MIDDLETON — The graces received through the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico in 1531 still continue to transform people today, Fr. David Johannes told women attending a Marian Day of Renewal held recently at St. Bernard Parish in Middleton.
Father Johannes, parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist Parish in Waunakee and St. Mary of the Lake Parish in Westport, said it was also “by the grace of God” that he starting asking questions about church architecture, symbols, and what it all means in regard to Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast is celebrated on December 12.
Father Johannes’ talk on Our Lady of Guadalupe was part of a full day of prayer, singing, and learning about the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pouring grace on a nation
At the Day of Renewal, singer-songwriter Randy Albright talked about Mary being “full of grace” as we hear in the Hail Mary. But, what does “full of grace” mean?
Father Johannes expanded on that question, explaining how Our Lady of Guadalupe poured grace onto a nation — today’s Mexico — and how that grace continues to transform people today.
It happened through the miracle and symbolism of the tilma, or cloak, worn by an Aztec convert to the faith, St. Juan Diego, who encountered Our Lady there in 1531 on his way to find a priest for his dying uncle.
St. Juan Diego was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.
Inspired by symbolism
Father Johannes said that he began his interest in beautiful, holy architecture which is rich in meaning and symbolism when he was in the seminary.
“Sometimes the priests would be boring and I’d be looking around wondering what it all meant,” he added with his warm sense of humor.
In addition, he explained that his mother is Spanish and when he spent time with her in Mexico City visiting relatives after his interest with Catholic architecture and symbolism had been stirred, he noticed she carried a picture of Our Lady on her cell phone cover.
These experiences led him to further study of Our Lady of Guadalupe and in particular a book written by Msgr. Edwardo Chavez and Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus.
According to Father Johannes, Chavez’s book, The Woman Who Changed the Face of a Hemisphere, presents the most important points of the “Great Guadalupean Event”: the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego.
The Spanish and the Aztecs
Through numerous historical documents and investigations of the event, Monsignor Chavez details the reality of what occurred in the cold winter of 1531.
As historical background, Father Johannes explained that when the Spanish under Herman Cortez first came to conquer Tenochtitlan (what is now Mexico City) in the 16th century, the natives had a great fear of Cortez.
The Aztecs had two main gods: the sun god and the god of water. They were a religious people, but their religious practices included human sacrifices. They chose the strongest — athletes and winners among them — to offer up as burned sacrifices.
This appalled the Spanish conquerors and they leveled many of the Aztec pyramids and statues in an attempt to destroy this religion and expunge from the land the demons responsible for these barbaric practices.
Priests were sent in to teach the Aztecs about Jesus. However, the Aztecs began sacrificing the priests until the Holy Father gave the priests permission to leave. The future was not looking good for this country or its people.
Our Lady appears to Juan Diego
In this context the newly appointed Archbishop Juan Zumarraga appealed for help from heaven.
In 1531, his prayer was answered and according to Father Johannes, “Juan Diego comes along and on his way to church on December 9 — it was then the feast of the Immaculate Conception — Our Lady appears to him on Tepeyac Hill. She asks him to ask the bishop to build a church on that spot to glorify her Son.”
Diego said he didn’t have time to go to the bishop. He was on a mission to find a priest for his ailing uncle.
Father Johannes pointed out, however, that Our Lady addressed him as “my dear child,” significant because of the Aztec importance of the mother-child bond. It was an endearing salutation and not without true devotion.
Diego does visit the bishop. At first, the bishop didn’t believe Diego and he asked for the Aztec peasant to bring him a sign.
When Diego went to the top of the hill and put the roses in his cloak as Our Lady requested on her second appearance, he took them to the bishop and said, ‘I have your sign.’ An image of Our Lady appeared on his tilma.
Diego learns that Our Lady kept her promise: his uncle was healed.
Relating to indigenous people
The tilma was then and still is today the sign or symbol the bishop needed, and it served also to relate to an indigenous people through its symbolism.
The tilma is still on display at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Father Johannes explained that sometimes we have to find different ways than our own to teach those different than us.
Father Johannes said that two weeks after the apparitions of Our Lady and the miracle of the roses and image of Our Lady on the tilma were presented to the bishop by Juan Diego, the human sacrifice by the Aztecs stopped.
Also, in the same two-week period, there were the most conversions to the faith — through Baptism — in the history of the Church. One priest at the time was said to have remarked, “I don’t know how many people I baptized today, but my arm aches,” Father Johannes said.
Father Johannes concluded that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with all its imagery, pushes away the false gods of the Aztecs and offers not herself but her Son. The natives could relate and understand the concept because it was depicted in their language. They were a sacrificial people.
The God of gods sacrificed himself and offered eternal life, Father Johannes observed.
Tilma’s miraculous features
“In Mexico you see crude depictions of Christ on the Cross. He gave every ounce of blood. Four hundred years later, after a presidential campaign, a bomb was planted and went off in the area around the church where the tilma was displayed. The church and surrounding area were destroyed but the tilma was untouched.
“According to scientists, this tilma with the Blessed Virgin image on it is made of a material that should have decayed just years after it was made, but it has withstood almost 500 years of exposure in addition to the bombing.
“The image has been said not to be on the tilma, but rather floating above it. The tilma converted the Aztecs and has converted atheists, who have claimed it is a living person,” Father Johannes explained.
“Our Lady has shown us another way to encounter her son Jesus Christ. He is in the beauty of architecture, in the beauty of the Mass, and in the image of Our Lady who is always holding Jesus Christ.
“It is by the grace of God, not the image on a cell phone, not a picture in a Mexican restaurant, and not a statue in a church that transforms our lives, but it is through our Patroness of the Americas who leads us to Our Lord Jesus Christ,” he said.