The Appearance
On the December 9th, 10 years after the conquer of Tenochtitlán,
now Mexico City, a native called Juan Diego was walking across
a hill called Tepeyac. He was going to Tlatelolco to attend the
catechism. Juan Diego was listening to the beautiful singing of
the birds, when the Mother of God appeared. She wanted a temple
to be built in that place and she instructed Juan Diego to go
and tell the Fist Bishop of the Region. The Bishop and his assistants
did not believe the story told by the native.
He returned to the Tepeyac with the idea of giving up the task.
However, the Virgin appeared again and repeated the assignment
to Juan Diego, in spite of his humble protest. The native obeyed
Her and went to see the Bishop again but he was not successful
either. Nevertheless, he was so insistent that the Bishop told
him to ask the Holy Lady to prove Her presence with some kind
of evidence. Then, the Bishop ordered his servants to follow Juan
Diego so as to corroborate the native's story. When Juan Diego
arrived at the Tepeyac he inexplicably disappeared and the Spaniards
lost sight of him. The Virgin talked to Juan Diego again and told
him to come back the following day to give him the proof for Zumárraga.
The native lived with his uncle Bernardino who was very ill
at the time. For that reason, on December 12, at dawn, Juan Diego
preferred to go and look for a priest who could give spiritual
comfort to his uncle. Although he tried to avoid the Lady, She
found him and gave him a message of faith and hope. She ratified
Her Heavenly Origin and confirmed Her petition of a temple which
would symbolize a message of peace and help to the whole world.
Then, She asked him to go up the hill and told him that she would
give him the proof Zumárraga had asked for. On the top
of the hill, Juan Diego suprisingly found flowers, in spite of
the winter frost. He picked them up and put them inside his cloak.
After the Virgin had touched the flowers, he went to the Bishop's
house to give him the flowers. Once in the Bishop's house, the
precious image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was revealed, impressed
on the tough cloth. Simultaneously, the Virgin appeared to uncle
Bernardino, in the same figure which appeared on Juan Diego's
cloak. She cured Bernardino immediately. She told him that She
was Guadalupe, the Perfect One, the forever Virgin, Mother of
the True God, because of Whom we all live.
Nowadays, the original image, complete, intact, with no addings, is in the Tepeyac Shrine, where millions of pilgrims from the whole world visit Her to pray and beg favors from our Heavenly Father. Her message confers Her the power of being the first and most important evangelist in the New World.
Picture author : Painter Jorge Sanchez
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