Today is one of the "big three" national holidays in Mexico, holidays which set our neighbor to the south apart, and during which Mexican citizens AND Mexican-Americans or chicanos celebrate lo mexicano. The other two holidays are Diez y seis or 16 September -Independence Day, and Cinco de mayo or 5 May. This blogsite has covered both holidays.
TODAY is right up there with them -- if not above them! Unlike the other two, this one is a holy day -- a spiritual remembrance and not simply historical. Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. On this date only a few years after Cortez conquered the Aztec Empire and converted its city Tenochtitlán into México, a humble native convert who had been given the Christian name of Juan Diego had his third encounter with Mary the mother of our Lord. She told him to pick some roses that were miraculously in bloom on the hill Tepeyac north of Mexico City and take them to the first Bishop of Mexico, Fray Juan de Zumárraga. Juan Diego wrapped the out-of-season blossoms in his humble native cloak or tilma. When he opened it to present the roses, there on his cloak was the very image of the woman who had appeared to him! It is said that Fray Zumárraga and all others present fell on their knees at the sight of the miracle of the roses and the image. The Bishop at once obeyed the order sent from Our Lady by Juan Diego, and had a church built on Tepeyac Hill.
That's the short relation of the story of why Mexicans and many Catholics thru'out the New World consider and cherish Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patroness of Mexico and all the New World. Now dear reader, I'm not one for stories of apparitions of Mary; I'm honestly skeptical about most of them.
But not this one. For one, she appeared to a mature man rather than to an impressionable young girl or girls. A skeptical bishop was converted to belief that the Mother of Christ had appeared to this man, a native convert. The cloth on which the image appeared, composed of material that normally decays after a couple decades is STILL whole -- centuries later! AND the cloth image of Our Lady even survived a bomb blast by atheist Mexicans during the troubles of the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th Century!
For such reasons and others, I accept that the mother of Jesus DID appear to Juan Diego. I suppose that the strongest reason for accepting that Our Lady of Guadalupe is real, is that conversion of the just-conquered natives (who were depressed at the conquest and destruction of their ancient culture) proceeded rapidly onc word of the vision got out. After all, she had appeared to an indigenous man rather than to a Spaniard, and she appeared looking much like an indigenous woman. That latter doesn't bother me at all, because I know that a typical First Century Palestinian Jew such as Mary of Nazareth would resemble more a typical, swarthy native American woman than appear like a western European -- Mary was DEFINITELY NOT a blue-eyed blonde! Neither was Jesus!
Indeed, I find the image of Guadalupe rather attractive, and very much in line with the woman described in the book of Revelation, who was opposed by the evil dragon. And so, I have had a copy of the famous picture and I like to attend Mass on 12 December. I don't give Mary the homage and acclaim that devout Catholics do, but I appreciate their calling my attention to her as a model Christian. Read her story some time, in Luke 1 and 2 -- especially her wonderful and inspiring (also inspired!) song, the "Magnificat"!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
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Tuesday evening I attended Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on the Westside. The church is only a couple blocks from my home church, Mexican Christian Church, and in the other direction a couple of blocks from Sidney Lanier High School. The building isn't not much to look at from the outside, sort of a dingy pile of bricks. But the inside is BEAUTIFUL, with the dominant colors being white and shades of blue close to royal blue. (Royal blue and white are the colors of Lanier HS).
I was in Our Lady of Guadalupe Church to attend Mass on the Feast Day of Guadalupe, 12 December. My main post explains the significance of Guadalupe.
The church was crowded, with all pew seats taken when I arrived just as the Mass was beginning -- and worshippers continued to pour in for several minutes, making it wall-to-wall people. But then, that's how much Mexicans and Mexican-Americans love Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, their patroness.
There were several clergy as celebrants, the major one being the Archbishop himself, José Gómez. He gave a beautiful homily, in English with a definite Hispanic accent. One thing I appreciated about his words was that he kept calling attention to Mary's SON, the Lord Jesus! This is as it should be, and doubtless how the humble Mother of our Lord would wish it. She would say, I believe, "Thank you for you love, but please do not focus on me, not even as role model, but rather look at my Son!"
So, thank you, Archbishop Gómez. Now let us all worship Christ whose coming we're celebrating, and thank God his and our Father, for choosing the humble virgin of Nazareth to be the vessel for bringing the Son and Savior into our world!
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