Sermon December 11, 2019 Our Lady of Guadalupe
Amy Phillips
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be
pleasing to you oh Queen of Peace, Mother of the Poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
In his book of theological reflections on the Guadalupe story,
Dr. Maxwell E. Johnson, an ELCA minister and professor of liturgical studies at
the University of Notre Dame, comments that “The Virgin of Guadalupe is a narrative,
an image, and a devotion…” (p. 19). This observation is the organizing frame
for my reflections – and conveniently has 3 points.
As a narrative, the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been
told for over 450 years and has become a part of the religious and cultural
consciousness of Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and many others around the world.
In the event you need a refresher on the story, I am happy
to provide it. I will be attempting to use Nahuatl and Spanish words out of
respect for the characters in the story.
The place is central Mexico. The year is 1531 -- only 10
years after Hernan Cortes (the Spanish adventurer and conquistador) invaded
Mexico and subjugated the indigenous Mexica (or Aztec) people, and only 7 years
after the arrival of the first Spanish Franciscan missionaries. By 1531 the
Spanish had been undertaking the work of converting tens of thousands of
indigenous Mexican people to Christianity.
According to tradition, in the early morning hours of
December 9, 1531, one Mexica convert, a devout and humble man in his mid-40s by
the name of Cuauhtlatoátzin, or Juan Diego, left his dwelling in the village of
Cuautitlán on his way to the Franciscan mission in the town of Tlateloco (near
Mexico City).
As he passed by a hill called Tepeyac he heard music. He
looked up the hill, and saw a lady surrounded by glowing lights the color of
the rainbow. She spoke to him in his native language, Nahuatl, and identified
herself as the Ever-Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the God of Great Truth, Téotl.
She asked him to tell the Catholic bishop Juan Zumárraga, to build a
shrine to her on this hill where people could come to receive hope and solace from
her. (and by the way, this is the first Marian apparition recognized by the
Vatican, significantly predating Our lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Fatima).
Juan reported his experience to the bishop, but the bishop
didn’t believe him and sent him away. As Juan Diego was returning to his home,
he again encountered Mary on Tepeyac hill and announced the failure of his
mission, saying that “in reality I am one of those campesinos, a piece of rope,
a small ladder, the excrement of people, [and you are sending me to a place
where I do not belong].” Mary insisted that he was whom she wanted for the task
and she sent him back to the bishop.
Again the bishop was not inclined to believe Juan Diego’s
story but asked for proof that Mary had appeared to him. Juan Diego returned to
Tepeyac and, encountering Mary, reported the bishop's request for a
sign; she agreed to provide one on the following day, December 11.
On December 11, however, Juan Diego's uncle fell ill
and Juan Diego needed to attend to him all day. In the very early hours of
Tuesday, December 12, the uncle’s condition had deteriorated and Juan Diego set
out to Tlatelolco to get a priest to hear his uncle's confession and
minister to him on his death-bed.
In order to avoid being delayed by Mary and embarrassed at
having failed to meet her the previous day as agreed, Juan Diego chose another
route around the hill, but Mary intercepted him and asked where he was going;
Juan Diego explained what had happened and Mary gently chided him for not
having appealed to her. In the words which have become the most famous phrase
of the Guadalupe event and are inscribed over the main entrance to the Basilica
of Guadalupe in Mexico City, she asked: "¿No estoy yo aquí que soy tu
madre?" ("Am I not here, I who am your mother?").
She assured him that his uncle had now recovered and she
told him to collect flowers growing nearby. Juan Diego found an abundance of
flowers unseasonably in bloom and using his open cloak as a sack he returned to
Mary. She re-arranged the flowers in his cloak and told him to take them to the
bishop. On seeing the bishop in Mexico City later that day, Juan Diego opened
his cloak, the flowers poured to the floor, and the bishop saw they had left on
the cloak an imprint of the Virgin's image. The bishop fell to his
knees in adoration and immediately ordered that a church be built on Tepeyac
Hill in honor of Mary.
