I stopped in at a local Novus Ordo parish yesterday on the way home
from Mass to see what the news is and what the plans are for Tuesday
night, that is, tomorrow. Every year on the evening of December 11th,
certain parishes all over the world, apparently, mostly in Mexico, leave
the church open all night long as people come and go, many bringing
flowers to Our Lady, and many singing songs they learned as a child,
taught to them by their grandparents who were taught by their
grandparents who were taught by their grandparents, and so on, back
20 generations.
This will be the 481st anniversary of the miraculous Image on the tilma
of Juan Diego - make that Saint Juan Diego. But the celebrations are
already starting today and even yesterday, because it was on December
9th that the Aztec man first saw her standing on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico
City in A.D. 1531, and it took 3 days for all the details to transpire to the
point where he had shown the bouquet of Castilian roses to Bishop Juan
de Zumarraga, who had asked for "a sign" from the Lady.
The Bishop had asked Juan Diego to bring him a sign from the "lady" he
had seen, and so obediently, he went to ask her for a sign.
But Juan Diego did not know that the bishop, who had been facing a lot
of serious problems in his diocese, problems far beyond his control or
ability to deal with them, had been fervently praying in private to the
Mother of God to help him, and that he had secretly asked her to make
the Castilian rose the secret sign to him that her answer had arrived.
So, when Juan Diego came with his flowers, he was already rather
worried and afraid, for the guards had made him wait for a very long
time outside, not allowing him to come indoors. And while he had waited,
the guards had teased him: "Hey, little man! What are you holding in
your tilma? Do you think you can sneak in to see the Bishop without
our inspection? We must check to be sure you're not holding something
dangerous! Here: let us examine your bundle before you can enter."
And they pulled at his arms, and he resisted them. Because the lady
on the hill had personally arranged the miraculous flowers that she had
asked Juan Diego to pick for her. And Juan Diego had not believed that
there were any flowers to be found, but when he had climbed the hill
in obedience to the most beautiful Aztec princess appearing before him,
he indeed had found flowers growing where only cacti and rocks had
ever grown before. But they were not just flowers, they were the most
beautiful roses he had ever seen! But they were not just beautiful roses,
they were shimmering and glowing as if on fire with energy unknown to
him, looking like Jєωels in a dream. But it was not a dream. It was one
miracle upon another miracle upon another miracle, and if it had not been
for the soft, soothing voice of the Virgin, he would have no doubt lost his
mind. It would have been too munch for him. He had brought her the
flowers as she had requested, and she spoke to him as she gently
arranged them in his arms, requesting his utmost diligence in keeping
them arranged just so for the Bishop, because it was this special manner
of the flowers' presentation that would be the very "sign" that the
Bishop had asked him for.
As he tried to wait patiently outside, he tried to obey the Virgin's
message to him to protect the arrangement of the flowers, but the guards
were pulling his arms much to Juan Diego's distress. They did not
relent, and seeing that he was hiding flowers, they demanded to see
them. "I would like to take one of your flowers to my sweetheart! Give
me one to take to her!" After a while, they finally managed to pull his
one arm out and away from his chest, and what did they see? The guards
leaped back in fear, for the flowers that had been right there were
suddenly not flowers at all, but merely the image of flowers on his
tilma! It was the same arrangement, but "untouchable" and impossible
for contact by one who had designs of evil against its integrity. The
arrangement would not be defiled! The guards spoke to each other
and made a plan, to try again, and lo! The same thing happened again -
as they presumed to reach in and grab a rose, they all became as a
picture, an illusion, an icon of roses that are visible but not reachable.
In their frustration, they conducted Juan Diego in to see the Bishop,
explaining to him that this man was harboring some very strange roses.
And the Bishop's hopes were enkindled: is this finally the answer he
had been waiting for, the answer from the Mother of our Redeemer, on
this day only two weeks before Christmas and only 4 days after Her
Feast Day of Her Immaculate Conception? He did not tell anyone, but
he pondered these things in his heart. And he felt a very close bond
with the Mother of Christ who had pondered the mysteries of God so
long ago in her own heart, her Immaculate Heart.
