Our Lady of Guadalupe – A Path to Conversion
So often in our faith lives we can become a bit complacent or even content with the graces God is giving us. Having a deep relationship with Mary is an antidote to this staleness. She continually calls us to conversion and to be ever more receptive to the love that the Father has for us. Few witnesses of Mary's love for us stand out like Our Lady of Guadalupe. She came to the Aztecs in Mexico in their time of deepest cultural depression and hopelessness. Her message to them was one of protection, love and conversion to the true God. She called the Indians to cease the destructive ways of their false gods in order to embrace Christ. In this month of May, Mary is calling us to the same conversion that we might be free to love God, others, and ourselves with the dignity that we have been given. In Mary's message to the Aztecs, two themes of conversion really stand out. The first is a conversion from a culture of death to a culture of life and the second is a conversion from a religion of fear to a religion of hope.
The first conversion from a culture of death to life was particularly important because the Indians practiced human sacrifice. The Aztecs believed that human blood was the most precious thing in the universe and the sun god needed it to continually defeat the moon god. Without human blood, they believed that the sun god would be defeated and the world would die in darkness and turmoil. When the Spanish Conquistadors came in 1519, the Indians were banned from sacrificing their hearts to the sun and they were convinced that without this sacrifice the world would end. So great was this cultural anxiety that Juan Diego told Mary during the 4th apparition on December 12th, 1531 that Indians are born to die. In other words, they had no hope of living in this life; all they knew was bitterness and the despair of waiting for their own death. In fact, the Indians believed that December 12th which was the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, would be the end of the world. This is the exact day that Mary came and appeared on the Tilma or cloak of Juan Diego.
Mary came to show the Indians their dignity and that they were called to live a life rooted in Christ not merely wait to die. She showed them that the human heart is precious. Guadalupe showed the reality that God does not need or require human blood to survive. In contrast, Jesus sacrificed His human heart, His most precious blood that we all might have life to the fullest. Faith is not about giving till death, but about receiving to be full of life. Mary invited the Indians to be part of a new people, one that is not conquered and abandoned. They were invited to be baptized into the Church where they could come to know who they are in the light of Christ and live eternally with Him.
The second conversion is from a religion of fear to a religion of hope. The Indians had a great anxiety about the chaos in the cosmos and in nature. In many ways they felt out of control and helpless against the fierceness of nature. They believed that their sacrifices were a way of controlling so many unseen forces. They also had predicted that one of their gods, the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, would return at the dawn of the 5th age, which started a month before Cortez landed. They mistook Cortez to be that god and 11 years later, they were completely conquered and without hope for survival. Mary came in their darkest hour as a light revealing the Light of the world. She came showing that God had not abandoned them, but had indeed come and died for them so that they might have life. She told them of their identity as sons and daughters of God and gave them a new purpose to live. Our Lady of Guadalupe showed them a religion full of hope and fulfilled promises that they could only dream of before.
Not only did Mary come, but she came as one of them. She came as a Mestiza, which was the new emerging race of mixed European and Indian descent. This was the cursed race because it reminded the Indians of the conquest and brutal domination of the Conquistadors. Mary came as the despised and lowliest, just as the Son of God became man, being born among us. The Aztecs came to see Mary’s appearing as an outcast, as Mary bestowing dignity and worth upon the Aztecs. Mary came as an unmarried Mestiza girl who is pregnant with God, sorrowful yet full of hope and strength. Mary gave the Indians reason to hope, which was the reason that 10 million Indians converted to the faith in the next decade.
Our world today is filled with death and much fear. So many people are imprisoned by fear which only leads to death. We put our hope in the gods of medicine, technology, youthfulness, money and other idols that cannot save. We subject ourselves to so many false rituals that go against our dignity as we follow our own false gods. We live these lies so that we may feel we have some control of our lives. We use each other that we might feel alive when really this only leads to further despair and emptiness. The Tilma of Juan Diego is miraculously still with us, on fabric made of cactus fiber that should have degraded 450 years ago. This divine preservation of Mary's image which speaks of her continued love for us. Our Lady of Guadalupe's message is just as relevant for us today as it was 480 years ago as Mary is still continually calling us to conversion. Let us all pray for ourselves and each other that we might be open to deeper conversion, that we might have the fullness life and hope in Christ. Catholicism is about receiving God's divine life in the person of Jesus through the Sacraments so that we can have hope and life in this world and in the next. It is about first receiving from God the very desire to be fully alive, and like Mary, to bring His message of life and hope to a world full of death, fear and darkness. Let us pray that we will have the courage to always love like Mary.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, Pray for Us!
