Our Lady of Guadalupe


On the morning of that cold 12th day of December, on the hill of Tepeyac a Miracle occurred which lead to conversion of many Natives of the Mexico. The Blessed Mother of Christ had appeared for the very first time in the Americas, and not to a wise man, nor king, nor priest, Our Blessed Mother appeared to the humble Indian of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. As he walked the 4 miles to get to the nearby church to attend to mass and catechism, Juan Diego was amazed at what he heard; he was hearing the sweetest songs from the sweetest birds, but before him stood the Ever Virgin Mary. At first he was startled and took precautions, but then the Virgin said to him "Juan Diego, my beloved little boy where are you off to?" To this Juan Diego shied away but then replied with "My little lady, my beloved I am off to church so I can learn about the Glorious teachings of God." Our Lady told Juan Diego to go to the Bishop and tell him that she wanted them to build a church on that ground which they stood. Juan Diego wished she would have chosen another but she made it pretty clear that she wanted him to do so. Juan Diego went to Bishop Zumarraga's home and asked the guards to let him, after some time with the guards he spoke to the bishop and said, "Sir Bishop, I have the seen the Mother of Christ, the Lady of the Sun and the Moon at her feet, and she demands that we build a church on Tepeyac Hill." To this the bishop thought he was kidding, to which he asked Juan Diego to go away and come back some other time.
Dec.10th- Juan Diego walked along the hill and saw the Virgin, she asked "Did the Bishop agree?" Juan Diego replied bashfully, "No he has said that he needs a sign." The Virgin sent him off to the Bishop's Home, the guards again denied him entry but later reconsidered, again the bishop sent him off home, but this time he sent the two guards after him. The Guards followed him but were soon lost and went back to the bishop and said that Juan Diego was just crazy.
Dec.11th- Juan Diego walked along the hill and again the Virgin appeared to him and this time she was more insistent, as was the Bishop about the sign he was needing to prove this. Juan Diego went to the Bishop's home and told him and again Bishop Zumárraga was upset at the lack of the sign he was to bring him.
Dec. 12th-On this day Juan Diego was walking along the hill side, but due to the fact that his uncle was sick, he decided to take a shorter route into the city. In his mind he thought "If I go left, the Lady of the Sky will stop me and delay me and my uncle will soon die. But if I go right I will have no delay, so I'll go right." As he walked along the right side of the hill, the Virgin appeared to him and asked,"Juan Diego the littlest of my children, where are you going?" Juan Diego again bashful due to the fact that the Virgin had caught him trying to avoid her answered "My Lady, how are you this morning? Are you doing well?" He then tells her,"My Lady I cannot stay and talk for my uncle is really ill and needs a priest to come confess him." To this the Blessed Mother replies,"Worry not about you uncle for I have healed him, but rather yet go to Bishop Zumárraga and take him the sign I am about to give you." Then Juan Diego is sent by the Virgin to cut some flowers from the side of the Barren Hillside, and to his amazement he finds the sweetest and freshest smelling flowers. Juan Diego takes the flowers to the the Blessed Mother who then touches his Tilma and tells him to let no one see inside. Juan Diego runs to the Bishop's home and he ran into the guards who were very much determined not to let him in. One of them tried to grab the Tilma, to this one flower fell out and when the guard bent down to get it, it vanished away in his hand. Once he was before the bishop he said,"Most Reverend Father you asked for a sign from the Lady of the Sky, and she has sent me to you with this." Then Juan Diego revealed the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which might I add was painted by the Hand of God.
Today the Virgin of Guadalupe is venerated not only in Mexico and the Americas but also in England, Spain, Germany, Philippines and many more nations. The Mantle Our Lady is wearing is said to have been the star's arrangement that night as you can see in this image.
In the late 20th Century NASA decided to test the authenticity of the Tilma and all test seem to point that the Tilma was alive. They tested the Virgin's eyes and the pupils dialated when exposed to light, as a human's does when exposed to light. They felt that the womb was warm like pregnant woman's stomach should be, and that it had a faint heart beat. The acutal image of Our Lady is not stamped or attached to the tilma, that the image is actually floating over the tilma about 1/132nd of an inch above the tilma. They also noticed that the Virgin's eyes had two different images, one being that of Bishop Zumárraga and the guards kneeling before the image and the other being that of a man looking somewhat like Christ.

Many saw Our Lady's appearcance very much like that of the Mestizo children that were being born to the Spanish Soldiers by the Native women. Which the children were being descriminated against so she appeared as the the defender of the NEW CHILDREN OF THE NEW WORLD.
The apparition of Our Lady was what led many of the New Nations to convert and remain faithful to her and Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Lord you have blessed this New World with the Image of the Virgin of Guadalupe,
let it be faithful to your word and attentive to Our Mother's new message of love and hope.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord.
AMEN

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