Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
(Zechariah 2:14-17; Revelation 11:19a.12:1-6.10ab; Luke 1:39-47)
By the Incarnation God became a human in order to raise all humans
from sin and death. It was a singular
act that cannot be duplicated. However,
today we celebrate another act of God which resembles in a way the achievement
of the Incarnation. He sent His mother,
the Virgin of Guadalupe, to lift up the downtrodden indigenous people of
Mexico.
To appreciate the magnitude of this incarnation-like event,
we must remember the state of the Mexican nation in 1531. Ten years previous, the might Aztec nation
was defeated by a force of only a few hundred Spanish soldiers. Of course, it was a plague, which the militia
unknowingly carried, that did the most damage.
The people were left powerless but defiant. They largely wanted no part in the Spaniards’
culture.
Then the Virgin
appeared to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatotzin, one of the few indigenous Catholic converts. She sent him to the Bishop of Mexico with the
order to build a church in her honor. It
was not to be constructed in the city among the rich and influential but in the
country where the poor, indigenous people resided. By “church” she meant not only a physical
structure but, more importantly, a community of believers. When the former was completed, the native
people converted en masse.
By our celebration today we remember not only the appearance
of the Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Mexican people, but also God’s lifting of all
people who have been beaten down.
Whether humans suffer from disease, war, natural disaster, or poverty,
God comes to their aid. Mary identifies herself
with a similar intervention of mercy in today’s gospel. She openly declares that God has visited her
in her humble estate so that she might proclaim his greatness.
