December 12, 2011 8:49 AM
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a beautiful part of Catholic history for many, many reasons.
One is the universality of the church, and this reminder that Jesus came for people of all nationalities. Here is the story - the written record goes back to the 16th century:
A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.
Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego's uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.
When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop's presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego's tilma appeared an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531.
Comment:
Mary's appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans. While a number of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God's preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.
Here are the technical/scientific aspects of the miraculous image which still exists, unchaged by time:
The Amazing and Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (full length)
The Amazing and Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Part 2
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Comments
That was fascinating. I saw your post earlier today and then noticed a friend in Mexico lamenting the fact that people were worshiping Mary. I figured I needed to come back here to get the real scoop.
I'm a little confused about the stars. How do they know the arrangement of the stars on the back of her mantle? I know they can determine the constellations because they are always steady but I just couldn't quite figure out how they could determine that by looking at the little bit of stars in the front.
I have to say, too, that I was a little taken aback when he talked about Luther creating hundreds of false churches (or religions? I can't remember.) I thought it was just us Evangelicals that talked bad about Catholics--not the other way around LOL! I can understand that Catholics believe they are the true church (and I definately understand they're the FIRST church) but do Catholics think everyone else attends false churches? How do they describe that?
Thank you for your posts on Catholicism. I learn so much and am able to point out falsehoods put forth by misinformed evangelicals. Some of my Catholic friends have said I know more about their faith than they do LOL.
Posted by: Alison | December 12, 2011 5:11 PM
Barbara,
The videos are so interesting. I'm a little cautious of vaticancatholic.org though. When you go to the site, you find that it is a sedevacantist monastery. There are a few videos I've wanted to show my children, but I'm trying to find the time to preview them first.
Maeana
Posted by: Maeana Cragg | December 13, 2011 2:56 PM
I did not watch the two videos about the scientific evidence for the images. I have watched videos about that subject in the past and find it fascinating. I just wanted to point out that I noticed in the first seconds of the video that it is done www.vaticancatholic.com. They have been running radio ads on talk radio recently here in the Washington D.C. area. If you google them it leads you to their group, Most Holy Family Monastery, which teaches that our most recent popes are in fact antipopes and heretics. For that reason, I think what they say should be taken with a huge grain of salt. This is not disputing in any way Our Lady of Guadalupe. There is plenty of reliable information about her.
Posted by: Elissa | December 13, 2011 3:15 PM
Alison - you are so kind and gracious. Thank you for your comment. I am so glad we can share ideas without disowning each other!
Maeanna and Elissa - gosh, I had no idea. Thank you so much for the heads up and I will be cautious. To tell you the truth, I am not a big fan of the results of Vatican II which I feel weakened and trivialized our church and traditions. But that wasn't the fault of the pope as of the people who used it as an excuse to meet their own agendas.
Posted by: barbara | December 13, 2011 4:34 PM