Juan Diego approached him as he sat in his elevated chair, and the
Bishop asked him, "What do you have to show me, my son?" Slowly,
and carefully, Juan Diego moved his tilma sides to reveal the most
important bouquet, as the Bishop set eyes on the answer to his prayers.
He knew Castilian roses, for he had helped his family grow them as a
child in Spain so many years before. But he had not seen any such
rose in Mexico, where they were not to be found, across the Atlantic
Ocean from their homeland. The moment of opening his tilma seemed
to take a long time, a moment hanging in time as though time itself
was in awe of what was happening. Juan Diego was already afraid after
seeing his roses become as an image of roses on his tilma outside, and
he wasn't too sure if he could endure any more miracles all in one day!
Therefore, as he carefully opened his tilma, what he saw struck him with
the most severe shock he could have imagined, for this time, not the
image of the flower arrangement, but rather the Image of the Most
Beautiful Princess Herself appeared on his tilma! He could not believe
his eyes, and the impact of this thought struck his mind's eye with such
a powerful blow that he lost his composure, and did the unthinkable.
He dropped the flowers!
The Most Importand Arrangement was lost! It fell to the floor and he
began to weep uncontrollably. With tears streaming down his cheeks,
he looked up to see that the Bishop had fallen as well to the floor,
with the flowers, and he knelt there in front of Juan Diego, with hands
clasped in prayer before the Miraculous Image of the Virgin Herself.
451 years later, a respected ophthamologist would look through his
instruments, the ones that he uses to examine the lenses of his patients'
eyes, only this time he would be looking into the eyes of the Virgin's
Image on the tilma of Juan Diego, and what would he see? He would
see what he sees when he looks into any other patient's eyes! The
image he saw was as if he were examining the eyes of a living patient,
even though this was an image hundreds of years old. And in this
image of Her eyes, the doctor could see the reflection on the surfaces,
as it were, of the eye lenses, and in this reflection he could make out
the figures of several people in a room. It was Bishop Juan de
Zumarraga, kneeling on the floor, and the guards standing in a posture
of surprise. But this is the only tilma that survives from that age long
ago, for the material from which it is made is not a durable fabric, but
one woven from the fibers of a cactus plant, and these fibers only
keep their form for about 30 years before they fall apart. That is to say,
the tilm of Juan Diego should not exist. It should have fallen into dust
400 years ago. The doctor is seeing a miracle in his instruments, and
the miracle is occurring on a miraculous fabric. It is a miracle upon
another miracle. But such things are nothing new for the Virgin of
Guadalupe. For miracles follow her like cars in a train. It is as though
the miracles cannot do otherwise than to follow her, wherever she goes.
She leaves miracles in her wake like confetti or the sparkling stars from
fireworks. There seems to be no end to her miracles. Nor should there
be.
Her miraculous Image was put up for all to see, and local people came
from all directions every day, without fail, for years and years; people
who waited in line to bring flowers to the Virgin, and when they came
up close to her and looked at her beauty, they received the Faith of
Her Son in an instant. They were converted on the spot, one after
another, miracle upon miracle, like cars in a train or confetti falling from
the sky. They all asked to be baptized. It took about 9 years to get
through all these baptisms, about one million each year. It was all the
priests could do to keep up with the relentless traffic of new Catholics.
This was during the years when 9 million Germans were abandoning
the Faith to follow the false doctrines of Martin Luther. Bishop Juan de
Zumarraga's hands were very sore. They were baptizing from the time
he arose in the morning until he retired at night, and so too were the
hands of his assistant priests. They had spent years trying to spread
the faith and had had no success due to their own efforts. But now,
"they enclosed a great multitude of fish and their net broke" (Lk v. 6).
Miracles followed upon miracles.
The pilgrims came back year after year, and Juan Diego lived there. He
would take groups of pilgrims to all the places where he had been and
where all these things happened and he would tell them in his own
words, until the day he died. It was his life, for he had been transformed,
a new man. The Mother of God called his name and he had answered
her call with his very life.
