The Methodology of Our Lady of Guadalupe for the New Evangelization
By: Most Rev. Oscar Cantú | Bishop of San Jose | Chairman of the Subcommittee on Hispanic/Latino Affairs
Growing up in the U.S. with immigrant parents from Mexico, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was everywhere to be found in our house. I knew well the story of the apparitions of Mary to Juan Diego in 1531, as I had seen the story presented in live plays and heard it recounted multiple times.
Those key compassionate words of the Blessed Mother to Juan Diego spoke to me even as a young boy, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Am I not here, who am your mother?” Yet, even as I understood and felt Mary’s motherly solicitude for me and all people, especially the forgotten people of the world, I always thought of the Guadalupan message as one primarily of consolation and identification with the lowly (as Juan was a commoner). I would not yet grasp the profound theological and ecclesial message in her apparitions, gestures, and overall message some 500 years ago until much later. These profound messages still speak to us today.
The following methodology and theological/ecclesial elements can be teased out of the gestures, images, and words of Mary’s encounters with Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill in 1531.
Human Dignity and Participation in the Christian Mission
By choosing Juan Diego, a relatively recent convert to the Catholic faith (perhaps around 1524), a humble man with little social status, Mary highlights the human dignity of all of humanity, regardless of social status. Not only does she acknowledge this dignity of the poor, the commoner, but she shows us how it is borne out – encouraging Juan Diego to be a protagonist in favor of his fellow indigenous people and in favor of their salvation in Christ Jesus. God’s grace extends to all, regardless of their position or status. God “lifts up the lowly,” (cf. Lk 1:52) and so Juan is seen as an exemplar of Christian dignity and hope.
Motherly Tenderness
Mary intercepts Juan on his way to the church one Saturday morning. Mary addressed Juan with motherly tenderness. “Juan Dieguito [my little Juan], the most tender of my children.” Mary uses the diminutive as a term of endearment and tenderness. The Nican Mopohua, in which the dialogue between Mary and Juan is documented, describes birds singing in the hills, in the background – emphasizing the pleasant, joyful, and hope-filled encounter between the Lady from heaven and the humble Juan from Cuautitlan.
Ecclesial
Mary not only asked that a temple be built on the hillside where she appeared, she asked Juan Diego to go to the bishop to share this request. Mary thus acknowledges and respects the structure of the Church her Son left for the Apostles. She models respect for the Church’s hierarchy and their rightful role as leaders and shepherds of the Church. The church is the privileged place of encounter of humans with the divine, with the One True God.
Lay Faithful
Juan Diego was a layman, married to Maria Lucia. They were both baptized (about 1524) early after the conquest of the Spaniards in New Spain. Juan never pursued ordination, nor did he enter a religious community. He became an evangelist and catechist to his fellow indigenous people and anyone willing to listen, sharing with them the Christian faith and the story of Mary’s apparitions and her message of maternal care, and the presentation of her Son, the Son of the true, living God.
Christo-centric
The floral designs on Mary’s tunic were not merely aesthetic patterns, but rather were hieroglyphs representing mountains (in the case of the larger floral designs) or other ideas for the indigenous people of the time. The large floral designs in this case were not just any mountain or hill, but specifically Tepeyac Hill, precisely where Mary appeared to Juan Diego, where she wanted the temple to be built. The miraculous image of Mary thus became a codex for the indigenous people, recounting the story Juan himself shared with great conviction with his fellow indigenous.
Among the floral designs on Mary’s tunic, there is one small four-petalled flower on Mary ‘s tunic, right at her belly. The indigenous people referred to it as the Nauhi Ollin. The Nauhi Ollin symbolized for the indigenous people plenitude and a divine presence. Understanding that the Lady in the miraculous image was pregnant (indicated by the black ribbon around her waist), the indigenous people understood that her unborn child was divine and brought human life to completion.
Monotheistic Message
In her dialogue with Juan Diego, Mary identifies as the mother of “the true, living God, from whom life is derived”. The God of Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, would surpass and replace the various gods to whom the indigenous had offered sacrifices.
Inculturation of the Christian Message
The first principle of pedagogy is going from the known to the unknown. As Mary would introduce the indigenous people to Christ and “the true, living God,” she would need to establish foundations that would allow them to understand, and eventually accept, the Christian message. Thus, Mary appears as an indigenous woman, using indigenous hieroglyphics, speaking to Juan in Nahuatl, his native language. In these gestures, Mary acknowledges the dignity of the indigenous people, while calling for a purification of elements of the culture that were antithetical to Christianity, such as human sacrifice. Mary would use the concepts of the indigenous, such as the Nahui Ollin, to facilitate the understanding of the Christian message.
I propose Mary’s methodology for the New Evangelization. Where the friars in the New World had had limited success in bringing the indigenous people to the Christian faith 500 years ago, Mary was deeply successful. She attracted millions to the faith in relatively short order. She did so with tenderness, with appropriate inculturation of the Gospel message, bringing people into an ecclesial context for loving and compassionate encounters, giving the lowly agency and thus the dignity of being sons and daughters of God, and introducing them to the One, True God. She still attracts today. Mary, Star of the New Evangelization, help us to be missionaries of Jesus Christ today!