I don't currently have a strong devotion as such to Our Lady of Guadalupe, but I heard a great sermon today at Mass and wanted to share some of what the priest told me. This may not be everything he said, but it's some of the things I remember. The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a very beautiful one, and also very miraculous.
Juan Diego, who was recently canonized, was one of the few Catholics in Mexico. Our Lady appeared to him in an apparition while he was out in the desert. He went to tell the bishop from Spain about what he had witnessed. I believe the bishop had asked for some kind of proof. So he went back to the site of the apparition to tell the Blessed Virgin that he would need "proof". So she made appear a beautiful rose bush. This was a great miracle in that it was in the middle of the desert where very little grows. Also, little did St. Juan Diego know but this type of rose didn't even grow natively in Mexico, but was in fact native to Spain.
As proof of what had happened he either collected or Our Lady placed many roses in the tilma of this saint and he brought them back to the bishop. He told the bishop what had happened. When St. Juan let the roses drop from his tilma that he had been carrying, there was revealed a beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As the priest mentioned, this image of Our Lady is unique in that God himself placed it there and it was not the work of human hands.
There are many miracles which I recall from elsewhere concerning this image. The tilma was only meant to last a few years, but has now been preserved from decay for almost 500 years. That in itself is a miracle. Tests of the tilma reveal it is not painted by any methods available to human beings. From what I recall, the image was placed there with intense radiation. There are many striking details. For example, I believe an image of what transpired in that room with the bishop is actually visible under microscope in the eye of the Blessed Virgin on the tilma. What an astonishing fact.
But the greatest miracle of all was the conversion of so many people. The priest today mentioned that the Catholic faith had not taken hold in Mexico, but after this apparition, within a decade or so, there were 9 million baptisms. People entering into the sacraments and the life of Christ is the greatest of all miracles, far more than the roses or tilma. In fact, these material miracles only serve to highlight the spiritual reality.
Happy feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe today. We'll see you all next time.
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