I love that the Church has prescribed our reading from the Book of Revelation to be our first reading on this feast day. This vision John the Apostle had seems to have been a vision of none other than Our Lady of Guadalupe. A woman that appears clothed with the sun. A woman with the moon under her feet. A woman with a crown of twelve stars. A women with child. When we begin to understand the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we understand how all of these elements from the Book of Revelation are present in the apparition. I’ll highlight just a few important aspects of the apparition.
First the cloth of the tilma itself. It is cloth made from the agave plant, which typically has a very short shelf life. Replica tilmas created for an 18th century scientific study only lasted 10 years. Somehow the tilma of Juan Diego has survived nearly 500 years and counting.
The image itself contains no brushstrokes. There is no evidence of any artistic process to create the image. Scientists and artists have been unable to duplicate it. Further, the origin of the coloration has never been determined.
The image is not on the tilma (as you might expect if it were painted on), but rather actually impregnated into the agave fiber.
Our Lady’s hair is parted in the middle and is hanging loosely, which is how the Aztec women wore their hair when they were virgin maidens.
At the same time, the dark ribbon above her womb, indicated to the Aztec people that she is pregnant.
Over the womb, there is a unique four peddle flower that marks an X indicating the importance of her child. To the Aztec people, the symbol would have indicated divinity. It would have also indicated that the prophesied fifth-age (the Age of Peace) had begun. Fitting considering our Lord and Savior is the Prince of Peace.
An interesting fact of the human cornea of the eye is that it is always reflecting the image it is observing. Microscopic photos of Our Lady’s eyes on the tilma both reflect the same image. The image in Our Lady’s eyes contains the people that were witness to the miracle, including the bishop.
Next time you see the image, notice the blue-green color of our Lady’s mantel. The Aztec people would have seen her as royalty since in their culture, only emperors were allowed to wear cloaks of that color.
The stars on the mantel are in the exact arrangement of how the actual constellations appeared in the sky before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1531.
Based on the arrangement of the stars on the mantle, we notice some amazing things regarding constellations that are not visible on the mantle. We can extrapolate from the constellations on the mantel to look for constellations that were not on the mantle. Here are some examples:
The constellation coronea borealis (which means northern crown) would appear exactly where Our Lady would wear a crown…the crown of stars from our reading. Virgo (or the virgin) would appear right where Our Lady’s heart is.
Leo the Lion appears right where Jesus (the Lion of Judah) would be in Our Lady’s womb. The brightest star of the constellation Leo is called Regulus, which means king.
Our Lady of Guadalupe stands on the moon, which was considered one of the Aztec gods. This would have been a clear sign that she conquered him.
She is also standing in front of the rising Sun, which gives the appearance that she is clothed with the Sun….she is eclipsing the Sun. The Aztec people offered human sacrifice to appease the gods, particularlty the sun-god. She is heralding in the true worship of the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist in order to eclipse their pagan sacrifice.
The apparition occurred on the exact day of the great Aztec feast that was essentially as important to the Aztec faith as Easter is to the Catholic faith.
The Lord used Our Lady of Guadalupe to defeat a culture of death with a culture of life, replacing the Aztec faith with the Catholic faith. The Lord continues to call to us through Our Lady of Guadalupe as she reminds us of enduring hope, enduring faith, and enduring love. Through her cooperation with grace, millions have been converted to Jesus Christ and the sacramental life of His Church. Today, we can renew our consecration to the Lord through her and inspire others to do the same.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, you are the highest honor of our race.
Thanks be to God!
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