Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most dramatic appearances of Mary in history, when Mary, in the guise of an Aztec princess, appeared to Saint Juan Diego (his pre-conversion name of Cuauhtlatoatzin translates as “Talking Eagle”), a Mexican convert, on December 9, 1531 as he strode to Mass and was passing by the base of Tepeyac hill. She spoke to him in Nahuatl, his native tongue, and told him to go to Archbishop Juan de Zumarraga, the primate of Mexico, and tell him that she wished for a shrine to be built on Tepeyac hill. She also gave him this message: “I will demonstrate, I will exhibit, I will give all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your merciful mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me , of those who cry to me, of those who seek me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their sorrow and will remedy and alleviate all their multiple sufferings, necessities and misfortunes.”
The Archbishop told Diego he would not believe in his encounter with Mary unless he had a sign. Our Lady told Diego to visit the Archbishop again, but Zumarraga repeated his request for a sign. Returning to Tepeyac, Diego again encountered Our Lady who told him to present himself to Archbishop Zumarraga and give to him roses he was instructed to pick. Roses growing in Mexico in December were a miracle in and of themselves. Diego did as he was bidden, and when he presented the roses to the Archbishop, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was imprinted on his tilma, his peasant’s cloak, where the roses had been held by him. News of the miracle spread throughout Mexico and before the decade was out some eight million Mexicans converted to the Faith. A chapel was built on Tepeyac and Diego cared for it and the image as a religious hermit until his death in 1548 at 73.
Doubts have been raised about whether Juan Diego existed due to the lack of contemporary accounts. However, these doubts were quashed, at least any reasonable doubts, in 1995 with the coming to light of the Codex Escalada which has been dated to the sixteenth century. It bears the date of 1548 and is an illustrated account of the apparition with text in Nahuatl describing the encounter between Juan Diego and Mary. The document bears the signature of Father Bernadino de Sahagun, a missionary priest and historian in Mexico, and a contemporary of Juan Diego. The first mention of the image in Spanish is in 1556 in a sermon preached by Archbishop Alonso de Montufar, the successor to Archbishop Zumarraga, in which he recommended devotion to the image.
The image I believe is miraculous in nature. However, many spurious claims have been made about the image, and the video at the beginning of this post is a good compilation of some of the wilder ones. Go here to read a very good article which separates fact from fancy regarding the image. It points out the true miraculous feature of the image:
Again, this is misplaced over-excitement. There is paint ALL OVER the tilma, BUT NOT IN THE FACE AND THE HANDS OF THE VIRGIN. The above observation is correct only with reference to the Face and the Hands.
As a matter of fact the original figure, including the rose robe, blue mantle, hands and face … is inexplicable. In terms of the infrared study executed over the tilma in the 70s, there is no way to explain either the kind of color luminosity and brightness of pigments over the centuries. It seems that the facial image is formed from the very woof and weft of the fibers of the cloth.
There is no need to gild the lily in regard to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe; it is quite miraculous enough without that, both the miracle intrinsic to itself and the faith, always the greatest of miracles, in God it has fostered in human hearts.
O Immaculate Virgin Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church! You, who from this place revealed your clemency and your pity to all those who ask for your protection: hear the prayer that we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our sole Redeemer. Mother of Mercy, Teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you, who come to meet us sinners, we dedicate on this day all our being and all our love. We also dedicate to you our life, our work, our joys, our infirmities, and our sorrows. Grant peace, justice and prosperity to our peoples; for we entrust to your care all that we have and all that we are, our Lady and Mother. We wish to be entirely yours and to walk with you along the way of complete faithfulness to Jesus Christ in His Church: hold us always with your loving hand. Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you for all the bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service of God and souls. Contemplate this immense harvest, and intercede with the Lord that He may instill a hunger for holiness in the whole People of God, and grant abundant vocations of priests and religious, strong in faith and zealous dispensers of God’s mysteries. 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. Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair Love, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children. Our hope, look upon us with compassion, teach us to go continually to Jesus and, if we fall, help us to rise again, to return to Him, by means of the confession of our faults and sins in the Sacrament of Penance, which gives peace to the soul. We beg you to grant us a great love for all the holy Sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left on earth. Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which comes to us from your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Pope John Paul II
Thanks, Don. “La Virgen de Guadalupe” has always fascinated me, not only because of the miraculous story, but also because of what scientific examination of the tilma has revealed. That her apparition was intended by God to cause the conversion of millions from child-sacrificing paganism to faith in Christ can hardly be disputed, although many hard-headed “separated brethren” still have not accepted the facts. Let’s especially pray for them on this, her feast day, to be converted in heart and mind.
It was pointed out to me by a very knowledgeable elder Mexican Jesuit priest that Juan Diego’s beloved uncle had taken seriously ill somewhere around Dec. 8th; and the reason that Juan Diego traveled around the lake shore of Lake Texcoco daily, (now a dry lake, of course) likely starting with December 8,the great feast of the Immaculate Conception, was that he had vowed to attend daily Mass at the Franciscan church of Santiago de Tlatelolco, the church of the Native Americans, for the 8 day-octave of the Immaculate Conception feast , praying for his uncle’s recovery. Having been there and traced the route, it is a long,difficult trek of several miles one way from where Juan Diego is thought to have lived, along the steep lakeshore comprised even today of hills filled with scrub cactus and jagged lava rock called pedestal.
The first appearance occurred on Dec. 9th, when in his haste he took a shortcut over the hill of Tepeyac to try to make it to Mass on time. The second appearance was the next day, Dec. 10th; Dec. 11th his uncle was so ill Juan Diego could not leave him and attended to him the entire day. The 4th day, Dec. 12th, Juan Diego had set out in haste to seek a priest for Last Rites for his uncle, and actually avoided the Blessed Virgin, skirting the base of the hill; but of course she intercepted him and scolded him, and as is well known, told him to go collect roses at the top of the hill. The rest is well known.
There of course were actually 4 appearances though, of the Blessed Virgin: the 4th was simultaneously on the 12th of December to the uncle in his dwelling, and he was of course at that moment miraculously healed and lived on for many years.
It is just interesting to me that the Octave of the Immaculate Conception was so important to this feast, and Dec. 12th is connected so profoundly to Dec. 8th.
Lava beds are”pedregal” (correction)
Sadly Mexico is returning to her Aztec days prior to the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Behold the recent replacement of the statue of Columbus at the United Nations in NY with a demonic Aztec hybrid of jaguar and eagle representing “international peace and security.” It was “gifted” by Government of Oaxaca, Mexico.
https://twitter.com/un_photo/status/1458178013082816513
This elicits visions of the Beast that is antichrist. I am sure Pope Francis will embrace it as an authentic expression of native American culture by “artists” Jacobo and Maria Angeles.
For Gaudete Sunday the OT reading was Zephaniah 3:14-18. But I think given what has happened at the UN in that great Babylon known as NYC, Zephaniah 2:1-3 is more appropriate:
1 Come together and hold assembly,
O shameless nation,
2 before you are driven away
like the drifting chaff,
before there comes upon you
the fierce anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
the day of the wrath of the Lord.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his commands;
seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
I would very much wish to see what the original image actually looked like. There are some attempts at it online, but none matches the others and are, obviously, influenced by their creators’ own preconceptions. Still and all, a miracle!
I visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe prior to attending World Youth Day in 2002. This is where the image of Our Lady on the tilma is hung.
The fact such an intricate and detailed image was imprinted of Our Lady on Saint Juan Diego’s cloak is beyond explanation. The detailed, visual symbols on the cloak ARE the miracles. The symbols are so rich- such as the stars and Our Lady’s brown skin- and gives ongoing proof who was appearing to St Jan Diego. Our Lady wanted to undeniably convey to the Aztecs her existence and consequently Faith in Her Son and the way to Him. And the evidence of proof is in the perpetual existence of that image on that Tilma. The educated and the illiterate understand the image. That’s the beauty of this miracle. She appealed to everyone and still does.
But what is also extraordinary is the display of Faith. The Basilica was full on a regular weekday and not just with tourists. Mexican Catholics approach the outside entrance to enter the Basilica on their knees- women and men with eyes to the sky exalting Our Lord.
Catholicism is so deeply entrenched in Mexican culture. And Our Lady’s image is everywhere you go in Mexico City- you cannot ignore this if you tried. Such public display of ones Faith is foreign to us in the Western world.
Maybe the elitists do look down their noses on the Faith and pull stunts by replacing Our Lady of Guadalupes with Pagan iconography. But the average Mexicans who make up the overwhelming majority in that country, associate their Mexican heritage with Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexico.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for us on your feast day.
Good point, Ezabelle.
“Maybe the elitists do look down their noses on the Faith and pull stunts by replacing Our Lady of Guadalupes with Pagan iconography. But the average Mexicans who make up the overwhelming majority in that country, associate their Mexican heritage with Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexico.”
