Our Lady of Guadalupe Ignites the Faithful in Mexico Meghan Ferrara - Aleteia
go to original November 28, 2014

Our Lady of Guadalupe: The story of the apparation, the miracles and the shrine (Sacred Heart Cathedra Knoxville)

In the early 16th century, at the height of the Protestant Reformation sweeping across Europe, another reformation was embracing the American Continent. It began with a simple man and a spectacular miracle — the Our Lady of Guadalupe apparition.

In the cold, early morning of December 9, 1531, 57-year-old Juan Diego, an Aztec convert, was en route to Mass in Tlatelolco on Tepeyac Hill, near Mexico City. Suddenly, he saw a beautiful woman surrounded by a bright, golden light. She was dressed as an Aztec princess and spoke to him in his native tongue, Nahuatl.

The lady identified herself saying, “My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother’s Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard.”

Though Juan Diego had never been to Tenochtitlan, he immediately traveled there and asked to meet with the Spanish Archbishop of the area, Juan de Zumárraga, a Franciscan and the first bishop of Mexico. Some of the bishop’s staff were suspicious of the rural peasant. After keeping him waiting for hours, Juan Diego was finally admitted to the Bishop’s office, where he reported his experience to Zumárraga.

The Bishop heard him out, but instructed Juan Diego to return and ask the lady for a sign to confirm her identity. Juan was unsatisfied by the bishop’s response and felt himself inadequate to persuade someone of the bishop’s stature of the veracity of his claims. He returned to the hill, and found the lady there waiting for him.

She responded to his pleas for a replacement, “My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen.”

Read the rest at Aleteia

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