CRETE (SNR) – Fifth-graders of St. James School in Crete present a play each year for the school and parish, re-enacting the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
This year they presented it after Mass Friday, Dec. 10.
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico Dec. 9, 10 and 12 in 1531. The apparitions took place at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City.
When Mary appeared to Juan Diego the first time, she identified herself as “the ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live” and asked that a church be built on the site. She instructed Juan Diego to take her request to the bishop, which he did, but the bishop asked for a sign.
St. Juan Diego returned to the hill and waited for the woman to return. When she did, he made the bishop’s request but also offered that she might find a more suitable messenger since he felt he had failed. Our Lady instructed him to go to the bishop again and repeat her message.
The second time St. Juan Diego went to the bishop, the ordinary listened to more of the humble man’s tale, but again asked for a sign.
At the third apparition, Mary said to Juan: “Listen and understand, my humblest son. There is nothing to frighten and distress you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and let nothing upset you. Is it not I, your Mother, who is here? Are you not under my protection? Are you not in my care? …Go up to the hilltop, my son, where you will find flowers of various kinds. Cut them, and bring them to me” (as recorded in the “Nican Mopohua,” a 16th century document written in the native Nahuatl language).
She then directed St. Juan Diego to gather roses from the hill – roses not native to the region or in season. The flowers gathered in Juan’s tilma, or cloak, were only part of the sign. The greater sign was visible when Juan opened his tilma to show the bishop the flowers, and everyone present was stunned by the miraculous image of the Mother of God on the fabric.
The image of herself was imprinted miraculously on the native’s tilma, a poor quality cactus cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay nearly 500 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin. The tilma has also withstood disaster, too: an acid spill and even a bombing.
Sister Mary Faustina, teacher at St. James School, said the result of Mary’s visitation to Mexico was renewed faith and hope for an oppressed people, an end to bloody human sacrifice by the Aztecs, and the conversion to Catholicism of 10 million natives in the next 10 years.
The tilma can still be viewed today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Each year, more than 12 million pilgrims visit the basilica, making it Christianity’s most visited sanctuary.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, observed Dec. 12, has been celebrated for centuries. St. Juan Diego, the first Catholic saint indigenous to the Americas, was beatified in 1980 and canonized in 2002. His feast day is Dec. 9.
The play held at St. James each year to share the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe concludes with this reflection, Sister Mary Faustina said: “Like St. Juan Diego, we are Mary’s children. She watches over and protects us. Mary is the patroness of all unborn children. Let us remember that all unborn children are precious, even though we cannot see them or know their names. Let us pray together that Mary will protect all unborn babies.”
