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Virgen de Guadalupe
December 9, 1531 (Saturday). Early in the morning, Juan Diego, a Christian convert, is on his way to attend Mass two and a half miles away at Tlatelolco. Suddenly, Juan hears beautiful music and a woman’s voice calling him to the top of Tepeyac Hill which he is just passing. At the top of the hill he sees a radiantly beautiful woman, who reveals that she is the Virgin Mary and instructs him to go to the bishop and tell him that a temple should be built in her honor at the bottom of the hill. Juan Diego goes immediately to Tlatelolco to the palace of Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, a Franciscan friar. The bishop receives him kindly but, for the moment, is reluctant to believe Juan Diego’s story. And so a discouraged Juan Diego goes back to the top of Tepeyac Hill and admits his failure to the Virgin. The Lady directs him to go back to the bishop and repeat the request.
December 10, 1531 (Sunday). Juan Diego returns to the bishop’s palace to try again. The bishop asks many questions and tells Juan Diego that he needs some sign to believe that it is really the heavenly Lady who has sent him. Juan Diego tells the Virgin of the bishop’s request, and she promises to fulfill it the next day when he returns to Tepeyac Hill.
Excerpted from “Why Everyone Comes to Guadalupe,” St. Anthony Messenger, December 1984.
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Copyright
© 1988-2008 |
The
best way to understand the meaning of Guadalupe is to go back to
the year 1531 and to those glorious days of December when Mary
revealed herself and God’s love to a simple Indian peasant.
December
11, 1531 (Monday). Juan Diego fails to
keep his appointment with the Lady because his uncle has become
gravely ill and Juan must spend the day looking for someone with
medical skills. He fails to find anyone and tells his dying uncle
that he will go to Tlatelolco the next morning and bring a priest
who would hear his confession and prepare him for death.
December
12, 1531 (Tuesday). At a very early
hour, Juan Diego is rushing toward Tlatelolco to find a priest for
his dying uncle. Thinking it better not to let the Lady interrupt
his mission of mercy, he tries to avoid her by going around the
other side of Tepeyac Hill. The Lady, however, comes down the hill
to meet him. She listens to Juan Diego’s excuse for not keeping
his appointment and tells him: “Your uncle will not die of this
sickness; be assured that he is healthy.” (That morning, the Lady
also appears to his uncle and cures him.) Juan Diego is greatly
relieved. Then the Lady tells him to go to the top of the hill and
gather the flowers he finds there. He does as she says and
discovers a miraculous garden of roses. He gathers them and takes
them to the Lady who arranges them in his mantle and instructs him
to take them to the bishop as the sign he had requested.
When
Juan Diego finally arrives before the bishop, he opens his mantle
and lets the roses fall to the floor. But then comes the greatest
sign of all: A beautiful portrait of the Lady appears on the
coarse fabric of the Indian’s mantle. The bishop and his whole
household are filled with amazement. And before long a temple is
built in Mary’s honor. 
