ON THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE.

 

THE MOTHER WHO FORGED A NATION.

 

I did not choose this title by chance, but because it was, is and will be until the end of the world the reality of the Mexican nation, that under the influence of Our Lady of Guadalupe this nation has emerged as such. We could properly say, "Non fecit taliter omni nacioni" did not do such a thing with another nation.

 When the ships of Hernán Cortes stormed the coasts of what is now Veracruz, the Aztec or Mexica people were going through one of their worst spiritual, existential and moral crises. Its anxious inhabitants awaited the fulfillment of the prophecy of that king who took them out of their nomadic life and led them to their new sedentary life.

Many conjectures have arisen about this king, some even point to Santo Tomas Apóstol, this is how the Guarani Indians seem to confirm it, who they called “Pay Tome” which means Father Tomas, of which I am a witness because I was missioning among them for four years.

According to the chronicles of Aztec history, he told them: "When you see a white man with brown hair coming, think that your end is near", words plus words less this was the prophecy that was transmitted from generation to generation.

Moctezuma had to verify the veracity of these words, because in 1512 the ships or boats appeared with Hernán Cortez in command of them, in the morning of that day and at noon Moctezuma had news of the arrival of Cortez to the coasts of Veracruz, an omen that at that time predicted the end of the Aztec culture.

I do not want to dwell on the details of the Spanish conquest since it is a very controversial topic and it is not the objective of this writing, being therefore a topic for another article. After the conquest, when everything was calm, the Franciscan friars arrived in other ships, before whom Cortez bent the knee and kissed their cords as a sign of submission to the Church, represented by these missionaries of the Franciscan order.

This fact did not go unnoticed by the indigenous people, who viewed Cortez with great respect and admiration, as someone very superior and distinguished. Did you not understand how he bowed his knee to insignificant little men, dressed in poor and simple habits? Would this fact contribute to the evangelization of the natives by the Franciscans?

Evangelization was not easy and with very few fruits, from 1512 to 1531 there were not many as expected, the converts to Catholicism flourished minimally despite the great effort made by the Franciscans, many difficulties encountered along the way such as the language and pagan customs still deeply rooted in them, among others.

A divine intervention was required to get out of the quagmire in which the missionaries found themselves, such as, prayers, supplications, penances and Masses abounded to obtain the much-desired miracle from heaven. 1531 was the year chosen by divine providence to work the much-needed miracle, on December 12 in a small mountain near Mexico City called Tepeyac.

The one sent from heaven was the Blessed Virgin Mary, who appeared to an Indian convert to Catholicism named Juan Diego, who was 57 years old at the time, and had recently become a widow. What was it that so captivated Juan Diego from Our Lady and with him all the indigenous people? The Virgin Mary spoke to them in her dialect in a soft and tender way, her mestizo color reflected in her face, as well as the signs that are stamped on her clothing, as well as other signs that describing them would take us time and space, every time we contemplate the image we can add those details that undoubtedly stole the hearts of the natives of that time.

I will only dwell on another very important detail in the dialogue of Our Lady with Juan Diego during her five apparitions, how can the words of a Mother as tender and as beautiful as the Mother of God not steal hearts? It is not my intention to write all the dialogues from the first to the fourth, but only those of the fifth appearance.

Of all the words that the Blessed Virgin addressed us in her prodigious apparitions in different parts of the world, those spoken to Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac by Our Lady of Guadalupe, are undoubtedly the most consoling, moving and comforting, because they spring from the heart of a most tender Mother and they are aimed at producing in our souls, rest and trust. They were said in the fifth and final appearance to Juan Diego when he, worried about the illness of his uncle Bernardino, took another path than usual.

Here are his words: WHERE ARE YOU GOING, MY SON, DOES NOT ANYTHING AFFIX YOU? DO NOT FEAR THAT ILLNESS, OR ANY OTHER ILLNESS AND ANGUISH. AM I NOT HERE, ME THAT I'M YOUR MOTHER? ARE YOU NOT UNDER MY SHADOW AND SHELTER? AM I NOT LIFE AND HEALTH? ARE YOU NOT ON MY LAP AND RUNNING ON MY OWN? DO YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE? DON'T GRIEVE ABOUT YOUR UNCLE'S ILLNESS, THAT HE WILL NOT DIE FROM THIS ACHIEVEMENT AND BE AWARE THAT HE IS ALREADY HEALTHY.

