Thursday, December 9, 2021

 (optional) Memorial of Saint Juan Diego of Cuauhtlatloatzin 

(Isaiah 41:13-20; Matthew 11:11-15)

Today the Church, especially in Mexico, celebrates the feast of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatloatzin.  He was the humble indigenous man who received the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Under orders of the Virgin, he reluctantly visited the bishop of Mexico.  He told the hierarch to build a church for the indigenous on the hill where many lived.  This simple man can be compared and contrasted to John the Baptist in today’s gospel.

Juan Diego had none of the force of John.  After their first encounter, he tried to avoid meeting the Virgin.  He also served in the church that was eventually constructed on the site of the Virgin’s appearance.  Juan Diego was one of “’the least in the Kingdom…greater than John.’”  Like John the Baptist, Juan Diego completed his mission of announcing the coming of the Lord.  The Virgin should be taken as sign that the Lord is near.  Indeed, one of the characteristics of Our Lady of Guadalupe is that she wears a ribbon of pregnancy around her waist.

Humility becomes anyone.  All of us must become humble if we are to enter the Kingdom of God.  The world of “selfies” and Instagram will take issue with this truth.  But we know that John humbled himself before Jesus.  We too must dwell less on ourselves and more on the Lord.

No comments: