Praise and Thanksgiving
In our gospel reading for today’s feast “Jesus exclaimed: I give praise to you Father…for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” Mt 11:25-26. At the 2002 canonization mass of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, which took place at the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Pope John Paul II said these words of Jesus were an invitation to praise and thank God for the gift of the first indigenous saint of the North American continent.
Ten years after the conquest of Mexico City in 1531 there were very few Catholic converts. But 57 year old Juan Diego, who had been a Christian for 7 years, was on the way to Mass at the Tepeyac Hill when he had an encounter with a beautiful mestiza woman. She identified herself as “The Perfect Ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the one Great God”1 Over the course of four days, he met with her and was sent to Bishop Don Fray Juan de Zumarraga to request that a church should be built at Tepeyac to honor her.
Countryman with a sign
Since Juan Diego was only a simple peasant, after the second visit, the Bishop was reluctant to believe his message. He said he needed a sign to verify the request. When his uncle Juan Bernardino became ill and requested a priest for the last rites, Juan tried to avoid meeting the BVM. But, when she found him, she ordered him on that frosty winter morning, to climb to the top of the hill to cut Castilian roses. He was to take them to the Bishop the sign that he had requested. After he had cut the flowers, she arranged the roses in his tilma.
When the Juan Diego opened the tilma to show the bishop, the roses fell to the ground. And there was the magnificent image of La Virgin Morena. She was standing in front of the sun, on top of the moon, wearing a mantle bedecked with the constellations. After bowing in veneration to the image, the Bishop knew that he had to order the erection of a church as requested.
Obedience
St. Juan Diego yoked himself in obedience to Jesus and his blessed mother both of whom were meek and humble of heart. What can we learn from this beautiful saint? His faith led him past Tepeyac on his walk to church to worship God. At Tepeyac he heard beautiful birdsong as dawn broke. He thought he was in paradise, so when the BVM told her who she was and what she wanted of him, he was totally trusting and immediately obedient to her.
His obedience was not rewarded, and he was made to wait repeatedly to try to convince the bishop of his encounter. He was discouraged and told the Virgin, to send some noble person. He described himself as a man of the country, a tail, a wing, a man of no importance. The BVM persisted, telling him: “You have heard my word, now go do what you alone are responsible for so that my wish will become a reality.”
Persistence leads to beauty
So, he persisted tenaciously in the task he was given, an Indian messenger to a European bishop. His uncle Juan had also been visited and healed by the BVM and asked that he would name her image: “The Perfect Virgin, Holy Mary of Guadalupe.” St. Juan Diego became the caretaker of a church which is now the most visited Basilica in the world.
The image in that Basilica, an image not made with human hands, persists in its luminescent beauty. The cactus tilma has not rotted after 500 years. Because of his obedience and persistence, 10 years later, 9 million Mexicans became Catholic. “The Mighty One did great things for him.” (Lk 1:49)
Because of his obedience, Our Lady of Guadalupe became the Patroness of the Americas. His encounter with Mary was beautifully recorded in the Nahuatl language, in “Nican Mopohua,” in 1556 by a descendant of Moctezuma II. His name was Don Antonio Valeriano, who personally knew St. Juan Diego, his uncle Juan Bernadino, and Bishop Zumarraga. He was the Governor Judge of Mexico City. And the greatest Mexican scholar of his generation.
1 “Nican Mopohua,” Antonio Valeriano, paragraph 26