Fr. Tim Oudenhoven is a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse.
The first conversion from a culture of death to life was particularly important because the Indians practiced human sacrifice. The Aztecs believed that human blood was the most precious thing in the universe and the sun god needed it to continually defeat the moon god. Without human blood, they believed that the sun god would be defeated and the world would die in darkness and turmoil. When the Spanish Conquistadors came in 1519, the Indians were banned from sacrificing their hearts to the sun and they were convinced that without this sacrifice the world would end. So great was this cultural anxiety that Juan Diego told Mary during the 4th apparition on December 12th, 1531 that Indians are born to die. In other words, they had no hope of living in this life; all they knew was bitterness and the despair of waiting for their own death. In fact, the Indians believed that December 12th which was the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, would be the end of the world. This is the exact day that Mary came and appeared on the Tilma or cloak of Juan Diego.
Mary came to show the Indians their dignity and that they were called to live a life rooted in Christ not merely wait to die. She showed them that the human heart is precious. Guadalupe showed the reality that God does not need or require human blood to survive. In contrast, Jesus sacrificed His human heart, His most precious blood that we all might have life to the fullest. Faith is not about giving till death, but about receiving to be full of life. Mary invited the Indians to be part of a new people, one that is not conquered and abandoned. They were invited to be baptized into the Church where they could come to know who they are in the light of Christ and live eternally with Him.
The second conversion is from a religion of fear to a religion of hope. The Indians had a great anxiety about the chaos in the cosmos and in nature. In many ways they felt out of control and helpless against the fierceness of nature. They believed that their sacrifices were a way of controlling so many unseen forces. They also had predicted that one of their gods, the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, would return at the dawn of the 5th age, which started a month before Cortez landed. They mistook Cortez to be that god and 11 years later, they were completely conquered and without hope for survival. Mary came in their darkest hour as a light revealing the Light of the world. She came showing that God had not abandoned them, but had indeed come and died for them so that they might have life. She told them of their identity as sons and daughters of God and gave them a new purpose to live. Our Lady of Guadalupe showed them a religion full of hope and fulfilled promises that they could only dream of before.
Not only did Mary come, but she came as one of them. She came as a Mestiza, which was the new emerging race of mixed European and Indian descent. This was the cursed race because it reminded the Indians of the conquest and brutal domination of the Conquistadors. Mary came as the despised and lowliest, just as the Son of God became man, being born among us. The Aztecs came to see Mary’s appearing as an outcast, as Mary bestowing dignity and worth upon the Aztecs. Mary came as an unmarried Mestiza girl who is pregnant with God, sorrowful yet full of hope and strength. Mary gave the Indians reason to hope, which was the reason that 10 million Indians converted to the faith in the next decade.
Our world today is filled with death and much fear. So many people are imprisoned by fear which only leads to death. We put our hope in the gods of medicine, technology, youthfulness, money and other idols that cannot save. We subject ourselves to so many false rituals that go against our dignity as we follow our own false gods. We live these lies so that we may feel we have some control of our lives. We use each other that we might feel alive when really this only leads to further despair and emptiness. The Tilma of Juan Diego is miraculously still with us, on fabric made of cactus fiber that should have degraded 450 years ago. This divine preservation of Mary's image which speaks of her continued love for us. Our Lady of Guadalupe's message is just as relevant for us today as it was 480 years ago as Mary is still continually calling us to conversion. Let us all pray for ourselves and each other that we might be open to deeper conversion, that we might have the fullness life and hope in Christ. Catholicism is about receiving God's divine life in the person of Jesus through the Sacraments so that we can have hope and life in this world and in the next. It is about first receiving from God the very desire to be fully alive, and like Mary, to bring His message of life and hope to a world full of death, fear and darkness. Let us pray that we will have the courage to always love like Mary.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, Pray for Us!
Fr. Tim Oudenhoven is a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse.