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| OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE |
HAIL MARY, FULL OF GRACE!!!!
On the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego was walking to Mass. When he passed Tepeyac Hill he heard a sound coming from the top of the hill. Looking up he heard celestial music and a young native woman, about 16 years old, 4 foot 8 inches tall, who began talking to him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oUlFt5VErg&feature=related
He stopped to see what was happening, when the young woman asked him to come up to the top of the hill. "For I am your merciful Mother," she said, " to you and all mankind who love me and trust in me to invoke my help. Therefore, go to the Bishop in Mexico City and say that the Virgin Mary sent you to make known to him my great desires."
The Virgin asked him to tell the Bishop of her desire that a chapel be built on the spot where they were standing.
Upon telling the Bishop of the vision, the Bishop did not believe him and dismissed him.
When Juan Diego returned to the hill, he told the Blessed Mother of his failure to convince the Bishop, she instructed him to return to the Bishop and repeat her wishes. Upon meeting the Bishop a second time, the Bishop asked for a sign from the Lady. When Juan Diego told her of the need for a sign, she told him to return the next morning and she would give him a sign for the Bishop.
Juan Diego did not return the next morning because his uncle Juan Bernadino became suddenly ill and Juan Diego went to fetch a doctor for his uncle. Two days later, on December 12, Juan Diego was on his way to a Church at Tlateloco, to seek a priest for his dying uncle. On the way, he was stopped by Our Lady who asked him why he did not keep his appointment and he explained about his dying uncle.
The Lady told him not to worry about his uncle, that indeed, he had already been healed. Our Lady also appeared to the uncle that day and restored his health. Juan Diego was 57 years old and his uncle 68 years old. Both had been among the first of the natives to be baptized into the Catholic Faith.
Our Lady instructed Juan Diego to climb to the top of Tepeyac Hill and there he would find many kinds of flowers blooming and that he was to cut them and bring them to her. It was the middle of the winter and the rugged rocky hill was not known to grow anything so Juan Diego doubted he would find anything growing there. When he reached the top of the hill, to his shock and amazement he found a lovely garden growing there with beautiful Castillian roses. He cut them and placed them in his tilma. When he returned to the Lady, she rearranged them and instructed him to take them to the Bishop as a sign and not to open his tilma until he was in the presence of the Bishop.
Juan Diego did as She wished and stood radiantly before the Bishop and opened his tilma and let the roses fall to the floor. The Bishop was amazed at the image he observed on the tilma. It was a beautiful image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as she appeared to Juan Diego. The Bishop agreed to build the chapel and 8 million people were converted to the Catholic Faith within 7 years.
The original image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on display at the Basilica in Mexico City. It is one of the most visited Catholic Shrines in the world. Our Lady of Guadalupe was declared "Patroness of the Americas" by the Vatican in 1946. In 2009 on Friday and Saturday, December 11 and 12, a record 6.1 million pilgrims visited the Basilica to commemorate the anniversary.
The image and tilma are still in perfect condition after 480 years. The tilma is made from the maguey cactus plant which normally does not last more than 30 years. Even a bomb exploding near the image did not damage it.
Juan Diego was declared a Saint on July 31, 2002. His feast day is December 9, and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on December 12.
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| The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City |
THE LORD IS WITH YOU!!!!
BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
AVE MARIA, PRAY FOR US!!!!!!!!!!!!
