Who is Juan Diego?
This saint was
a member of the macehualli, the
lowest and largest class in the Aztec Empire. He tells Our Lady he is "a
nobody." He walked every Saturday and Sunday many miles to church, for
Mass and religious instruction. classes. He wore a coarse-woven cactus cloak- a
tilma- made with fibers from the maguey cactus.
He met Our Lady during one of those walks. The
Blessed Virgin Mary talked to him in his language, Nahuatl. She called him "Juanito,
Juan Dieguito" , "the most humble of my sons".
Juan Diego deeply loved the Holy Eucharist, and by
special permission of the Bishop he received Holy Communion three times a week,
a highly unusual occurrence in those times.
When
the bishop asked for a sign from the Lady, she arranged roses in his Tilma.
When he unrolled his cloak to reveal the roses, the image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe was present on the Tilma. That garment, that should have lasted
only 50 years, hangs in the shrine in Mexico City today--500 years later.
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Comments of
John Paul II
Juan Diego’s
canonization, July 31, 2002
Pope
John Paul II praised Juan Diego for his simple faith and pictured him as a model
of humility for all of us.
“In this new saint you have
a marvelous example of a just and upright man, a loyal son of the Church, docile
to his Pastors, who deeply loved the Virgin and was a faithful disciple of
Jesus. May he be a model for you."
Prayer
to St Juan Diego
You
who were chosen by Our Lady of Guadalupe as an instrument to show your people
and the world that the way of Christianity is one of love, compassion,
understanding, values, sacrifices, repentance of our sins, appreciation and
respect for God's creation, and most of all one of humility and obedience. stay
with us as we struggle in this modern life not knowing most of the time where to
set our priorities. Help us use our gifts for the good of humanity and the good
of our Church, through the Heart of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Heart of
Jesus. Amen.
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