Santa Maria de Guadalupe.
12/12/2008
What does it mean for us Catholics that today is the memorial of our Lady of Guadalupe? Surprisingly many catholics don't lnow how to adress this question. To many this is simply a cultural icon for Hispanic or latinos in the USA, and to some sadly: A gang-related symbol.
But who ever relates the face of the virgin of Guadalupe to the always virgin Mary mother of God? Can it be that Mary, "the" Holy Mary was in Mexico? The answer is yes.
In those days the proud Aztec civilization had just been brought to its knees by Hernan Cortes and his many Tlaxcaltecan allies. The great Tenochtitlan with all its great temples leveled to the ground. The Aztecs saw themselves before this events as the inherently superior rulers of their know world and now they had been reduced to the lowly state of defeat and servitude. Their world was shattered by strange white bearbed people who brought with them the sign of a cross. This cross meant for them something very different than it did for the Spaniards who were triying to evangelize them. The Spaniards brought from Spain friars, priests and preachers to convert this people to Catholicism but the message was not sticking. To the Aztecs it was treason to deny their gods for an alien god who had crucified, apparently defeated and humiliated. These foreigners claimed that this was a God of love and peace but yet the way they brought him and presented Him to them was far from what they claimed he was; how to accept such an imposition?
God in His wisdom and in his mercy acts in ways that to us humans seem contradictory and sometimes downright hard to understand but He also brings good out of what seems to be bad.
Who better than the same Mary mother of God, the same woman who saw Her divine Son die on that same cross and who for the love of God endured so many sorrows to fix the injustice?
And to whom did she come? Not to the lofty ones, not to the proud ones, not to the nobles or the conquistadors, but the least one of them all, to Juan Diego, a poor Aztec who was one of the firsts to be baptized and believe in the gospel. The Aztec name of juan Diego "Cuauhtlatoatzin" means "speaking eagle".
The virgin Mary appeared to him on the Hill of Tepeyac just outside of Mexico City as he was going to daily mass. He suddenly heard a femenine voice speaking to him in nahuatl, his mother tongue. This Lady identified herself as the "tecoatlaxopeuh" which in Nahuatl meant, she who destroys the serpent. She asked him to go to the bishop and request Him that a Church be built in her honor so that the river of love and mercy flowed for all her children from there, fromTepeyac. When Juan Diego was received by the bishop Juan de Zumarraga, and he heard the story, his mind immediately went to what he knew: That this lady was the virgin of Guadalupe, which is in Caceres in Extremadura, Spain. Zumarraga didn't speak nahuatl! but this name stuck and is how we know her today. Later we know the rest of the story, the bishop asked for a proof and Juan Diego (today Saint Juan Diego) came back with freshly picked roses from the top of the Tepeyac (in december!?) which as they fell to the floor when Juan Diego showed them, revelaed the image of this lady in Juand Diego's rough cactus fiber tunic (his tilma). This is the image we see today perfectly preserved. The tilma is in perfect state of conservation after 500 years and the original colors have not faded at all (only the additions they made to her later have decayed).
What is astonishing to me, at least, is that Juan Diego didn't know about the virgin of Guadalupe in Spain and that She told him that she was the virgin Mary who destroyed the serpent, in his own language. Juan Diego didn't tell the bishop that she was the one who had crushed the serpent but simple stated that she was "Mary tecoatlaxoupeh" which passed completely inadverted to the bishop and to many people from that generation. Juan de Zumarraga simply reported later that it was our Lady of Guadalupe (the one he knew) that ahd appeared in Mexico.
What does this all mean to us? not only that miracles are far from over, but that our Lady really and genuinely cares fos us in every age and place, and there where sin abounds grace abounded even the more. For a great historical tragedy: an even greater miracolous intervention. It was finally through our Lady in Tepeyac that Mexico became the vibrant, pious, and faithful Catholic nation it is today. The same nation that John Paul II the great in his first visit outside of Rome, and right under the feet of the morenita, called: "Mexico siempre fiel" (mexico, always faithful)
Of course the Virgin of Guadalupe is not exclusive to us, since his message of Love goes to all the world, to all the church of all times and places, but she is also the patroness of the Americas and that includes here us, the USA.
As a Mexican that I am, I am conscious of the great historical responsibility that we have as being a direct recipient of God's mercy. The responsibility we have to defend the church, and to defend life. Shouldn't we be all? All, I mean especially all Americans from Alaska to Argentina to be faithful and to listen to the message of the morenita of tepeyac:
"Cuix amo nican, nica Nimonantzin"?
Am I not here that am your mother? Are you not under my protection? Are you not under my mantle, under the hollow of my hands? Do you need anything more?
Santa Maria, ora por nosotros,
Holy Mary, pray for us.
