Memorial of Saint
Juan Diego Cuauahatlatoatzin
(Isaiah 40:1-11; Matthew 18:12-14)
The indigenous people of Mexico had long experienced war
and persecution. Their defeat at the
hands of the Spanish was one more in a line of humiliations. In a definite sense they were a lost race
when an extraordinary event took place.
The Virgin Mary appeared to the indigenous convert Juan Diego
Cuauahtlatoatzin on a mountain outside the city of Mexico. She sent him to the
Spanish bishop in the city with the petition to build a shrine at the place of
her appearance. At first the bishop
resisted the request, but Juan Diego returned with a cloak full of roses
improbably found on the mountain in December. When the flowers were allowed to fall to the
ground revealing the image of the Virgin with indigenous features, the bishop
could not help but build the church. Not
long afterwards the people accepted the faith in droves. They had a new attitude toward life – proud
of their racial lineage and committed to the Lord for their new-found
religion. Both readings today echo this
story.
In the reading from Isaiah el Segundo the prophet urges
calling out from a high mountain that God comes to relieve the sufferings of
the people. In the gospel Jesus reveals
that the time has arrived. God is here
to rescue the lost sheep. Just as the
indigenous of Mexico experienced new life by accepting faith in Christ, all
people experience deliverance from sin and death in the work of the same Jesus
Christ.
Just as surely as the attitude of the people changed with
the Virgin’s appearance, we live with an altered disposition. Our faith in Jesus assures us that fullness
of life does not consist in pleasures, acquisitions, and accomplishments, but
in loving service to him. Performing
such service, we are taken into his arms safe for all eternity.
