Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the year 1531 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego who was of the Aztec tribe in Mexico. He was a recent convert to Christianity. Christian missionaries from Spain had arrived in South America but there was tremendous hostility between the natives and the missionaries because of the Spanish colonists who were hostile to the Natives. The Aztec people of Mexico followed certain ancient religions where it was common practice to offer human sacrifices to appease the pagan gods. The Christian missionaries tried hard to preach to the Aztec people and bring them to the realization of the Gospel of God's conditional love that was revealed in Jesus but were unsuccessful.
One day the Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego and requested him to go to the local Bishop and ask for a church to be built on the site of her apparition. However the Bishop asked Juan Diego to request the Lady for a sign so that he can comply to her request. When Juan Diego related this to the Blessed Mother at the next apparition, she showed him a rose bush which was covered with roses in winter and it was species of rose which is only found in Spain where the Bishop was from originally. So Juan Diego collected the roses in his tilma cloak and went back to the Bishop. When he opened the tilma to show the roses, the Bishop and his staff noticed that the image of the Blessed Mother was imprinted on the tilma. Even today the tilma is kept in Mexico city for pilgrims to observe.
The tilma made of cactus plant has miraculously not disintegrated even though several years have passed. Also the cloak of the Blessed Mother reflects the positions of the stars and constellations as they were exactly on the day of her appearance. Also recent studies reveal that the eye of the Blessed Mother reflects the image of the Bishop and the staff as they observed the miracle.
Immediately after this miracle nine million people became Christians in Mexico within just nine years. Innumerable human lives were thus saved because they abandoned the practice of human sacrifices. Today Our Lady of Guadalupe is also considered as the patroness of the innumerable unborn children and the patroness of the Americas.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!