Two stories come to mind that might be helpful here.
One is the report of Jesuit missionaries traveling in Southwest America, probably the New Mexico or Arizona region, before they were states. These priests encountered a large group of American Indians approaching them from far away, over the vast expanse of arid land. The natives came directly toward the missionaries as if they were being guided by some unseen helper. When they finally arrived, an interpreter exchanged messages so that the priests were told that a woman had been coming to them for many years, teaching them the Catholic Faith, and she had told them where and when they would find the "Blackrobes" who would give them the Sacraments. The Jesuit priests (who wore black cassocks) inquired as to the appearance of this mysterious woman, and answering their questions the Indians described Venerable Mary of Agreda, a nun who had never left Spain (in Europe).
Bilocation is not unprecedented in the history of the Church, the most popularly known examples being the case history of Padre Pio. The Indians in the desert were already well-disposed to be baptized and receive the sacraments from these missionaries. There is a city in that region that could be a longstanding testimony to their lives, merely by its name, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe translates, "Holy Faith."
The other story is regarding the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Long before 1531, when the Spanish Conquistadors were advancing in Mexico, there was a battle where the Spanish were outnumbered by the Aztec warriors, and historians looking at the figures say it seems the Aztecs should have won, even though they had swords and hand weapons while the Spaniards had guns. But remember, flintlocks took a long time to reload. The reason the Spanish won the battle would told many years later by an eyewitness, who was one of the Aztec soldiers who was a young man at the time. He was a survivor of the battle his army had lost. When he grew old, he became a fixture in town because when he would walk down the lane he would pause at a shrine to La Virgen de Guadalupe, saying in his native nahuatl language (Aztec) words to the effect as follows, "I, though unworthy, saw her with my eyes, and she, Our Lady, threw dust in them."
He was describing how the Aztec soldiers on the top of a hill, saw in the sky above the advancing Spanish soldiers, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who made a sweeping motion with her arm, throwing some kind of dust through the air which got into the eyes of the Aztecs, leaving them unable to see, long enough for the Spanish to overcome them in battle.
It was not until A.D. 1666 when Rome finally took up the case of the appearance of the "Dark Virgin" in Mexico in the jurisdiction of Bishop de Zumarraga, to the Mexican merchant named Juan Diego. Rome needed certain things to give its approval to the apparition, that is, permission for Catholics to venerate the Image of the lady who appeared to Juan Diego, as left on his tilma (cloak). Rome needed some docuŠ¼ented record of the event, which was supplied by a single line of text in a record book, which was abbreviated and would make no sense to us today, unless we knew the Latin abbreviations in common use at the time. Another requirement was a personal testimony.
The personal testimony was supplied by an old Mexican man who explained that when he was a young boy, an elderly man in Mexico told him the story he had heard as a boy, which was told to him by an old man who said that when he was a young boy he had seen this old man walking in the streets of Mexico, who would exclaim the same thing every time he passed a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Rome checked their records to find that the Spanish did indeed fight such a battle the victory of which was not clearly explained, which had taken place about 20 years prior to 1531.
So the Virgin of Guadalupe was active in Mexico long before she appeared to Juan Diego. This goes to show why, when the pilgrims who came from far and wide would take one look at the Image on Juan Diego's tilma, they received the Faith and requested Baptism.
The priests in Mexico City at that time baptized a steady stream of local people every day for about 9 years, sometimes suffering severe fatigue from the soreness in their hands due to administering so many baptisms.
Topic: What is the logic of water baptism only? (Read 3397 times)