After he was gone, the pilgrims continued to come. They came for years
and decades and centuries. They have been coming all along, and they
still come to this day.. They come to the local shrines to the Virgin of
Guadalupe, the Virgin of miracles, the Virgin of Tepeyac Hill.
These are not simple times. But you know, the times were not simple
for the Bishop in 1531, either! Today we have a different problem, but
it's really the same problem. The mystery of iniquity does not sleep.
Today, the same Aztec dancers that used to cavort around the stone
altar where the devil-worshipping priest would cut out live, beating
hearts from the living bodies of their victims using a razor sharp stone
knife made of black, shiny obsidian, a glass-like volcanic rock, these
same dancers kick and turn, bow and wiggle, all the way up the center
aisle of the Novus Ordo parish churches on the Feast Day of the Virgin
Herself, December 12th. I had a friend who accused me: "You can't
prove that those feather head-dress dancers are wearing the same
costumes that the pagans wore 500 years ago!" Let him with eyes to
see and ears to hear understand. "For the mystery of iniquity already
worketh" (II Thes. ii. 7).
Today, the same Mariachis that the Freemasons hire, blast their trumpets
and strum their profane instruments right next to the priest facing the
people at mass. Now, I can enjoy mariachi music as well as the next
guy, but not at Mass! They use microphones and amplifiers and crank it
up to 60 decibels during the Offertory. Uuuh....... Not a good idea! I
would say the Virgin is not impressed with her wayward children's antics.
The people who come look confused. They are there because it's there,
but would they have it that way? The crowds get very thick the evening
of December 11th, and you won't find a parking space near the church.
There will be standing room only: outside! You know, like Juan Diego
had at the Bishop's office. People will come and stay inside the church
for hours at a time, spontaneously singing songs to our Lady, songs that
they recall learning from their abuelo and abuelita over half a century
ago. That would be before the changes from Vatican II. There is
something magical about the crowd. You would think that a crowd like
that would be edgy or nervous or unforgiving, but it's none of that. How
can there be no room left, and yet, someone inside who has to use the
restroom can leave to do so without any problem, and then return to his
seat, passing through the crowd again, without any problem? I told a
friend who works with problem youths, that the gang members respect
the Virgin of Guadalupe, and he told me "They had better!"
I'm writing this missive to let you know, if you've read this far, that if
you are so fortunate as to have a place to go, a place where they are
having mananitas tomorrow night, you should go. You should lose a
couple hours' sleep, and go between 10:00 pm and 3:00 am, because if
you have never done so, you won't believe your eyes. Remember how
Juan Diego could not believe his eyes? Well, now, it's YOUR turn!
Bring some walking shoes, and figure on parking 220 yards away. That's
an eighth of a mile. It's good exercise. You don't have to bring any
flowers if you don't want to, for there is going to be plenty there already.
You won't be able to get any closer than 20 feet away from the Image.
You should talk to people, outside of church, of course, and listen to
what they have to say. You're not going to find anyone there who does
not have a sincere love for the Lady of Graces, the Star of the Sea,
Mystical Rose and Tower of Ivory. Our Lady Help of Christians is there
to help the Christians. Our Lady of Perpetual Help perpetually helps.
Our Lady of Good Success proffers good success.
I have a friend who doesn't want to go, and he's Mexican. He's a trad,
and he does not enjoy it when evangelicals try to "convert" him to their
way of carrying on. I told him, that if you go to mananitas, nobody is
going to be urging you to do something. You can quietly pray your
rosary. But it's nice to see people of all walks of life who come to give
a little love to our Heavenly Mother. They sing songs you've never
heard before, and they sound pretty good, all-in-all. They sound a lot
better than the Mariachis!
If you don't go, you won't know. And it only happens once a year. And
you never know if you will have another year.... do you?
Oh --- I almost forgot:
this year, it's 12-12-12................ three times is the number of the Trinity....
Topic: Virgin of Guadalupe - December 12th - mananitas (Read 3433 times)