12/12/2008
What does it mean for us Catholics that today is the memorial of our Lady of Guadalupe? Surprisingly many catholics don't lnow how to adress this question. To many this is simply a cultural icon for Hispanic or latinos in the USA, and to some sadly: A gang-related symbol.
But who ever relates the face of the virgin of Guadalupe to the always virgin Mary mother of God? Can it be that Mary, "the" Holy Mary was in Mexico? The answer is yes.
In those days the proud Aztec civilization had just been brought to its knees by Hernan Cortes and his many Tlaxcaltecan allies. The great Tenochtitlan with all its great temples leveled to the ground. The Aztecs saw themselves before this events as the inherently superior rulers of their know world and now they had been reduced to the lowly state of defeat and servitude. Their world was shattered by strange white bearbed people who brought with them the sign of a cross. This cross meant for them something very different than it did for the Spaniards who were triying to evangelize them. The Spaniards brought from Spain friars, priests and preachers to convert this people to Catholicism but the message was not sticking. To the Aztecs it was treason to deny their gods for an alien god who had crucified, apparently defeated and humiliated. These foreigners claimed that this was a God of love and peace but yet the way they brought him and presented Him to them was far from what they claimed he was; how to accept such an imposition?
God in His wisdom and in his mercy acts in ways that to us humans seem contradictory and sometimes downright hard to understand but He also brings good out of what seems to be bad.
Who better than the same Mary mother of God, the same woman who saw Her divine Son die on that same cross and who for the love of God endured so many sorrows to fix the injustice?
And to whom did she come? Not to the lofty ones, not to the proud ones, not to the nobles or the conquistadors, but the least one of them all, to Juan Diego, a poor Aztec who was one of the firsts to be baptized and believe in the gospel. The Aztec name of juan Diego "Cuauhtlatoatzin" means "speaking eagle".
The virgin Mary appeared to him on the Hill of Tepeyac just outside of Mexico City as he was going to daily mass. He suddenly heard a femenine voice speaking to him in nahuatl, his mother tongue. This Lady identified herself as the "tecoatlaxopeuh" which in Nahuatl meant, she who destroys the serpent. She asked him to go to the bishop and request Him that a Church be built in her honor so that the river of love and mercy flowed for all her children from there, fromTepeyac. When Juan Diego was received by the bishop Juan de Zumarraga, and he heard the story, his mind immediately went to what he knew: That this lady was the virgin of Guadalupe, which is in Caceres in Extremadura, Spain. Zumarraga didn't speak nahuatl! but this name stuck and is how we know her today. Later we know the rest of the story, the bishop asked for a proof and Juan Diego (today Saint Juan Diego) came back with freshly picked roses from the top of the Tepeyac (in december!?) which as they fell to the floor when Juan Diego showed them, revelaed the image of this lady in Juand Diego's rough cactus fiber tunic (his tilma). This is the image we see today perfectly preserved. The tilma is in perfect state of conservation after 500 years and the original colors have not faded at all (only the additions they made to her later have decayed).
What is astonishing to me, at least, is that Juan Diego didn't know about the virgin of Guadalupe in Spain and that She told him that she was the virgin Mary who destroyed the serpent, in his own language. Juan Diego didn't tell the bishop that she was the one who had crushed the serpent but simple stated that she was "Mary tecoatlaxoupeh" which passed completely inadverted to the bishop and to many people from that generation. Juan de Zumarraga simply reported later that it was our Lady of Guadalupe (the one he knew) that ahd appeared in Mexico.
What does this all mean to us? not only that miracles are far from over, but that our Lady really and genuinely cares fos us in every age and place, and there where sin abounds grace abounded even the more. For a great historical tragedy: an even greater miracolous intervention. It was finally through our Lady in Tepeyac that Mexico became the vibrant, pious, and faithful Catholic nation it is today. The same nation that John Paul II the great in his first visit outside of Rome, and right under the feet of the morenita, called: "Mexico siempre fiel" (mexico, always faithful)
Of course the Virgin of Guadalupe is not exclusive to us, since his message of Love goes to all the world, to all the church of all times and places, but she is also the patroness of the Americas and that includes here us, the USA.
As a Mexican that I am, I am conscious of the great historical responsibility that we have as being a direct recipient of God's mercy. The responsibility we have to defend the church, and to defend life. Shouldn't we be all? All, I mean especially all Americans from Alaska to Argentina to be faithful and to listen to the message of the morenita of tepeyac:
"Cuix amo nican, nica Nimonantzin"?
Am I not here that am your mother? Are you not under my protection? Are you not under my mantle, under the hollow of my hands? Do you need anything more?
Santa Maria, ora por nosotros,
Holy Mary, pray for us.
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