Read well and memorize the words expressed by the Blessed Virgin, don't you think they are like heavenly music, like a very soft-smelling balm that drives away the worldly humours and smells that our poor soul is used to? Blessed are we since we are sorely missing a balm of such a heavenly workmanship, because as the psalm says: “We were all walking together wrongly” on the paths of this world that lead to hell. Such trusting words are needed to stop our headlong rush.

Vea como el humilde Juan Diego doblegado por estas palabras, detiene su apresurada marcha y da razón, con timidez confiada de su desvío y con atención escucha a la Reina del Cielo y atraído por la aparición, se detiene para oír detenidamente, esa hermosa catarata de palabras que atraviesan su humilde corazón lleno de angustia.

Juan Diego representa a la nación mexicana convertida a Dios y así como San Juan apóstol atento escuchó las palabras de su Maestro antes de Morir en el monte calvario, Juan Diego escucha el testimonio o el testamento legado por Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en el Tepeyac que es otro monte. ¿Casualidad? Diría más bien causalidad que es propia de Dios.

Como si actualmente nos dijera: ¿A dónde vas hijo mío? y con tristeza y lagrimas en los ojos le respondiéramos como nación, no lo se Señora, hace tiempo perdí el camino al cielo en medio de esta espantosa oscuridad, con la que los enemigos han cubierto la nación que Tú forjaste allá en el Tepeyac. Muchas aflicciones estrechan mi corazón y afligen mi alma, la confusión se apodero de mi hace mucho tiempo, mi paso es errado y no acierto a tomar el camino que Tú Madre mía me mostraste, el sueño se me ha ido, la alegría verdadera ha desaparecido de mi alma, mi faz se ha mudado de tal manera que no me reconozco, aunque de Ti Madre Mia no me he olvidado porque te llevo en lo profundo de mi alma hechura de tu Hijo bien amado.

Nuestro lamento es detenido por estas otras palabras: ¿No te aflija cosa alguna? ¿No estoy yo aquí que soy tu Madre? Sin duda alguna el amor de una madre cualquiera, será para nosotros un misterio insondable, misterio reservado solo a Dios, ¿A qué nación la Santísima Virgen le ha dicho estas hermosísimas palabras? Me pregunto, solo a México ya que como nación la trata como lo que es, su hija predilecta y a cada uno de los mexicanos que aún guardan estas memorables palabras en lo más profundo de sus corazones.

How much relief these words bring to our most afflicted soul, for she spoke them with all her heart about the one who beats at the right hand of her son, because she remembers that she was assumed into heaven body and soul! She has never ceased to be faithful to her vocation as Mother of this nation. Will we cease to be faithful to the vocation of her children? It would be poor of us if we renounced this sublime vocation as, unfortunately, the Israelites did when they desired in their hearts the onions of Egypt rather than aspiring to the promised land.

But unfortunately, in this current confusion we see many who used to be her children turn away from this kind Mother and take decisively the ways of the evil one, we pray for them. In case the above is not clear, this good Mother adds: ARE YOU NOT UNDER MY SHADOW AND SHELTER? Who does not remember that Psalm 90? where the soul says to the Father: "My refuge and my strength, my God in whom I trust!" If the psalmist said it with such a deep feeling of trust in God, how can we not express these same feelings of ours as a nation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who in such a way has lavished on these words full of those who give and have in abundance of that of what is full, of grace, as the Archangel announced?

 Mexicans more than other nations, we must feel and live in our lives, these words full of confidence, when we see that everything around us is sinking. Let's not forget we are under his shadow that covers us because "With his feathers he will cover you, and you will have shelter under his wings" and "although a thousand fall next to you and ten thousand at your right hand, you will not be reached." It is vain and dangerous to escape from this protection of our Blessed Mother, because outside of Her there is nothing but affliction and pain without merit for our souls anxious for God.

