Our Lady of Guadalupe
Friday, May 16, 2025
Listen. Put it into your heart, my youngest and dearest son, that the thing that frightened you, the thing that afflicted you is nothing: Do not let it disturb you…. Am I not here, I, who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need something more?
—Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, Nican Mopohua
Father Richard Rohr shares the history of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a profound image of the divine feminine, an archetype of maternal love and protection.
In 1531, exactly ten years after the Spanish conquest of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico, there was an unprecedented constellation of signs we call the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This miraculous event linked the heavens of Catholic Spain and the mythologies of the Indigenous Americans who had lost everything: their land, their freedom, and their gods. Like all ongoing revelation, it has taken us over four hundred years to begin to unravel the depth of loving mystery that was revealed in this encounter between the dear heavenly woman with brown skin (La Morenita) and Juan Diego, a poor Indigenous man.
God speaks through the “Mother of the true God through whom one lives,” whom the Spanish called María. But she is dressed in the clothes of the Indians, speaks their Nahuatl language and calls Juan Diego, one of the poorest, to “repreach” the gospel back to the Spanish colonizers who thought they had the gospel in the first place. In one generation, under this mother symbol, almost all of the native peoples of Mexico accepted Christianity. People of Indigenous and Spanish ancestry (mestizos) were born, and I might say a new mestizo Christianity unfolds. We are slowly learning that there is no other kind of Christianity. Christ takes on the face and features of all people, whoever they are and no matter their circumstances. In this case God knew that the face and features had to be feminine and compassionate. No other sign could transform both the Spanish machisimo and the matriarchal religion of the Indians at the same time. [1]
Mirabai Starr describes the ongoing legacy of Our Lady of Guadalupe:
In a world struggling against senseless violence and growing economic disparity, Our Lady of Guadalupe offers a distinctly feminine antidote to the poisons of poverty and war. Where society demands competition, Guadalupe teaches cooperation. In place of consumerism, she models compassionate service…. She is the radical, powerful, engaged Mother of the People.
Our Lady is not merely a sociopolitical symbol, however. People of all faiths call her Mother. In times of deeply personal grief, they turn to her for comfort. They turn to her for insight. They turn to her for a reminder of what matters most, what endures when all else seems to be lost, what grace may yet be available when we meet fear with love. [2]
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5 on Friday; John Chaffee
1.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
– St. Francis of Assisi, Founder of the Franciscan Order
About ten years ago, I read The Complete Works of Francis and Clare by Classics of Western Spirituality. It was fantastic and refreshing to see how grounded and thoughtful St. Francis was in his writings to the order he founded and his personal letters to friends.
St. Francis is, in my mind, a person who embodied potential. He did not seem too concerned with whether or not something was difficult or deemed “impossible.” Instead, he would get to work in his humble way and became an example for the rest of us that God can do extraordinary things with ordinary people…
2.
“Authentic spirituality is revolutionary. It does not legitimate the world, it breaks the world; it does not console the world, it shatters it. And it does not render the self content, it renders it undone.”
– Ken Wilber, American Philosopher
Ken Wilber probably saved my understanding of the faith. Rather than becoming stuck in dogmatism or rigid thinking, he helped me reframe faith and spiritual formation as a deeply incarnational task. Although he comes from a Buddhist background, he is very open and affirming of all the world’s faith traditions.
I think that Western spirituality is too individualistic (not a shocking thing to say), but it also has difficulty being universal. Rather than seeing the commonality of the world’s faith traditions, the Western approach is to use logic and dismantle other faiths while not using the same critical thinking toward itself.
My understanding of faith and spirituality is constantly growing, changing, and evolving. Right now, the only thing that matters to me is whether or not my understanding of the faith helps me to be more whole and more open to other people who are walking out their faith with integrity.
3.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
One of the things that I enjoy about parables is that they can be interpreted in various ways. They are intentionally designed to be symbolic, archetypal, and full of metaphor. As a result, each of us brings our own life experiences to these parables and can walk away with an equally valid and helpful lesson learned.
I read an interpretation of this parable that shifted everything for me.
Usually, the parable is interpreted so that you and I are the merchant looking for fine pearls. We stumble upon it and sell everything to buy the “pearl of great price.” Often, this is given a moralistic bend and is taught to encourage us to give up everything to hopefully get into the kingdom of heaven.
However…
It shifts when the merchant is instead seen as the Christ, who stumbles upon a “pearl of great price” (which is all of known reality), and gives up everything to redeem, restore, reconcile, and renew everything and have it as a glorious treasure.
How beautiful is that?
4.
“Sin is behovable (unavoidable/inevitable), but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
– Juliana of Norwich, English Mystic & Anchoress
This week, I have been revisiting The Revelations of Divine Love by Juliana of Norwich.
Her use of the word “tender” is refreshing to me. Perhaps it is just where I am right now, but it is really landing well.
The realm of Christian theology is overflowing with male perspectives, and it has not helped us. When more masculine adjectives define our view of God, other attributes are left off the table.
Tender is just one of them.
I wonder what reformations could happen in Christianity if we also highlighted using words such as “nurturing,” “protecting,” “embracing,” “welcoming,” “warm,” etc.? But that is just a side note.
When I read Julian, I also get a strong sense of the word “hope.” For her, the love of God necessitates a hope that is inextinguishable. It is a hope that never fails. It is a hope that says, “Despite all the ways that sin has fractured us as individuals and the cosmos as a whole, there is an invincible hope that God is still able and willing to ‘make all things new.'”
5.
“In my early professional years, I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?”
– Carl Rogers, American Psychologist
This quote comes back to me often.
If I am being honest, I probably do not think about it every day, but at least every 2-3 days.
It helps me to have proper boundaries.
I can’t care about another person’s problems more than they do. I cannot do their personal work for them. I cannot rush them, finally getting around to fixing the parts of their life that feel so blatant or obvious to me.
All I can be is an environment in which others feel safe enough to choose to do their own self-work when they are ready.
And, if I can be honest a second time, that’s also what I want and need. I am no different than everyone else in the world. I also need to feel safe enough before I can address my issues head-on.
Fortunately, my understanding of God has become safer and safer, too.
