered from abortions.
Our Lady of Guadalupe said to Juan Diego, “I will give all my protection to the people. I am the merciful mother of all mankind…. Am I not your fountain of life?” She came to Tepeyac to replace Tonantzin, the false mother goddess that was worshiped there. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a mother who protects her children, both born and unborn, from death, and heals mothers who have suffered from abortions. Therefore, she is commonly called the “Protectress of the Unborn”. Over 20 abortion centers have closed after Peaceful Prayer Presences with the Missionary Image.
When Blessed Pope John Paul II visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he prayed to her, “Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God.” When he dedicated a chapel to Our Lady of Guadalupe on May 12, 1992 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, he prayed that she would “always defend the gift of life.” Visitations of the Missionary Image bring life and healings.
This picture, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn, shows Our Lady who protects unborn children from the Red Dragon who voraciously seeks to devour them by abortion. (See Rev. 12:4).
Mothers Reject Abortions and Choose Life
Missionary Image Guardian June Ritchie told how she had the privilege to witness the fruit of a previous Visitation of the Missionary Image to the area. June was preparing the Image to be transferred to the Guardian team from Charlotte, North Carolina. She said, “Just before this occurred, a woman, her adult daughter and baby granddaughter dashed into the church, pleading to see the Missionary Image. Two years ago we processed with the Missionary Image to pray at an abortion center in Greensboro – it received much publicity. That day there was a young pregnant woman who intended to kill her unborn baby because she had been told there were problems with the child. Upon arriving at the abortion center and seeing Our Lady of Guadalupe, she decided against the abortion.”
“Now, almost two years later, we had the honor of witnessing that same young mother, with her own mother, presenting the child she almost killed, now almost two years old, to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn. She came to thank Our Lady for saving her child. The little girl’s first word was ‘Jesus’.”
One day, the Missionary Image was placed in a public park in Chicago for veneration and Dan Lynch gave a pro-life talk on motherhood. A pregnant mother named Vicki walked by him. She had already decided to abort her baby, but when she heard Dan and looked at the Missionary Image, her knees began to shake and she spontaneously began to cry.
“When I saw the Missionary Image”, she said, “it was like the Holy Spirit was coming into me and waking me up after many years.” Although Vicki was unaware of the significance of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, she heard an interior voice say to her, “You are called to motherhood!”
Vicki instantly decided against killing her baby, chose life and put her trust in God. God rewarded her trust and she gave birth to a healthy boy in a Catholic hospital. She returned to the sacraments after years of involvement in the New Age movement, and decided to spend the rest of her life helping mothers and their unborn children.
“It’s made all the difference in the world,” Vicki said, “to know that there are people who are ready to help, people who care.”
When Dan Lynch returned to Chicago a year later, Vicki brought him her healthy baby and thanked him for his pro-life talk which she said, “Saved my baby’s life and my own.”
When a pregnant mother named Helena was waiting inside a “clinic” to have an abortion, she saw Fr. Pavone, Director of Priests for Life, and a group of pro-lifers outside praying the Rosary beside the Missionary Image. When Helena looked out and saw his Roman collar she thought, “There’s a priest out there! What am I doing in here?” She changed her mind, came outside and received help from the pro-lifers. She later gave birth to her child, who was baptized by Father Frank and appropriately named Guadalupe.
Post-Abortive Mothers Are Healed
Through her Missionary Image, Our Lady has melted the hearts and healed many women who were victims of abortions. Cathy, a professional journalist, interviewed Dan Lynch at a Marian Conference. She asked him, “How will Mary end abortion?”
He replied, “She will melt hearts and the melted heart of a mother would never consider killing her innocent, helpless child; she will reverence the life within her and bring it to birth!”
At this point, Cathy broke down, crying and told him, “I had an abortion ten years ago. You are the first person in the world that I have told. I named my son Joshua and have asked him to forgive me.” Mr. Lynch quickly arranged for her to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist that day, for the first time since her abortion. They both felt great joy at her response to Our Lady’s call to come back to the Sacred Heart of her Son and His holy Church. She now evangelizes youth for chastity and reverence for life.
Our Lady of Guadalupe also saved a mother who had had four abortions! She said, “I now consecrate myself daily to the holy Virgin Mother of Guadalupe and I ask her to make me an instrument to end abortion by melting hearts. I believe that Our Lady of Guadalupe will heal all those who have been wounded by the grave sin of abortion and that she is the shield that will protect unborn children and their mothers.”
Mobilization of Consciences for Life
Our Lady of Guadalupe calls with Blessed Pope John Paul II in his Gospel of Life for a “mobilization of consciences for life.” We should examine our consciences regarding our pro-life prayer and work to see if we are responding to Our Lady of Guadalupe’s call to St. Juan Diego and to all of us, “Do the best that you can!”
Are you doing your best? Have you made the Total Consecration? Do you pray the daily Rosary for an end to abortion, the conversion of the mother victims and abortion supporters and the salvation of the unborn children killed by abortion? Do you fast? Do you make sacrifices? Do you adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament? Do you practice the First Friday and First Saturday Devotions? Do you pray the Rosary at an abortion center? Do you help at crisis pregnancy centers? Do you support pregnant mothers in their needs of food, shelter, clothing and medical help? Do you give financial help until it hurts? Do you trust in God and His ways or your ways? Do you still think that you are doing your best? Every one of us can do better. Let us try.
For more information on hope and healings through the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, please read Dan Lynch’s book, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Hope for the World and see his video Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Hope.
