DECEMBER 12TH
BY: FRED GWIN
A humble peasant farmer named Juan Diego, born under Aztec rule, was walking down a mountain trail in 1531 near Guadalupe, Mexico when he came upon a beautiful women adorned in a blue tunic. The tunic, covered with stars,
resembled what an Aztec princess would wear. He realizes the woman is the Virgin Mary as he is a recent convert toCatholicism. He is truly startled but Our Lady calms him with her voice which sounded like birds singing. She tells him who she is and instructs him to take a message to the Bishop. Mary wanted a temple built so that petitioners would have a place to present their petitions to Jesus and to help heal the suffering there.
Juan goes to the Bishop and presents the request but is dismissed. Juan returns to the mountain and Our Lady appears again. Juan is instructed to return a second time which he did. The Bishop, thinking Juan may not be mentally sound, asks for a “sign”. He tells the Bishop he will return the next day but he does not. His uncle is dying and Juan goes to him instead. When Juan is certain of his uncle’s pending death, he leaves to find a priest. On the way, Our Lady comes to him. Juan is upset and Our Lady comforts him. Juan tells her that the Bishop wants a “sign.” Juan is told to go to the mountain top to pick some roses. However, he tells Our Lady that no flowers would be there in the winter. He is sent anyway. Mary tells him to pick them, put them in his tilma and not to open it until he sees the Bishop. Our Lady also appears to Juan’s uncle and he survives. She tells the uncle that she is to be called “Santa Maria, de Guadalupe.”
When Juan sees the Bishop, he opens the tilma and the roses fall out revealing the sacred image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is somehow painted on the tilma. In the image, the Blessed Lady appears as she did to Juan. The Church was built and the woven tilma remains as it was but is now protected in a glass enclosure. The tilma should have disintegrated within ten years but remains.
The tilma is enshrined in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The tilma maintains a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees no matter the temperature in the Church. The tilma has been examined by many scientists and cannot be explained. The image is “part of” the fabric. The eyes of Mary have been examined and within the eyes, under magnification, one can see the faces of those present when the tilma was first opened for the Bishop. In 1921, a radical cleric exploded a large cache of dynamite under the openly displayed tilma. It remained unscathed.
In the image, Mary is held up by an angel meaning she is pleasing to God, as she stands on a crescent moon meaning birth and life. The white clouds represent heaven with the golden rays of sun coming forth. See Revelation 12:1-2.
Pray to Our Lady on her feast day for her intercession.