Living Catholic with Father Don Wolf
Father Don Wolf, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, offers a Catholic perspective on the issues confronting each person today.
Living Catholic with Father Don Wolf
December 8, 2024 | "Juan Diego's Vision and the Legacy of Faith"
What if a single encounter could transform an entire continent's faith and culture? Join us as we uncover the fascinating story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. This episode seeks to enrich your understanding of faith's profound impact on history, as we recount the miraculous events of 1531 on Tepeyac Hill. Discover how a humble convert's vision of the Virgin Mary not only integrated native culture into the Christian faith but also sparked a spiritual awakening that reverberates through centuries.
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Father Don Wolf is a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Living Catholic also broadcasts on Oklahoma Catholic Radio several times per week, with new episodes airing every Sunday.
This is Living Catholic with Father Don Wolfe. Living Catholic is a fresh look at issues confronting each of us today. This show deals with living Catholic, what that means for Catholics, as well as the impact on the rest of society. You certainly don't have to be Catholic to enjoy this show. And now your host, Father Don Wolfe to enjoy this show.
Speaker 1:And now your host, fr Don Wolfe. Welcome Oklahoma to Living Catholic. I'm Fr Don Wolfe, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Oklahoma City and rector of the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother, and we come up this weekend in preparation for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was on December the 12th, 1531, that a middle-aged native of what is still being renamed as New Spain stood in the office of the Archbishop of Mexico City, don Juan Sumárraga, and opened his cape to shower his presiding cleric with flowers. He was excited to do so, both because they were rare, the flowers, and because they were the product of a series of heavenly signs that he was eager to share with his bishop. Rare because they were roses of Castile, non-native types of roses not typical of the Americas at the time. And even rarer because December is the dry season in Mexico and finding them blooming was indeed beyond expectation. They were the final products a series of encounters that had interrupted his life. Up to that time, he was not aware of how much more his life was about to change. The native's baptismal name, according to him, was Juan Diego, given to him upon his entrance into the Catholic Church upon the arrival of the first missionaries to Mexico in 1524. He was of the Mexica Indians who had been conquered and displaced by the Spanish conquistadores in 1521. His name is given as Coatlatzin changed to the more recognizable Christian names.
Speaker 1:Upon his conversion as a member of the minor nobility of his tribe, he was a valuable asset to the missionary effort of the time, but still a minor character in the Spanish church. This didn't affect his piety or his faithfulness as he made his way through the dry landscape north of Mexico City in December of 1531. He had been baptized by the Franciscans at their church, built on the former site of one of the tribal capitals that had been part of the Aztec Empire. It was on the shore of the great inland lake in the valley of Mexico, and stood on the hills of Tlatelolco. As part of the conquest of the city, it had fallen under the administration of the Spanish and had been made a node of evangelization by the first of the missionaries, and Juan Diego was a product of their work.
Speaker 1:As a faithful and pious Catholic, he was making his way on Saturday, the 9th of December, to this church, the one in which he had been baptized, in order to attend Mass the next day, sunday. All of this is, according to the dates on the Julian calendar, different than the Gregorian calendar. On his way, he passed the neighboring hill, tepeyac, on which he had had a vision of a young woman who spoke to him. This is the account given to us from the oldest records that come to us. It details that he had first noticed a kind of interruption in the pathway he normally took, hearing birdsong that sounded out of place for that time of year. Being attentive to what seemed odd and unsettling, he came upon this young woman, this apparition, who stood atop the hill, astride his path and spoke to him of her need, the first of which was that he was to report to the bishop of her desire that a church be built at her insistence. It was, of course, a startling encounter, first of all because of the strange confluence of factors, including this feeling of displacement, beginning with wondering about the presence of birds that should have been long gone by then on their annual migration. That was a simple detail, but it coincided with the strangeness that overcame him by the encounter of this woman and that particular place, because Tepeyac is not simply a note on a map or a mile marker on the way to the regional capital. It was one of the mounts on the shores of the lake and had been a place of pilgrimage for some years. It had been recognized as a place of honor to a goddess in the pantheon of Aztec devotion and no doubt was a place where some of the bloodier aspects of Mexica religious practices had been enacted. While this would not have been a cause for queasiness for Cuatloatzin, it would have made his encounter with this young woman all that much more startling. Having abjured all devotion to the false gods of his youth and the demon worship in his culture, to encounter an apparition on the road to worship in the true faith would have set his heart to beating quickly.
Speaker 1:It doesn't take a great leap of imagination to understand Juan Diego's anxiety at his stumbling across the appearance of a feminine presence who was reaching out to him on this very spot. No doubt he redoubled his prayerful mien when he caught sight of her. His first words were the reassurance of her identity she was Mary, the mother of God and the mother of Jesus. These words sound gently in our ears. After all, the title Mother of God was first used beginning in the 3rd century and was affirmed by the Council of Ephesus in the 5th century as an appropriate description of Mary, the Mother of Christ. While it would have been startling to hear this confession to a new convert on a hillside in New Spain, it described exactly the identity of the one speaking. And just so that we understand, this title Mother of God is a title describing the identity of Jesus, not the identity of Mary.
Speaker 1:That is, the preoccupation of the church was to affirm that Jesus was wholly divine. Some had speculated that, as an admixture of human and divine, jesus had inherited the human portion of his being from Mary and the divine portion from God. Thus from God, the Father, he was divine, and from Mary, his mother, he was human. Mary was the mother of Jesus, but not the mother of the divinity of Christ. In that opinion, separating these elements of his being made for a strange alloy of partial humanity and partial divinity that was unacceptable to the church fathers. They were anxious to affirm that Jesus was in every way, from every moment, human and divine, without portion or percentage. So when Jesus was born of Mary, she gave birth to Jesus, who was wholly divine and wholly human. She was the mother of God because Jesus was in every way divine and in no way devoid of the divinity because he was born of a mother. So Mary, the mother of God, is a reference to the undivided divinity and humanity of Jesus. In this, the church is making a claim about Jesus, not Mary.
Speaker 1:The message of the woman who spoke to Juan Diego on that was that a church was to be built on this spot, without doubt and without wondering. There were two convictions formed in his mind by this encounter. The first was that it was an encounter of profound meaning. This is hard to emphasize for us moderns, especially those of us schooled in the cold logic and intellectual rigidity of our education. We're likely to place more value on ideas and propositions than anything else. Dogmas and doctrines, interlaced and interlocking, are of more value to us than almost anything else, especially when it comes to the accoutrements of faithful living. But it's not this way for everyone.
Speaker 1:Juan Diego, according to the story, was moved because the message was a comprehensive one. She spoke to him of the life of faith in his own language. The encounter was filled with the minor but powerful details of the interruption of the natural, so as to indicate a moment of the extraordinary. When he saw her, he also saw her surrounded by the religious symbolism he had come to expect from his youth, including many of the aspects of Aztec art and story, especially concerning the places of plants and flowers and color. Now again, it seems a minor point to us, but it is an essential part of the story. When he heard her speak, he understood that it was a message greater than words.
Speaker 1:We could imagine a version of an encounter in which we would be moved by elements larger than a mere message. Imagine we were walking in Arlington Cemetery and we suddenly encountered an apparition of a woman dressed in blue who told us she was the Blessed Mother. If she then held up her hand and swept it across the landscape, drawing our eyes to the rows and rows of crosses lining the landscape, and said my heart breaks for the suffering of my children, go and tell the world. The preservation of the gift of life is more valuable to me than the honor of battle or the glory of victory. We wouldn't just hear those words. Everything about the scene, about the place, about her appearance would contribute to the message she had to tell. The words would only be part of the message. The place would be the message too. It was this way with Juan Diego Also.
Speaker 1:Another part of the message was powerfully given and plays a major part in the story we have, and that is that this woman, mary, was dark-skinned. In fact, she's known even today in Spanish as La Morenita, which translates as the little Muslim, the dark-skinned young girl. That's what the word means. This is a major aspect of his encounter. He was hearing a message about his faith, delivered in the language of the Aztec Empire, in a space that had been given over to the worship of a goddess, from a woman who was not tinged by the so much valued whiteness of the conquistadores. The message in its totality was both intriguing and irresistible, and, secondly, he presumed to understand the message and to be exhausted in its most literal form. That is, when the woman told him to communicate to the bishop that she wanted a church to be built on that spot, he thought of a building put up there on that hill that it could mean the church in all of its aspects, not simply a chapel with four walls and a roof. That didn't seem to occur to him, and that it could have meant the entire place of the Americas and not simply the geographical locale of this Tepeyac spot. No doubt seemed too much to imagine, and so he dutifully received the message he was given and as dutifully he went to inform the bishop.
Speaker 1:In this part of the story we're often misled by our presumptions. Juan Diego would have been known to the Archbishop of Mexico City if for no other reason than that he was one of the few converts of that day and time. His attributes—native convert, not Bible-speaking, dark-skinned— kept him from any kind of important role in the formal administration of the government and the Church. But he was an important bridge to the completion of the missionary work the Church so much desired. So when he showed up to speak with the church, but he was an important bridge to the completion of the missionary work the church so much desired. So when he showed up to speak with the bishop, the doors weren't thrown open to him, but neither was he shooed away. He did speak the message he had received to the bishop, who paused to hear it.
Speaker 1:Sumarraga did what every bishop does, that is, he asked for more information. Sumarraga did what every bishop does, that is, he asked for more information. To build a church is no small project, especially in a land and at a time in which every corner of his responsibility cried out for resources and personnel. Not only that as principal administrator, he had to weigh the credibility of this message coming from an apparition given at Tepeyac to a man matured in the religion of his forefathers. The bishop can be excused for being skeptical. He's even more understood as practical. To build a church on the prompting of a vision or a visitation was no more an imperative in 16th century New Spain as it would be in 21st century Newkirk. All of the additional descriptions and convincing elements of Juan Diego's encounter would serve to be a distraction to the bishop's evaluation of his story. They certainly weren't helpful in making the case that he pay attention.
Speaker 1:As the story unfolds, the apparitions continue, with the central concern being to provide the proof to the bishop, so that the message of building provide in order to convince. That's the heart of stories such as these and something we mostly don't focus on. What would convince a bishop or any of us when dealing with the divine? What is sufficient proof? Uncovering a cache of gold coins would help, wouldn't it? Or a check deposited in our account for the full amount? That'd certainly move me to approve. And if there is a divine initiative, why wouldn't such a provision be the link pin for moving a stubborn authority? After all, no matter what's provided to prove the apparition is something more than delusion, it'll have to be out of the ordinary. Why not make it so far out of the ordinary that no one can deny it? Gold cash, a load of bricks on top of the hill with architects' plans and mortar and tools. They wouldn't be less miraculous than any other sign, unless, of course, the intent is to spark the imagination and to move the souls of the ones who receive the message. We have the capacity to discount everything, after all, in our hearts we know having something else filling the glass when it's half full, or adding to what we've already received after a while becomes nothing much more than commentary. The last thing we end up regarding it as is a miracle.
Speaker 1:Not long ago, a journalist tracked down a young man who was reportedly healed as a result of the intercession of Father Capon, the priest from Kansas who's been proposed for beatification. This young man's mother and her family prayed for Father Capon's intercession and her son was healed. It was miraculous in every way, but when asked about it, though, the young man didn't think it was all that special. It had been a virulent cancer and it was untreatable. He was dying and he made a full recovery when the cancer stopped growing and then disappeared, and his response was tepid. It was it just means I don't have cancer anymore, he said, end of story. In his mind, it was no more miraculous than the ripening of the crops or the coming of the rains. It simply is what happened. So it is when imaginations are not stirred.
Speaker 1:Juan Diego, when relating his experience of the bishop to the young woman, indicated he needed a convincing sign, and so he was led to a spot on the other side of the hill where he could pick roses and deliver them to the bishop's court. This seems the least convincing possible indication that Juan Diego had been visited with a heavenly vision or that it was the divine initiative to carve a spot for devotion from the pagan space on top of Tepeyac Hill. But in a world dominated by the forces of the natural, where every person paid attention to the cycle of the seasons and the movement of the days, roses of Castile in the dry season was as startling as gold and about as unexpected. In the mind of Juan Diego and in his practiced native eyes. The flower petals showering down on the floor of the bishop's study would have been an intriguing invitation for the authorities to begin to think he wasn't simply describing the product of his imagination, but had in fact received a real message that should prompt a real response. According to the story, as he opened his cape to display what he had gathered and as the roses tumbled out, those who were gathered fell to their knees. This was puzzling to him, even in the exaggerated sense of 16th century piety and attentiveness. The flowers were a sign of the apparition, not the divine message itself. It was only when he noted, in their response that he himself did he himself note that more had been delivered than the roses.
Speaker 1:The image of Guadalupe was imprinted on his cape. It was this that prompted the response of those around him, what he had seen of the young woman who had interrupted his journey to entrust him with a message that was communicated directly to the ones who had demanded more. Now they could see what he had seen. Upon looking, their imaginations were prompted in ways no mere accumulation of things or experiences would provide. Upon seeing, they were intrigued and they began to understand that, by appreciating what they had been given, they were being led to hear the message of this young woman in a different way. The church to be built was to be something more than stone and wood, and it would be more extensive than at Tepeyac, and so the image that now occupies the imaginations of all of the Americas was first revealed.
