Canonized by Pope John Paul II at Mexico City on 28 July 2002.
Early Saturday morning on this day in 1531, ten years after Hernan Cortes conquered Mexico, Juan Diego, 57 year-old Aztec, was bound for his Christian lessons. On reaching Tepeyac hill, he heard a mysterious sound very much like the gentle and delightful singing of many beautiful birds. Suddenly, the music stopped and he heard a voice calling him from the top of the hill: “Juanito, Juan Dieguito.”
He dared climb up to where the voice was coming from and saw a young maiden standing there, beckoning him to come closer. She said, “Listen, my youngest child, Juanito, where are you going?”
He answered, “My Lady, Queen, my little girl, I am going to your little house in Mexico Tlatelolco to follow the things of God as taught to us by the priests.”
“Know this as true my smallest child, I am the perfect ever Virgin Mary, Mother of the most true God through whom everything lives. I very much wish and so greatly desire that a small temple be built to me here so that from this house, I shall show and give my love to all because I am your Mother and of all men of this earth.”
The apparition asked him to go and inform the bishop of Mexico adding, “And rest assured I will be very grateful and repay you. I will reward you and glorify you.”
He immediately went to the bishop’s palace. The Aztec recounted to the bishop all that he saw and heard. But he sensed that the bishop did not believe him.
Juan Diego sadly left the palace. On the way home, he passed the Tepeyac hill and found the Queen of Heaven waiting for him in the same place as before.
His sadness turned into joy and gladly told her, “I already went to fulfill your desire. But he told me, ‘Come back so that I may listen to you with more calm. I will consider from the very beginning why you came, what you want and wish.’ He seems to think I am making up these things about the house you wish to be built.”
The Indian pleaded: “Assign one of the noblemen, somebody who is esteemed, known, respected, honored, to carry out your lovable will, your gracious word, so that the people may believe. I’m really a peasant, a porter, a tail, a wing, a poor leaf. I am not meant to go or stay where you sent me to. Please forgive me.”
“Listen, my smallest child, rest assured I do not lack servants or messengers; but it is very necessary you go personally. I dearly beg you to again go to the bishop tomorrow.” Juan Diego again took on the mission.
Ref: Francis Anson, “Guadalupe: What her eyes say”, 1994, pp45-9
‘Virgin most renowned. Pray for us.’
“Prayer
“O Mother of my God, and my Lady Mary; as a beggar, all wounded and sore, presents himself before a great queen, so do I present myself before thee, who art the Queen of heaven and earth. From the lofty throne on which you sit, disdain not, I implore thee, to cast thine eyes on me, a poor sinner.
“God has made thee so rich that you might assist the poor, and has constituted thee Queen of mercy in order that you might relieve the miserable. Behold me then, and pity me: behold me and abandon me not, until you see me changed from a sinner into a saint. I know well that I merit nothing; nay more, that I deserve, on account of my ingratitude, to be deprived of the graces that, through thy means, I have already received from God.
“But you, who are the Queen of mercy, seeks not merits, but miseries, in order to help the needy. But who is more needy than I? O exalted Virgin, well do I know that you, Queen of the universe, are already my queen; yet I am determined to dedicate myself more especially to thy service, that you may dispose of me as you please. ...
“If, in the past I have served thee ill, and lost so many occasions of honoring thee, for the future I will be one of your most loving and faithful servants. I am determined from this day forward, no one shall surpass me in honoring and loving thee, my most amiable Queen. This I promise; and this, with thy help, I hope to execute. Amen.”
Ref: cf St Alphonsus Liguori, “The Blessed Virgin Mary”, 18
On the Divine Attributes
Existence of God -- My reason reminds me of God. All that is within me cries out unceasingly, “Remember thy Creator”. My reason, also, however little I consult it, says, “I exist, therefore, God exists”.
Nothing cannot proceed from nothing. If there had ever been a moment in which nothing existed, nothing would ever have existed. An eternal, uncreated and infinite Being, therefore, must have been from all time. Reason proclaims it, faith affirms it. ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.’
It is impossible not to call to mind our Creator. “The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declares the work of His hand. O Lord our God, how admirable is Thy name in the whole earth!”
The whole world reminds me of God. Every age and people have paid their homage to God and to His attributes. Cicero, the prince of Roman orators, says, “There is no nation to be found so savage as to be ignorant of the existence of God”.
And again, “Where is the man so deprived of reason, who, when he gazes upwards, is not convinced that there is a God who governs the world?”
The chief of the first American tribe visited by the Spaniards, groaning under the tyranny of his conquerors, reproved them by saying, “White men, you are stronger than ourselves; but one day the Great Spirit who reigns above will punish you as you deserve.”
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, p779
Pessimism -- “Fill yourself with confidence. The Mother we have is the Mother of God, the Most Blessed Virgin, the Queen of Heaven and Earth.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 273)
Our Lady of the Conception / ‘Madonna della Concezione’, at Naples, so-called because, in the year 1618, the viceroy, with all his court and the soldiery of Naples, made a vow in the church of Our Lady the Great, to believe and defend the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. — Triple Couronne, n. 43. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Our Lady of the Conception, Naples, Italy (1618). (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html).
St Juan Diego, Indian to whom appeared the Virgin of Guadalupe. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm).
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