OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

MEMORIA: 12 DECEMBER 

Today we honor Mary under the title, “Our Lady of Guadalupe,” which, in the Aztec language, means “the one who crushed the serpent.” 

The memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe reminds us that God is Lord of history. Mary’s appearance in the Mexican town of Tepeyac lifted the Church over a seemingly insurmountable obstacle and radically changed the course of history in the Americas. 

By the 1400’s, God had enabled Christian Europe to advance in science and technology to the point where Europeans became the first people to travel around the world. God’s chief concern undoubtedly that they would spread the Gospel in humility and love. Many missionaries who followed the explorers did just that. However, many of the European traders, military men, and adventurers were much more interested in carving out colonial empires and gaining glory and gold than in serving God. Their scandalous violation of the Gospel message that they professed became an enormous barrier to evangelism. This was especially true in Mexico where, after Spain conquered the Aztecs, missionaries were only able to make very little headway. 

In 1492 Christopher Columbus and his crew sailed to the Americas with three ships. In 1519, Hernando Cortés conquered Mexico, ending the Aztecs’ empire. A proud and cultured people, the Aztecs resented their Spanish conquerors and were resistant to the Christianity they brought with them. 

In 1531, however, a devout peasant and a recent convert to Catholicism, named Juan Diego had a vision of the Virgin Mary. To convince the local bishop, Juan de Zumárraga, that the vision was real, Mary supplied Juan Diego with a bouquet of Castillian roses, which normally do not grow in December. Even more astonishing, a miraculous image of herself appeared on the inside of Juan Diego’s coat. Portraying Mary as a saintly girl crushing a serpent, the image was filled with symbolism that spoke powerfully to the Aztecs of God’s mercy. As news of this event spread, thousands of Indians came to believe in Jesus and accepted baptism. Likewise, there was a renewal of faith among thousands of the already baptized Spaniards. 

The message of the miraculous image in Juan Diego’s cloak is that God is alive and cares about each and every one of His people. Just as God used this extraordinary means to reach the people of the Americas, He is equally eager to deliver all of us from sin, to heal our broken hearts, to reconcile the estranged. God is so eager that He is even willing to bend the rules of nature at times to get our attention! 

God does not just want unbelievers to believe in Him; He wants those who do believe to know Him more deeply. That’s why He keeps sending us His word to remind us that He is with us. Every day He encourages us to keep fighting the fight of faith. He assures us that He loves us with an unchangeable love. 

What is your vision of God? Is He big enough to bring millions of people to Jesus in a very short time? Don’t limit Him. Pray! Intercede! Expect miracles! His desire – and His power – to bring all His children back to Him is as strong today as it was in 1531. 

Jakarta, 12 December 2012 

Compiled from various sources by: 

 

A Christian Pilgrim