Our Lady of Guadalupe
For brief summary of the Apparition click here Our Lady of Guadalupe Queen of Peace Patron of the Americas When our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego in December 1531, a poor Indian who had recently converted to the faith, Mexico was on the verge of a bloodbath massacre. When we think of Mexico, we think of all the land south of our border. When our Lady appeared, Mexico included much of what is the United States, today. n the eve of Mother Mary's appearance, the Indians were planning to attack and wipe out every vestige of Europeans in their land. The Indians had greeted Cortez with open arms. He reminded them of the blonde prophet Quetzelcoatl, who had appeared in Chouala in 700 A.D. SIDEBAR: It is believed that possibly this was St. Brendon of Ireland.) It is believed that he taught them a religion very much like Christianity. But not all those who came with him had his focus.SIDEBAR The Indians trusted the Spaniards. The Spaniards wanted their gold and the Indians gladly gave it to them. But gold can be like any obsession, there is never enough, never too much. Once, you taste of it you desire more. It is said, the single greatest cause of break up of Marriages is over finances. When someone dies, families break up over guess what? Right money (gold). Things went from bad to worse. The Spaniards were afraid of the Indians. They had human sacrifices. The first born of a specially chosen family was raised to be sacrificed to their god. This child was treated specially as he or she was growing up, someone set aside. And then, to appease their god, they offered up this virgin, what they considered spotless sacrifice to the god, so he would not punish them. Sounds like a distortion of the Spotless Lamb, our Lord Who died for the remission of our sins, doesn't it? Now, let us suppose that their blonde god was St. Brendon. And suppose he had taught them about Jesus, how he had been born to die for our sins. Maybe, after he died, the truth got lost and became misinterpreted. In any event, the Spaniards did not understand; they were afraid. And what do we do when we are afraid? Kill before you are killed. And so, they massacred the Indians. Now, it was the Indians' turn! Annihilate every European in their land. The only problem, our Lady had another idea. After all, they were all her children! And so, on the eve of destruction, she came to an Indian, to Juan Diego. When he questioned her, why she did not pick someone else, a Spaniard, She replied it had to be him! Our Lady came to the Americas to save her children. Although, I am sure, She was most unhappy the way they (the Europeans) had treated Her in Europe and now how they were treating her poor Indian children, she loved them, and they were about to die horribly! And so, she came! And she not only saved the Europeans, She brought her Indian children into the family of God. We had pentecost every day, over 8 million conversions in 7 years. Never in the history of the Church have we had anything to equal it (up until now)! Because of this one act, a culture developed, a mixture of noble Spanish and Indian blood to form the Mexican family. A people who would be faithful to their Guadalupana from 1531 to today. Ninety-five percent of the Mexican people are Catholic, but 98% are guadalupanos (Pope John Paul II). Continued click here
If you are interested in going to Mexico City on a Pilgrimage then you may be interested in information about Mexico City Pilgrimages. Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City Link to official site Selections from Ignatius Press
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