Juan Diego, Roses, and Eagle’s Wings

December 9th is Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin Day! (The image below is of a statue I got in Mexico some years ago.) Don't forget to keep celebrating the GUADALUPE FIESTA from now until the 12th of December.⭐❗

And in a not-entirely-unrelated incident, I came across a beautiful blooming rose... a rose in December!😮😊🌹 

It hasn't exactly been warm this week, but we've have a few sunny days. Near the top of the hill of "Marlow Heights" I saw one of those durable and prolific garden rose bushes with a couple of buds and this one pink rose!

Maybe I should come back in a couple of days and bring a cloak?😉

Finally, I was struck by the fact that we had the reading from Isaiah 40 on our feast in honor of Saint Cuauhtlatoatzin ("Singing Eagle," Juan Diego's original name in Nahua, the languauge spoken by the indigenous peoples of central Mexico). The eagle represents courage, endurance, and attentive care (such as the mother eagle has for her brood).

The eagle is strong, soaring into the sun, singing down through the centuries, ever renewed in its strength. The eagle does not grow weary.

Here is the text of Isaiah 40:28-31 from the Digital Scriptorum: