Homily for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

On a December morning in 1531, a man named Juan Diego was on his way to church. As he passed a hill at Tepeyac, near present-day Mexico City, he heard a voice calling him by name. Looking up, he was surprised to see what appeared to be a young Aztec woman. She instructed him to go to the bishop and tell him to build a shrine on the hill, which was the site of an ancient Nahuatl shrine. However, the bishop ignored Juan's message.

In her second apparition, the woman introduced herself as the Mother of God and instructed Juan to return to the bishop with her request. However, the bishop denied the request once again.

During her third appearance, the woman instructed Juan to gather a bouquet of roses growing out of season at her feet. So, Juan collected the roses in his cloak and presented them to the bishop. When he opened up his cloak to reveal the flowers, both the bishop and Juan Diego were astonished to see a full-color image of the woman Juan Diego had seen imprinted on the fabric of the cloak.

Today, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose story is a significant turning point for the Church in the Americas. The apparitions occurred ten years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1521. Although Christianity was the conquerors' religion, it failed to offer much to the native people.

After the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, everything changed. Mary spoke to Juan in his native language, Nahuatl, instead of Spanish. She seemed to be one of them, and all the symbols she appeared in spoke to the native people. She expressed her desire that her shrine would radiate her love and compassion to all the inhabitants of that land.

Mary's apparitions caused a significant transformation in the Church and the Aztec people. Within six years of the apparitions, around nine million Aztecs converted to Christianity. This event marked a turning point for the Church, as it shifted its focus towards serving the needs of the poor and oppressed. It was no longer seen as the religious arm of the conqueror but rather as the voice of God's compassion and justice.