Guadalupe and the Largest Public Miracle |
When I was a senior in college, I went on a pilgrimage to the Mexican martyr sites that ended with a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The entire trip was transformative for me.
The visit to the hills and the basilica where the miraculous tilma (a peasant-type shawl made of flimsy cactus fiber) is stored was definitely the pinnacle of the trip.
In December 1531, the Mother of Jesus appeared to a poor man named Juan Diego. As he was walking in the hills, a pregnant woman appeared to him asking him to take a message to the bishop directing him to build a church there in her honor.
She identified herself as the Blessed Virgin Mary and was named Guadalupe (meaning “the crusher of serpents”). Juan hesitantly made his way to the bishop’s residence to deliver her message. The bishop demanded evidence before he embarked on such an endeavor; he did not buy Juan’s story.
Simultaneously, Diego’s uncle became gravely ill. He desired to care for him and not be consumed by this mission which may never come to........