Southwest Sierra #125 – A River Named Gracias, Part 3 of 3

Continued from last week. Here is a version of the Lady’s Story: It was December 9th in the year 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. A peasant named Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin was walking from his village, over the hill, when a dark-skinned woman appeared to him. She was obviously “otherworldly”. Just the sight of her made his knees knock. Speaking in his native tongue, Nahuatl, she told him to build an abbey on the site in her honor. Obediently, Juan Diego spoke to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, but the prelate did not believe him and asked for a miraculous sign. Juan avoided the hill, frightened of seeing the apparition again.

A few days later, on December 12th, the woman appeared to him again; this time at his village. Juan told her that the bishop wanted a miracle. She told him to gather roses from the hill of Tepeyac, even though it was winter, when normally nothing bloomed. Juan went up the hill and found Spanish roses in bloom. He gathered them in his tilma (a sort of apron that peasants wore) and presented them to the bishop. When the roses fell from his tilma, an image of the Virgin remained imprinted on the cloth. The tilma remains to this day at the abbey built in her honor.

The Virgin of Guadalupé is the “Protectress of Mexico.” Her feast day is December 12th. She represents the Virgin Mary to mainstream Catholics. Others view her as a manifestation of the Aztec Goddess Tonantzin. The hill on which her abbey is built is the sacred site of the female entity Tonantzin. She was honored in that same spot by the Aztecs for hundreds of years before the Spanish conquest. The image of the Virgin of Guadalupé was flown on flags and banners during Mexico’s early fight for independence from Spain.

Elena Avila, a descendant of the Aztecs and a practitioner of their traditional medicine, states that the Aztecs did not have a concept of “God.” According to her, the Spaniard’s worldview was so different than the native’s that they misinterpreted a basic aspect of their indigenous religion. The Aztecs did not view these beings as “Gods and Goddesses” but as supernatural energies or forces of nature and the universe.

I see “Our Lady” as an affirmation of what was true and pure in both traditions. She represents the mother who has unconditional love for her children. The religion of the Spaniards was grafted onto the religion of the Aztecs in order to take root. The root was more vigorous than imagined, and something flourished and blossomed that gave the people hope. Because of the sacrifice of Christ, no other sacrifices are needed.

Almost as surprising as the way that I discovered Our Lady is the fact that I did not consciously know of her before this. My maternal grandfather was the son of Mexican immigrants, but his family was staunchly Protestant. They despised the Catholic Church. Grandpa was a hardworking man driven to provide for his family so that they would never know poverty as he had. He succeeded in building a middle-class lifestyle in Southern California. Assimilating into the culture of the United States was so important to him that his children were not taught Spanish. Later in life, he regretted this.

Whether you believe in Celestial Beings or not, you may know “Our Lady” personally. Symbolized by the rose, her essence is pure, unconditional love. To smell a fragrant rose is to know her. I hope that you will.

Sources: “Our Lady of Guadalupé” – Wikipedia, “Woman who glows in the Dark” by Elena Avila, RN MSN

“Survivor” by Francisco Lovato is about his father’s experiences as a POW.