According to the story, Juan Diego lived the rest of his
life in a hut next to the church built in honor of Mary.
Juan Diego was beatified on May 6, 1990 and canonized on
July 31, 2002, by Pope John Paul II. His feast day was yesterday, December 9 --
three days before Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast day, December 12.
I turn now to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that
appeared on Juan Diego’s cloak – this is what you see on the prayer card. It is
an ubiquitous image in the western hemisphere and is rich in indigenous
symbolism. In fact, Mary appeared to Juan Diego on the very site of an ancient
sanctuary to Tonantzín, a Mexica, or Aztec mother goddess.
Looking at the image, and some of this may be difficult to
see, Mary’s rose-tinted, flowery tunic symbolizes the earth and also indicates
that she is royalty since only Mexica emperors wore cloaks of that color.
The black ribbon around Mary’s waist shows that she is
expecting a child. For the Mexica, the trapezoid-shaped ends of the ribbon also
represented the end of one cycle and the birth of a new era.
The only four-petaled flower on Mary’s tunic appears over
her womb. The four-petaled jasmine represents the Mexica’s highest deity,
Ometéotl.
The Virgin stands on a crescent moon. The Nahuatl word for
Mexico, “Metz-xic-co,” means “in the center of the moon.” The moon also
symbolizes the Mexica moon god, fertility, birth and life.
An angel with eagle’s wings appears below Mary’s feet.
According to Mexica belief, an eagle delivered the hearts and the blood of
sacrificial victims to the gods.
Our lady of Guadalupe, particularly with the use of her
image, is the subject of much devotion. Millions of people visit the Guadalupe
Basilica in Mexico on and around her feast day. She is appealed to as a mother
who can support, help, and protect. She is seen as a source of healing and
miracles. She is viewed as uniquely and personally Mexican, an image which
binds a nation together, but who resonates especially with indigenous peoples
since she appeared as a brown-skinned woman speaking Nahuatl to an indigenous
peasant. She is on calendars, lottery tickets, phone cards, and tattooed on the
backs of gang members and prisoners. During the Mexican revolution, Emiliano
Zapata and other fighters carried her image into battle, and her image was also
used by Cesar Chavez during the Mexican-American civil rights movement. She is
a particularly accessible and powerful source of hope for poor, oppressed, or
marginalized people. When I think of her influence and importance I am awed by
her power.
But where the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe touches me most
is in the moment when Juan Diego attempts to evade her out of embarrassment and
because he was in a hurry, and she effectively, “cuts him off at the pass.”
But she isn’t stern or disciplinary or disappointed. She
“gently chides” him and reminds him that she is his mother and she is there
with him. In other words, she is telling him “don’t feel bad, it’s ok, I love
you.” At least that’s my interpretation of her words.
How powerful those words must have been for “a campesino, a
piece of rope, a small ladder, the excrement of people.” And how powerful and
empowering they must still be for those who are made to feel that way.
They are also powerful words for me because they remind me
of my human mother, the unconditional love she had for me -- even when I
ignored her or didn’t come through for her. And how she is still here with me,
she who is my mother. And the words also remind me of the mother of us all who
is always with us, loving us, even in the moments when we have failed in the
tasks she requires of us.
If you can see it, feel free to read along while I read the
prayer on the back of the prayer card:
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it
known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought
your intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you,
O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to you do I come, before you I stand, sinful
and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in
your clemency hear and answer me. Amen
Sources:
Johnson, M. E. (2002). The virgin of Guadalupe. Theological
reflections of an Anglo-Lutheran liturgist. MD: Rowman &Littlefield.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe
“Unveiling the image’s hidden meaning”
https://thecatholicspirit.com/special-sections/travel-and-pilgrimages/unveiling-
the-image%E2%80%99s-hidden-meaning/
“Our Lady of Guadalupe is a powerful symbol of Mexican
identity” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/our-lady-
guadalupe-powerful-symbol-mexican-identity-n694216
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