A Fact.
What’s in a name?
The conversion of Juan Diego [R].
In 2002 I inquired with the head of prison ministry, Pastor Comstock, a protestant minister, as to the times that Catholic services are provided in the Jefferson County Jail. Jefferson Wisconsin. He told me that a slot was provided for the inmates to go to a Catholic service but that there wasn’t any leadership, hence the Tuesday evening slot was void of activity.
Without a moment’s hesitation I told him it’s not going to empty any longer. I received clearance and brought the Catholic church into the jail system.
A Deacon joined me, Dr. Greg from Jefferson Wisconsin and the sacraments started to flow again for the Catholic inmates.
Prior to the deacon entering into service, about a year prior, I received a phone call from the jail nurse. She told me that they had a young man who couldn’t calm down and she was unable to administer any drugs that would sedate him. She said he was Catholic and just found out from his public defender that he could face 60 years or more in the state penitentiary.
She asked me if I could see him right away. He was removed from his pod, eight bunks per pod, because the other inmates were threatening to do him harm since he was unable to control himself.
I said yes and grabbed three items before heading out. A Bible. A Rosary and a blue prayer card. The seven dolars of Mary.
They had temporarily put Juan in isolation. I was brought to a conversation booth waiting for his arrival. He showed up, angry and unable to give me eye contact.
Who are you? he asked. I told him that i was the Catholic representative for the jail. So what! he yelled. Then, the Holy Spirit took over.
In a matching level of scream I shouted;
*Who named you Juan Diego?”
Now I have his attention.
He looked me in the eye and said;
My grandmother did.
I said; “I love your grandmother.
Do you know why she named you Juan Diego?
No he replied.
And that started the conversion process of Mr. [R]
Juan was 25 years old and a hot mess.
Abandoned by his parents his grandmother did the best she could.
She got him baptized and first communion. He didn’t get confirmed until he went to jail. At the end of our first meeting his disposition had changed 180°. He was calm as I recounted the whole story of Our Lady of Guadeloupe and St. Juan Diego. He was interested. He asked questions. He told me that he couldn’t deal with incarceration for most of his life and would rather die than sit and rot. That’s when I introduced him to Our Lady’s 7 sorrows. I went over, in detail, our mother’s great plan of Peace in our lives and those of our neighbors. How she had helped me and how St. Maximilian Kolbe had such an abundance of peace that he waa able to die for a stranger in Auschwitz.
My instructions for him;
Upon rising, noon and at bedtime pray her sorrows and she, the Queen of peace will blanket you with peace.
Weeks later I introduced him to the Rosary.
He did the 7 sorrows as I had asked him.
She did what the Holy Spirit put in me to tell him. She calmed his fears. As testimony as to his great calm other inmates in his pod wanted to know what he was praying from the blue card.
He shared the message. He asked me for more cards to distribute. I complyed. He came to our Tuesday evening Scripture Readings and received reconciliation from Fr. Tom. Fr. Tom made room in his schedule and started a monthly service for the inmates.
Juan Diego started to believe in God and in a possible future for himself. He became a altar server for Father and as his sentencing date neared his public defender asked me the question; “Would you stand up to give an account of Juan’s life, since you’ve been ministering to him, on the day of his trial?”
“Yes.
Ofcourse I would.” I replied.
That day came.
I left my house in Watertown and started the 15 minute drive to Jefferson.
I was at the second or third mystery of the Rosary and I was overwhelmed with the nudge to turn on the radio and stop my prayers. Relevant radio. I followed the promptings.
As I turned on the radio it became very clear to me why I was moved to stop my prayers. The canonization Mass was being broadcast at that moment.
July 31st…2002.
The canonization Mass for Juan Diego.
I cried as I pondered the intensity of the moment and my giving witness in a courtroom just moments away.
How God is so incredibly good and awesome beyond explanation.
I gave my testimony near the very end of the hearing. The State had made their case to push for a maximum sentence. 60 years.
Then it was my turn after the public defender did her best for Juan.
I stood up and gave an honest assessment as to Juan’s new found identity. How even the guards had told me that it’s a remarkable experience to watch Juan exchange peace with others. How Juan made every meeting and participated in the readings.
I finished with the clay and the potter.
I told the judge that the master potter has taken Juan and finally making a worthy vessel out of him. The master potter doesn’t throw away the clay.
He starts over.
The judge took moments rearranging some papers on his desk..I believe that he was struggling with his verdict. He gave Juan 6 years at Black River Falls State Penitentiary and 10 years probation. He added that the six years could be increased based upon his conduct in the jail.
