Sunday Devotional: Blessed Are You Among Women, Our Lady of Guadalupe

Micah 5:1-4

Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne . . . .
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God . . . .
for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.

Luke 1:39-42

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,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb….”

Did you know that when Mary appeared before Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531, she wore a black belt — the Aztec Maternity Belt — signifying she was pregnant with our Lord Jesus?

In 1531, the Spanish rule of the native Aztecs in Mexico was so severe that a bloody revolt was imminent. Bishop Zummaraga prayed for Our Lady to intervene to prevent an uprising by reconciling the Spanish and the natives, and to bring peace. As a sign that his prayer was answered, Zummaraga asked that he would receive roses native to his homeland of Castile Spain.

On December 9, 1531, on Tepeyac Hill in northern Mexico, Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego, a recently converted Aztec. Mary instructed Juan to go to the bishop and ask him to build a church for her on the barren hill of Tepeyac which is now part of Mexico City. Zummaraga told Juan to ask the Lady for a sign.

On December 10, Juan returned to Tepeyac Hill to deliver to Our Lady the bishop’s request.

On December 12, Our Lady again appeared to Juan  and told him to pick the Castilian roses which miraculously had appeared there in the midst of winter, and bring them to the Bishop. Juan gathered the roses into his tilma, a cloak made of cactus fiber, and brought them to the Bishop.

When Juan opened the tilma to show the roses, to everyone’s astonishment, the cloak bore an image of Our Lady.

In the ensuing 10 years, 10 million native Aztecs were converted and baptized, and the Aztec practice of human sacrifice ended in Mexico forever.

In 1532, Bishop Zummaraga had a chapel built on Tepeyac Hill as Mary had requested. Tepeyac Hill later became part of Villa de Guadalupe, a suburb of Mexico City — thus, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In 1709, the chapel was replaced by a basilica, which was replaced by a modern one in 1976 — Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in which is displayed the original tilma bearing the image of the pregnant Mother of God.

The image on the tilma actually is a pictograph of signs and symbols that were readily understood by the Aztec Indians:

1. Mary standing in front of the sun signifies that she is greater than the dreaded Aztec sun-god Huitzilopochtli.
2. Mary’s foot resting on a crescent moon signifies that she has vanquished the Aztecs’ foremost deity, the feather serpent Quetzalcoatl. (It is noteworthy that the crescent moon is also a symbol of Islam, likely a reference to a primitive moon deity believed by some scholars to be the real “god” of Islam.)
3. The stars strewn across Mary’s mantle signifies that:
   1. As the Mother of God, Mary is greater than the stars of heaven which Aztecs worshiped.
   2. Mary is a virgin because Virgo rests over her womb.
   3. Mary is Queen of the Heavens because the northern crown is upon her head.
4. The blue-green color of Mary’s mantle signifies she is a queen for those are the colors of royalty.
5. The black cross on the brooch at Mary’s neck signifies Jesus Christ, her Son.
6. The black belt around Mary’s waist, the Aztec maternity belt, signifies that she is with child.
7. The 4-petal flower over Mary’s womb — a symbol of life, movement and deity — signifies that she is the Mother of God.
8. Mary’s hands joining in prayer signify that she is not God but that there is one greater than she.
9. Mary’s finger pointing to the cross on her brooch signifies that Jesus is God.
10. The design on Mary’s rose-colored garment is a map of Mexico, a reminder of where the apparitions took place.

To this date, science cannot explain the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

1. The image shows no sign of deterioration after 484 years, when the cactus fiber from which Juan Diego’s tilma was woven, normally disintegrates in 20 to 60 years.

2. There is no under-sketch, no sizing and no protective over-varnish on the image.

3. Microscopic examination revealed that there were no brush strokes.

4. The image seems to increase in size and change colors due to an unknown property of the surface and substance of which it is made.

5. According to Kodak of Mexico, the image is smooth and feels like a modern-day photograph, although it was imprinted on the tilma 300 years before the invention of photography.

6. The image has consistently defied exact reproduction, whether by brush or camera.

7. Several images can be seen reflected in the eyes of Mary, suggestive of the men who were present when Juan Diego presented the tilma to the bishop: Juan Diego, Bishop Juan de Zummaraga, Juan Gonzales, the interpreter and others.

1. The distortion and place of the images in Mary’s eyes are identical to what is produced in the normal eye which is impossible to obtain on a flat surface.

9. The stars on Our Lady’s mantle are the constellation in the sky on December 12, 1531.

The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12.

(Sources: “The Amazing Truth of Our Lady of Guadalupe” by Dan Lynch; Wikipedia)

The Greatest Commandment of all is to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, and with all our strength.

Jesus, I love you.

Jesus, I trust in you.

Jesus, I thank you for suffering and dying for us.

May the joy and peace and love of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you!

~Eowyn