Oh, guadalupano do not move away from this shadow and shelter! but if this seems little to you, continue saying: AM I NOT LIFE AND HEALTH? Saint John in his Gospel tells us: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Later he continues saying: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Jesus Christ says of himself: "I am the way, the truth and the life", Our Lady by her predestination to be the Mother of the Word made Man can say with all property that she is LIFE because she gave birth to the author of life and, it goes without saying, that it is HEALTH for the aforementioned.

He does not say it as a reproach but rather so that, in our needs both of the body and of the soul, we trust and abandon ourselves fully in his lap as before, the Child Jesus did it without hesitation and sure that in his mother's lap he had no choice. to worry, so say the holy Fathers of the Church.

In case any doubt persists, he says it again to you in more explicit words: ARE YOU NOT IN MY LAP AND RUNNING ON MY OWN? The Mexican nation from that moment runs on behalf of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is our best guarantee before the Son and we do not need "human influences" of any kind because, in all this, she does not seek her own interest but that of her Son and ours with respect to the salvation of our soul, which is ours. biggest business in this world.

For the rest, our mothers are far away and love us only from afar or, even though they are close, many times they are unable to help us, not only in the body but also in the soul and they are also powerless to protect us in the present moment. Not so with our Mother in heaven because we will always enjoy her perpetual protection, because that is how she promised Juan Diego, our representative at that time, and she is faithful to her promise. In addition, let us not forget that it is the supplicating omnipotence, but above all her maternal heart, is the engine or the guarantee of her fidelity in what was promised.

Likewise, we are under his shadow and care; Therefore, Our Mother of Guadalupe, we can say that she is closer to us than our own mothers and without a doubt, our soul is more united to Her: a loving and always present Mother.

Finally, our mother of the earth, no matter how much she loves us, cannot say the same, because experience shows us that there are times in which she is powerless. Not so with our Mother in heaven, because She is life that triumphs over death, she is health that triumphs over illness and pain; this would be enough to dispel all doubt, all fear and to fill our hearts with holy and divine confidence.

DO YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE? Our soul only needs two things, which are its aim and aspiration; to love God with all his being and through it, save his soul. It is clear that to achieve these means you need providential means, which can be of two categories: the positive ones, which directly influence our soul, such as grace, virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc., the negative ones that God allows. for our sanctification as they are, the pains of the body and the soul, the external sufferings such as hunger, thirst, nakedness among others.

As a nation, Mexico also needs the protection of the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, since its "independence" until now, we have seen her intervene before the trinity, to prevent various calamities where, perhaps, the most dangerous, have been both occasions that freed us from the clutches of atheist and anti-Catholic communism, do you remember? The Cristero war in 1929 and that of 1968, whose purpose was to end Catholic Mexico and currently the renewed attempt by the new Mexican authorities to want to do what the others left pending, the communization of Mexico.

We must not fear these attacks from the enemy of everything Catholic, Our Lady will not allow her nation to fall into the hands of communism and other similar vermin. But I want to point out another danger more serious than communism and it is MODERNISM, which ravages our Churches like a ferocious and diabolical beast: communism can kill the bodies, but not the soul, on the contrary, MODERNISM kills body and soul and Our Divine Master told us promptly: "Do not fear those who kill the body, rather fear those who kill the body and the soul."

As long as Mexico remains faithful to its sacred vocation as the son of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, She by the way, will rid us of our worst enemy for the moment, which is not communism but MODERNISM, whose purpose is to de-Christianize Mexico and leave it at the mercy of the hyenas represented by the Jews, the Freemasons and the Protestants, directed and orchestrated by the devil, eternal enemy of God and sworn enemy of ours, while we walk in this valley of tears.

It would be selfish to think that the Heart of this good Mother is only enough for the Mexican Nation, also the other Hispanic and non-Hispanic nations have this Maternal protection. Her intention to help other nations is found in the words of herself, when she asked Juan Diego to build the temple or church on the hill of Tepeyac and this was the wish of SS Pius XII, when the I appoint Queen of Mexico and Empress of America.

R. Father Arturo Vargas Meza 

N. B. I make some necessary corrections to this writing on Our Lady of Guadalupe:

a) S. S. Benedict XIV authorized the proper office of the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe.

 b) S. S. León XIII, ordered to put a gold crown on her head and named her Queen of Mexico and Empress of America.

c) S. S. Pius XII, I officially appoint her patron of all America.