Speaker 1:We do have to admit, claiming miraculous provenance for a mere image is hardly convincing. The power of art is compelling, no doubt, and images can fire our imaginations, but to claim a particular combination of shape and color and design is the product of the supernatural is hard to accept. Of course, it is a matter of fact that the image of Guadalupe is on a grass cape that's documented to be at least 450 years old. It is imprinted in some manner on the material not painted on, and the image contains an entire universe of details that invite interpretation and disclose meanings that are nearly inexhaustible. This image of the slight young woman whose Mona Lisa smile and slightly bowed head, dressed in a flowering tunic, surrounded by a cape studded with stars, clothed by the sun, is now everywhere, in a world awash in a flood of secularization. The image of Guadalupe has spread throughout the Americas until it is recognizable by nearly everyone, from the office of the Bishop of Mexico City to the painted images on the hoods of lowriders in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1:Guadalupe has made it everywhere and her message was to build the church here. Now that has encompassed the awareness of anyone who wants to pay attention. A church has been built, not a chapel. And that church, it encompasses all of America, not simply a hill, and it continues a building. The message is still being received At the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.
Speaker 1:Our shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe on top of what we call Tepeyac Hill is an opportunity for pilgrims to visit and to pray. Over the last few months, we've had tens of thousands of visitors who have brought their prayers and devotions to this spot, seeking to share their burdens as they receive the message of Our Lady. They come to this place because they know that the building of the church is not a matter of laying brick or cutting wood. They know that building the church is not even a matter of receiving something and then sharing it. Building the church is placing ourselves within the promise of God's own initiative. By bringing their needs to the shrine, they're laying the foundation stones of the church from their own lives onto the bedrock of God's promises, and from there the whole church is built.
Speaker 1:This is what we 21st century people struggle to understand. We who have focused on structures and materials and fabrication. We have a hard time feeling the power of the imagination. We're prompted by the images of soaring buildings and moved by the solidity of concrete and steel. Our monuments are to the hard science of thinking and deciding. But when the imagination is moved, when our hearts touch our souls, that's when the greatest part of ourselves come alive. We think of building the church by building churches or by finding the best way to fill the pews and provide for the budget.
Speaker 1:But those who've had the chance to kneel at the promise made to Juan Diego, they know building the church is first of all to be touched at the promise made to Juan Diego. They know building the church is first of all to be touched at the heart. Beauty smells, flowers, tears, joy, crying out in need, relief at the gift of freedom, acceptance of the tragic and the sad, striving beyond the common bonds, move to say yes, gladness at blessings. Those are all the first building blocks of the church. When Juan Diego's story is told, we're impatient to hear what will happen. But those who first knelt in the presence of the image knew that something was just beginning as the image was revealed to them. This is the truth given to all those who climb out on Tepeyac Hill and spend a moment at the image of Our Lady. They bring themselves and their needs there and lay them before the image, knowing that where they are and what they have, especially their needs and their concerns, are just the beginning. What happens next after they respond to what they've been given? These are the foundation stones of the church being built from them. One of the prophetic images of the work of God in the world is that his church might be built of living stones, and so it has been. If the church is not a living thing among us, it will be only a wisp of words, mere statements and claims. This is what transformed the missionaries in Mexico City 500 years ago. They encountered the invitation to find themselves a part of the church larger and more intriguing and more enveloping than they could have imagined Well, than they did imagine. When they did and then knelt before it, the church of the Americas began to flower. The church here is still being built. It's being built of living stones. Back in just a moment.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to our final segment Faith in Verse. We have a poem today called segment Faith in Verse. We have a poem today called Into Her Room. I walked into her room quietly.
Speaker 1:She lies in a coma now. Her state in life is her unsteady grimace and her furrowed brow. As she lies there underneath the cleanly pressed white starched sheets, her body covered against the cool complimenting her stockinged feet, the nurse left the radio on in the room, soft rock tunes playing. She didn't know. Her patient thought of them as music decaying, had always preferred classical composition, soaring and majestic. Now she endures in her helplessness their hard rhythms, oppressing what we do to one another when we live out of our fear.
Speaker 1:For the friendly nurse is terrified of silence, thinks nothing more drear, and so presses on the ones whose lives subject to her care. What she herself imagines is preferred by everyone. Everywhere Our patient will meet her final moment surrounded, just so to die, attended and cared for, but abandoned and alone. That's Into Her Room. As we approach this great feast, day of Guadalupe, which happens on the 12th of December, I hope that you can come and participate with all of your brothers and sisters. It is one of the great celebrations that we have here in Oklahoma and in the coming weeks I hope that you can join us again as we continue to explore what it means to be Living Catholic.
Speaker 2:Living Catholic is a production of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City for Oklahoma Catholic Radio. To learn more, visit okcrorg.