Amazing Catechists

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Celebrating the Feasts of St. Juan Diego (Dec. 9) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12)

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Advent has so many fun and interesting saints and feast days! As we prepare for the birth of Our Savior, we can try to emulate our friends in heaven to help us along the way. We can look to them to learn how to be virtuous and holy. Today, I will share some simple ideas for celebrating the feasts of St. Juan Diego (Dec. 9) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12).

Also, read on to see how to receive a FREE Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring book from Holy Heroes! No purchase necessary.

St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe – December 9 and 12

Patroness/Patron of:

  • The Americas (Our Lady of Guadalupe)
  • the unborn (Our Lady of Guadalupe)
  • indigenous peoples (St. Juan Diego)

Virtue

Faith, Obedience, Justice

About St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe

I combined these two feast days because they go hand in hand, and it is appropriate that they fall within days of each other.

In the 16th century in what is now Mexico City, Mexico, Our Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego. She referred to herself as Our Lady of Guadalupe. She asked him to ask the bishop to build a chapel in her honor on Tepeyac Hill.

He went to the bishop and the bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego was telling the truth. Then, Juan Diego’s uncle fell ill. He rushed to find a priest to anoint his uncle and hear his last Confession.

On the way, Our Lady met Juan Diego and asked him about the chapel again. He said he told her that the bishop needed a sign, and right now he was in a rush to bring a priest to his uncle. She directed him to a miraculous rose bush that was blooming, told him to bring the roses to the bishop, and not to worry about his uncle. She said he would be healed.

He gathered the roses in his tilma, and went to the bishop. When he dropped the front of his tilma to reveal the roses, another miracle occurred. His tilma suddenly had an exquisite image of Our Lady as she had appeared to Juan Diego. The chapel was built. and million of Mexican people were converted. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe at that site is now the most visited Catholic shrine in the world.

How to celebrate

  • Attend Mass and encourage students to attend.
  • Choose one or more of the readings from Mass (Juan Diego) or (Our Lady of Guadalupe) readings to discuss in class.
  • Pray the Divine Office (Juan Diego) (or, part of it) (Our Lady of Guadalupe) with your students. The Divine Office linked will also have many ideas for appropriate hymns to play today.
  • To celebrate this feast day, bring roses to Our Lady – either to your statue at home or at your parish.
  • Sing a Marian Hymn. The official Marian hymn for the season of Advent is Alma Redemptoris Mater.
  • Here is an adorable video for children on Formed.
  • Holy Heroes is also offering a FREE Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring book! No purchase necessary! The free coloring book will be applied at check out.
  • Talk about what virtues St. Juan Diego was associated with. Three examples are faith, fortitude, and obedience. Discuss how you and your students could have faith, fortitude, and obedience in different scenarios. Also, since Our Lady of Guadalupe is patroness of the unborn, discuss how protecting the unborn is an act of justice.
  • More discussion questions:
    • What do you think a day in the life of this saint was like?
    • What difficulties or challenges did this saint face? How did he or she overcome them?
    • How did the saint exhibit virtue in his or her life? How can we work to imitate this virtue?
    • What else can this saint teach us about living a good life and how to grow closer to Christ?

The Concluding Prayer from the Divine Office, Office of Readings on 12-9-25:

O God, who have shown forth your salvation
to all the ends of the earth,
grant, we pray,
that we may look forward in joy
to the glorious Nativity of Christ.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

Advent #GIVEAWAY and Interview With #aromaRosary Inventor, Chantal Howard

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UPDATE: Comments were turned off by accident but are now ON. Feel free to enter! So sorry for any inconvenience!–Lisa

Guadalupe Rosary Bracelet

Beloved Readers, we have an exciting and unusual giveaway: an Our Lady of Guadalupe rosary bracelet that diffuses essential oils, as you pray!!! Talk about awesome!

TO ENTER, please tell us in the comments why you would like to win!

The popular Our Lady of Guadalupe aromaRosary Bracelet will be awarded on December 12th, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, so enter right away!

And start praying the Novena to Our Lady, which starts today (December 4th)!

 

Now, meet aromaRosary’s inventor, Chantal Howard! 

Welcome, Chantal! Please give us just a few glimpses into your world so that we can get to know you a bit more personally.

I am a Byzantine Catholic by birth, giving me a great love for icons, chant, and the Divine Liturgy. I am an oblate of the Community of St. John and, therefore, identify myself as Eucharistic, Marian, Seeker of Truth, and devotee of all things truly Catholic. I have a charismatic side, a traditional Latin-loving, veil-wearing side. Above all, I want to live a life of prayer, holiness, and heroic virtue. The New Evangelization is knit into who I am.

Rosa Mystica Rosary Bracelet

Chantal HowardI have been married for nearly 15 years to the man of my Jane-Austin-like dreams.  I can truthfully say Peter and I are a work in progress.  But I rejoice in the Mercy of God that is helping us to put lofty ideas of love into practice with greater gratitude and tenderness. I love that I get to share life with a man of such conviction, passion, and fidelity – to me, to Our Lady, and to Our Lord.

My five children are the pure light of my life. We homeschool.  I admit, though, that our homeschool has been interdependent with much family collaboration and even part-time school going opportunities to help round out our family dynamic, allowing for me to be as active in work as I am.  This is the nature of the “School of the Family,” as it has developed for us. The desire to nurture them in health, in mind, in spirit, and in creativity and joy is foundational and much of that I can give to them, but I also realize that I am not fully sufficient alone.  I laugh when I hear the not so popular expression, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and yet can we really deny the fact?  So, we had better choose our villages carefully.  In our case, our family is our village, and so we have recently relocated to Northern Idaho to be near all my siblings and my mother so that we can foster our kids in the context of family, faith, farming, good food, and adventure.

Tell us about the nature of your work.

Victory Heirloom aromaRosary

My Grandaddy began the entrepreneurial streak in our family as an inventor. My mom and dad firmed it up by building a family business. I grew up helping to answer phone calls, strategize marketing plans and work in the field. As my mom homeschooled me, this practical work in business became second nature. Since then, I have not ceased drumming up new ventures. Ministry, writing, dōTERRA, and my family have offered platforms to launch entrepreneurial dreams in more directions than I ever imagined – Catholicpreneur style. In addition, as a young person I was a highly competitive gymnast and high-level athlete, in several arenas.  This promoted a lifestyle of fitness and wholesomeness that has been a steady undercurrent in my life. Together, these life experiences have brought me to where I am today as a “natural solution coach.” I help families find health and happiness through an essential oil-inspired wellness lifestyle, without New Age overtones.

Where did your passion for the rosary begin, and why do you see it as such an important mission to bring to the world?

As a young person my parents rested all their hope of us remaining a faithful family on the prayer of the Holy Rosary. Through their inspiration, we began early chanting the rosary in a Byzantine style, and I have never turned back from loving the rosary and wanting to bring it to life as—not just a prayer but—an experience that helps us traverse from our earthly dimension to the spiritual plain of contemplation.  (You can check out the audio CD in the Byzantine style that we produced as a family, here.)

How did your passion for essential oils and the rosary together take shape?

The Rosary is a gift that has been given to all of humanity to heal our wounded nature.  It offers us a way to ascend to the heights of our calling as children of God by tethering our fidgeting hands, our wandering minds, and our wayward souls to the life of Christ. In light of my work coaching so many people who are wounded physically and emotionally, the support of essential oils tied to the rosary struck me as a natural bridge.

A few years ago, Immaculée Ilibagiza spoke to my heart, as she shared her story of suffering and triumph through the power of the rosary with 30,000 other individuals. It just so happened that she was the keynote speaker at a large, global essential oil summit I was attending. As she shared, I marveled at her passion and unhindered dedication to sharing the rosary with the world.  Here, in one moment, two of my greatest loves in life were colliding before my eyes—essential oils and the rosary! As I drove across the county, I reflected on my personal visit with Immaculee, her powerful gesture of throwing her rosary to someone in the crowd, and all I had just learned about the movement of essential oils in health care. My heart overflowed with inspiration and the desire to bring to our hurting world the solace and rich blessings of essential oils and the rosary. Thus this effort was born.

Describe an aromaRosary.

Every aromaRosary is hand-crafted to hold and diffuse essential oils, to expand the prayer experience.  Using natural stones and lava rock and other ceramic, metal, or wood beads, we have designed rosaries that can withstand the intensity of therapeutic grade essential oils that have been chosen carefully to reflect the mysteries of the rosary.  These blends are symbolic and calming, to help promote an atmosphere of prayer.  Together with fingering the beads, chanting the prayers, and smelling the aromas of sanctity, we can more fully engage our senses and focus our prayers.

Unpack for us briefly the four essential oil bends you have chosen.

We use four unique blends. The Joyful Blend is comprised of frankincense and other oils that help create an aroma reminiscent of the Nativity.  The Luminous Blend is a blend of citrus oils that reflect the light and miraculous nature of the Luminous mysteries. The Sorrowful Blend is woody and earthy, with Myrrh and other wood oils that are an aromatic encounter with the cross and the mysteries of Christ’s suffering.  The Glorious Blend offers floral notes and Easteresque aromas that are gentle, soft, and Marian.

Do you have resources that would help others to learn about aromaRosary and your work as a coach and speaker?

Please visit us at aromaRosary.com. We’re having our Advent sale, right now!  I would welcome your comments, your reviews, your support of our efforts, and of course I would love to work with you. I offer coaching and essential oil training.  We have a dynamic Catholic team of essential oils coaches throughout the country and we want you to be a part of what we are doing to heal families and evangelize in the process.

aromaRosary-2.jpg

Thank you, Chantal!

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment below about why you’d like to win the Guadalupe aromaRosary Bracelet! A random drawing will take place on the evening of Wednesday, December 12th.

NOTE: you must have access to a mailing address in the United States, to win!

 

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