MARY, BLESSED VIRGIN

We read in Scripture,

We read in Scripture, “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” (Lk 1:39-47)

Many people wonder if our Lady of Guadalupe is a different Mary from the traditional look of Mary we often, see? No, she is not. There is only one Mary and she has appeared to us in the manner we will relate to her.

Today, December 12, we know her as Maria of Guadalupe or simply, Our Lady of Guadalupe, a celebrated Feast Day throughout the Catholic Church. She appeared in Mexico, pregnant, carrying a child who would be King and Savior of all of heaven and earth; of all humanity. She would be known as Mary, the Mother of God or Maria, Madre de Dios.  

On December 9, 1531, she appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec Indian, indigenous to the land, whom we now know as Saint Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill. She had a challenging mission for him. She wanted the Bishop of the area to build a temple in her honor where she stood. She told him to pick the roses from the area, and being December, this flower was not in season. Miraculously these Castilian roses appeared. He was to take them to the Bishop as her sign for him to believe in her appeal Juan Diego had delivered during his various visits.

And he did. Juan Diego collected the roses and placed them inside his tilma. On his visit of December 12, and before the Bishop, he opened his tilma. Juan Diego expected the roses he picked to fall out, but instead, a miracle unfolded before him and his audience. A beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance was revealed on this simple cactus fiber cloak. The Bishop in awe…believed. This tilma still exists today for all to see in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

In the mid 1970s I went to Mexico City to see this miracle. Yes, it remains as Juan Diego wore his tilmas in 1531 to then in the 1970s to today. A real miracle we can see and the beautiful image of our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, Maria of Guadalupe remains alive for all to see. To this day, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is open to all visitors from all over the world.

She came to convert the Mexican natives, be baptized to the one true faith. This was the largest conversion seen by mankind. Human sacrificing would end forever in Mexico. She had crushed the false gods in that country and peace came.