From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 12th - Our Lady of Guadalupe   
      
   These are some of the dialogues between Our Lady and Juan Diego, taken from   
   written narrations inspired by the account of Indian scholar Antonio   
   Valeriano   
   around the middle of the 16th century.   
      
   In the first apparition, Our Lady addressed Juan Diego, speaking in the   
   Mexican   
   idiom: "Juanito, my son, the humblest of my children, where are you going?"   
      
   "Noble lady, I go to the church in Tlatelolco to listen to such divine   
   matters   
   as our priests teach us," he replied.   
      
   She said, "Know for certain, dearest of my sons, that I am the perfect and   
   ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, the Lord of all things and Master   
   of   
   Heaven and Earth. I ardently desire a temple to be built here, where I will   
   show   
   and offer all my love, compassion, help, and protection to the people and   
   those   
   who look for me. I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all who live in   
   this   
   land and of all mankind. I will hear the weeping and sorrows of those who   
   love   
   me, cry to me, and have confidence in me, and I will give them consolation   
   and   
   relief.   
      
   "Therefore, so that my designs might be fulfilled, go to the house of the   
   Bishop   
   of Mexico City and tell him that I sent you, and that it is my desire to   
   have a   
   temple built in this place. Tell him all that you have seen and heard. Be   
   assured that I shall be grateful and will reward you for diligently carrying   
   out   
   what I have asked of you."   
      
   Juan Diego bowed low and said, "My holy one, my Lady, I will go now and do   
   all   
   that you ask of me. Thy humble servant bids thee farewell."   
      
   The second apparition: That same afternoon Juan Diego returned to the   
   hilltop   
   from the Bishop's palace where he had delivered the message. The Holy Virgin   
   was   
   waiting for him. He told her:   
      
   "Noble lady and most loved Mistress, I did what you commanded. Even though   
   it   
   was difficult to be admitted to speak with the Bishop, I saw His Excellency   
   and   
   communicated to him your message. He received me kindly and listened with   
   attention. But when he answered me, it seemed as if he did not believe me. .   
      
   "So I beg you, noble Lady, entrust this message to someone of importance,   
   someone well-known and respected, so that they might believe in him. For I   
   am a   
   nobody, a piece of straw, a lowly peasant, and you, my Lady, have sent me to   
   a   
   place where I have no standing. Forgive me if my answer has caused you grief   
   or   
   displeasure, my Lady and my Mistress."   
      
   The third apparition: The Holy Virgin insisted that she wanted Juan Diego to   
   give her message to the Bishop. He did so, and this time the Indian returned   
   to   
   Our Lady saying that the Bishop had asked for a sign to prove that what he   
   said   
   was true.   
      
   Our Lady told him: "Very well, my dear little one, return here tomorrow and   
   you   
   will take to the Bishop the sign he has requested. With this he will believe   
   you   
   and no longer doubt you or be suspicious of you. Know, my beloved little   
   one,   
   that I will reward your solicitude, effort and fatigue spent on my behalf.   
   Go   
   now. I will await you here tomorrow."   
      
   The fourth apparition: The next day, instead of going to the hilltop, Juan   
   Diego   
   took a different route that bypassed it to find a priest for his uncle who   
   was   
   gravely ill. Juan Diego was certain that Our Lady would not see him.   
      
   But she appeared to him along the road he had taken and asked him: "What is   
   this, my little son? Where are you going?"   
      
   Juan Diego answered: "My loved Lady, God keep you! How are you this morning?   
   Is   
   your health good, my dearest Lady? It will grieve you to hear what I have to   
   say. My uncle, your poor servant, is sick. He has taken the plague and is   
   near   
   death. I am hurrying to your house in Mexico City to call a priest to hear   
   his   
   confession and give him the last rites. When I have done this, I will return   
   here immediately so I may deliver your message. Forgive me, I beg you, my   
   Lady,   
   be patient with me for now. I will not deceive you and tomorrow I will come   
   in   
   all haste."   
      
   She answered: "Listen to what I am going to tell you, my son, and let not   
   your   
   heart be disturbed. Do not fear that plague or any other sickness or   
   anguish. Am   
   I not here, I, who am your mother? Are you not under my protection and care?   
   Am   
   I not your life and health? Are you not in the folds of my mantle and the   
   embrace of my arms? What else do you need? Do not be grieved or disturbed by   
   anything."   
      
   She then told him that he should not worry about the sickness of his uncle,   
   for   
   he would not die at this k   
      
   Calling herself Holy Mary of Guadalupe, she told Juan Diego to go up the   
   nearby   
   hilltop where he would find flowers aplenty, even though it was winter. He   
   found   
   Castilian roses and gathered many and placed them in his tilma, a long cloak   
   used by Mexican Indians. He came back to the Virgin, who rearranged them and   
   commanded him to go to the Bishop without opening it until he was in the   
   Prelate's presence.   
   After a long wait and much difficulty getting past the servants of the   
   palace,   
   Juan Diego finally stood before the Bishop. He unfolded his tilma, and the   
   roses   
   fell out. The Bishop and his attendants fell on his knees before him, for a   
   life-size figure of the Holy Virgin was printed on the poor tilma of Juan   
   Diego.   
   It was December 12, 1531.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   There are many aspects of these apparitions that have often been the subject   
   of   
   commentaries: that Our Lady chooses simple and pure souls to speak to   
   mankind,   
   that she is pleased to appear to humble peasants, that she challenges the   
   human   
   respect of her emissaries, etc. I think that these are good points, but they   
   have already been stressed.   
      
   An aspect that receives less attention that I believe is very interesting is   
   the   
   attitude of the Indian Juan Diego before Our Lady and the language he used   
   to   
   address her. His manner and language have an extraordinary tonus that   
   corresponds to Our Lady's attitude toward him from the beginning of the   
   apparition. Our Lady treated him as a dearly loved son, with an   
   extraordinary   
   kindness, as if he were a child.   
      
   There is a marvelous contrast we can see in the general conduct of Our Lady.   
   On   
   one hand, there is the love she has for great souls, the heroic souls who   
   accomplish great things in the lives of peoples and civilizations; on the   
   other   
   hand there is the love she has for small, simple souls entirely turned   
   toward   
   her and forgetful of their own virtue. It is marvelous to see how she speaks   
   to   
   these small souls with love and a particularly touching tenderness.   
      
   The attitude of Juan Diego is also interesting. He is a simple man, without   
   any   
   education, but in his simplicity he addresses Our Lady as a truly courteous   
   man.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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