Juan found a new friend in the priest serving the inmates at the penitentiary.
He remained focused on his new relationship with God.
He made it 6 years. Our last correspondence was upon his release. He called me an angel of mercy.
This recount of God’s grace is not an attempt to boast of [ my ] works…for they are worthless. I share this story so you know How Great are God’s works.
On this great day may you harden not your hearts when you hear his voice.
Peace TAC.
By the way…many folks might say that jail house conversions are cheap. I don’t doubt that in some cases an inmate may play a game to get a lesser sentence. In this case however I do believe that Our Lady tossed Juan a lifeline. I hope he is still building that relationship. Nothing is impossible with God.
What a wonderful saga, Philip. As TV detective Eischeid used to say, “Ya done good!”
Concerning the Tilma, and the aspects of it which are scientifically inexplicable, Father Robert Spitzer has a brief survey on his Magis Center website.
https://www.magiscenter.com/blog/the-science-or-lack-thereof-behind-juan-diegos-tilma
Philip what a beautiful testimony. Thank you for sharing it. The seed you planted with Juan will ripple. It’s amazing how much we search for the Truth. Even this lost inmate was longing for an answer to his wretched situation you gave him answers at a time he needed it. You gave him THE way. Which is to our Lord through His Blessed Mother. No Wonder our Lady of a Guadalupe is such a powerful assistance and intercession to all. God Bless you.
Thanks Ezabelle and Frank.
Be not afraid!
The reason that I contacted the Jail system to begin with was due to a letter Rev. Comstock mailed out. He was asking for donations and sent a request to our Knights of Columbus chapter in Watertown. When one of the brother Knights asked what we should contribute the Holy Spirit prompted me to to asks the brother Knights who is doing the Catholic outreach there? Let’s support them
Little did I know that them was going to be me. The Grand Knight handed me the pre approach letter and said; “Find out.”
I’m so grateful that I took the plunge into an unknown ministry, the prison ministry, and allowed Mom to guide my steps.
With God there are no coincidences.
Divine Providence is remarkable.
Blessed Fr. Solanas Casey-
God condescends to use our powers if we don’t spoil His plans with ours.
In other words we must decrease so that He may increase. if anything good comes from our feeble attempts to help Him, than it’s all Him. It’s truly in my weakness that His grace is sufficient to do those works at hand. Once that I believe it’s mine…it’s lost.
The only thing that I can rightly call mine are my sins and failings.
For God’s greater Glory….always.
We are one day ahead in Australia, and I was shamefully too busy to realise it was Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast day yesterday. 😔 A lesson for me to slow down.
However, looking back to yesterday, many things we have been struggling with sorted themselves out yesterday. I did notice yesterday was a turning point in some of our struggles. Our Lady’s hand in there for certain. Maybe she remembered I visited the Basilica in her honour and she decided life should go easy on us (even for a day)…Her Peace is undeniable.
I re-read Philip’s story and it is as beautiful and profound as ever.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Pray for us a as nd pray for you all at TAC.
When Hillary Clinton visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe:
After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked “who painted it?” to which Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/15511/hillary-clinton-leaves-flowers-for-our-lady-of-guadalupe-asks-who-painted-it
I think this is a fair question: Why did the apparition not refer to Jesus in her request but to herself? Was the shrine for her or Jesus?
Our Lady of Gaudalupe came in the guise of a pregnant with Christ Aztec princess. Her entire message was about her son. Her shrine, as is true of all Marian shrines, was to draw people to worship Christ.
Ad Jesum Per Mariam.
“Ad Jesum Per Mariam.”
Philip, perhaps we should all email that message to the Holy See. Maybe they will even understand it.
😇
It has been said and believed that Satan hates Mary more than all other creation. Therefore it stands to reason that Satan would be especially active in Mexico.
We all know the problems of our southern neighbor. Poverty, crime of all kinds, the drug cartels, political corruption, earthquakes and the government’s attempts to diminish or outright eliminate the Catholic faith have been Mexico’s ills since independence from Spain. However the faith has persevered.
Today there will be processions all over North America in honor of Our Lady. The serpent and the Moon god under her feet as always.
This Hemisphere ought to be Catholic. One day it will be.
Just found this on Rorate Caeli. There is an order of women religious in the Kansas City diocese worth knowing about.
http://www.filiae.org
Your links appear to have been replaced by bad ones
Thanks for the heads up. Corrected.