Sacred Heart has a rich history of celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe!
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the native people of Mexico City suffered conquest, first by the Aztecs and then by the Spanish conquistadors. It was the custom of the Aztecs to harvest the conquered people as victims for human sacrifices, offered to the snake god, Quetzalcoatl (pronounce Ket-zal-ko-wat). By the Aztecs own count, this cost a quarter of a million human lives per year. In the dedication of just on temple, a celebration lasting four days, they slaughtered more than 80,000 men and women. As you can imagine, these native peoples lived a life of natural and supernatural terror. Yet the fear of the idols kept them trapped in idolatry, and they resisted conversion to the Christian faith. The best efforts of brilliant missionaries proved basically ineffective. Then in 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Mexico City, to a peasant man named Jaun Diego. He was an older man, a simple man a convert to the Catholic faith, and he was hurrying on his way to Holy Mass when Our Lady appeared. She asked him to go to the bishop and requested that a church be built in her honor on that very spot at Tepeyac. The bishop was skeptical and asked Juan Diego to provide a sign, that the vision was authentic. When Jaun Diego to provide a sign, that the vision was authentic. When Juan Diego next saw Our Lady, she filled his overcoat with roses, even though it was winter and roses were out of season. When the bishop took the roses from Juan Diego’s rough garment, the men saw that Mary had miraculously left her image on the fabric. Juan Diego’s overcoat was made of cactus fiber, so the relic shouldn’t have lasted 50 years. And let’s be honest, after five years it should have been falling apart. But now it’s lasted half a millennium and her image still looks with the eyes of mercy upon hundreds and thousands of pilgrims.
What happened in the wake of Juan Diego’s visitation? Well, the bishop built that church at Tepeyac, of course. And soon, 9 million Native American people embraced the Christan faith. The entire continent converted to Catholicism. Where the missionaries in the military had failed, a poor man succeeded with the assistance of his blessed Mother. Blessed Virgin Mary told Juan Diego, am I not here, I who have the honor to by your mother? Are you not in my shadow and under my protection? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more? Do we need anything more?
The church is calling us to undertake a new evangelization and the task seems daunting. In fact, it seemed downright impossible, but are the obstacles today any greater than they were in 1531 for the man on the hillside of Tepeyac? Juan Diego was in his 50s and he was considered an old man and he’d already outrun his life expectancy yet his evangelistic life was just beginning. And look what he was able to accomplish, look what God was able to accomplish through him, look what his Mother inspired him to do. What do you suppose is God’s plan for you and me?
This is why we love her so much. This is why we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americans. Because we are sure that she will take us safely to her son Jesus. The Hispanic Community at Sacred Heart would like to invite and welcome each and every one of you to the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations.