Standing With Each Other

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courage, helpless, Holy Week, lament, loss, Notre Dame, Our Lady of Guadalupe, pain, pray, presence, suffering, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning as I read the psalm of the day (69) on the USCCB website I was reminded of the prayer service that we prepared in December for the feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, a prayer of lamentation for the caravan of migrants streaming toward the southern border of the United States. Bereft and sorrowful because of great loss, God’s people are searching for comfort and consolation in the present in the same manner as has been true throughout the ages. This seeking, I realize, can be an inner or outer experience – or both – and I find it again appropriately expressed in the paragraph below that was an introductory reflection for our prayer service in December.

Lament is a tool that God’s people use to navigate pain and suffering. Lament is a vital prayer for the people of God because it enables them to petition for God to help deliver them from distress, suffering and pain. Lament prayer is designed to persuade God to act on the sufferer’s behalf. Lament is often most effective as a communal activity. Reading and reflection are intended to express empathy for people suffering as a result of great loss.

Today the flames that devastated the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris have died out but the reality of the loss as seen in the photos rends our hearts. As was true at our prayer service, I believe that the spontaneous gathering of thousands in the Paris streets – inhabitants and visitors alike – who stood and wept, prayed and sang as the cathedral burned must have felt the power of community in that excruciatingly helpless moment.

On this middle day of Holy Week, I wonder if Jesus felt the lament of the few faithful ones who remained with him at the cross. Can we feel the reality of his suffering as present in the world today and enter in a true and visceral way to stand with those who deserve our presence and courage?

Guadalupe

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asylum, Aztec, Blessed Mother, distress, Juan Diego, love, migrants, Our Lady of Guadalupe, poor, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This evening the Sophia Center for Spirituality is sponsoring a prayer service in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas. (see details at http://www.thesophiacenterforspirituality.org) In this endeavor we recognize the appearances of Mary to St. Juan Diego, a poor native of a small village near Mexico City in the 16th century. Disbelief of Juan’s experience by church officials to whom Juan was directed led to amazement when he opened his cape to reveal a gift from “the Lady” – an abundance of roses. In addition was the image of Mary imprinted on the cape which has endured intact since 1531 and has been venerated by millions of people. Mary had appeared as an Aztec woman as a reminder of the need to accept all people, especially at that time, the poor indigenous population being treated cruelly by the conquering Spaniards.

On this day we gather to pray for the native peoples of Central America who still suffer and are in danger in their own countries and so turn to the United States to find safety. As I write, there are thousands of migrants at our southern border who have walked hundreds of miles seeking asylum. While immigration is a complex issue for our country at this moment in time, this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe reminds us of God’s preferential option for the poor. Mary reached out to Juan Diego in a simple gesture of love. Must we not do the same for her children in distress? Won’t you join us today in prayer?

An Extraordinary Visitor

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apparition, blessed, faith, humility, Juan Diego, miracle, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Lost and Found, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

My sister gave me a book a long time ago entitled, Our Lady of the Lost and Found. A work of fiction, the story is about a middle-aged writer who (the book jacket explains) “on a typical Monday morning, enters her living room and finds a woman standing by her fig tree. the woman is wearing a blue trench coat, white Nikes and a white shawl over her hair. She is holding a purse and a suitcase. She is the Virgin Mary…”

At first blush one might think this a comedic, irreverent story but as it turns out, it is an opportunity for the narrator “to examine life’s big questions and her own capacity for faith” and provides the same opportunity for readers, believers and non-believers alike.

On this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I am reminded of this book because it describes an apparition not dissimilar to that of Juan Diego, the “hero” of the story of the apparition of the Blessed Mother that we celebrate today. A 57-year-old widower, he lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, while walking to Mass by a hill called Tepeyac, he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. “A radiant cloud appeared, and within it stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico to say that the bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.” (www.franciscanmedia.org)

The story goes on and is clearly miraculous. My point today, however, is to note that any one of us might be chosen to receive an extraordinary message from the divine realm, whether or not we think we are worthy. The narrator of the book I mentioned first describes herself as follows. “If you passed me on the street, you wouldn’t notice me. This does not especially bother me. I have outgrown the need to draw attention to myself and have no particular desire to stand out in a crowd.” Juan Diego, although a devotional Christian, was a poor peasant who had no reason to expect such an extraordinary favor from God.

The lesson here is, I think, one of humility and of a trust in God that helps us to consider ourselves blessed, regardless of our life circumstances. We never know when we might be called to do great things for God. Perhaps we already are so called. Or perhaps, as Mother Teresa says, We may not be called to do great things, but only small things with great love. Are you listening for that call? Are you already living it unaware?

 

 

 

 

 

Roses in December

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Blessed Mother, feast day, Gospel, Juan Diego, Mexico, Native Americans, Our Lady of Guadalupe, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It’s always fascinating to learn something new when I am reflecting on the named feasts of Christianity. Today, as I read the familiar story of the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I was surprised to learn that the main character was a convert to Christianity and was given the name Juan Diego at the time of his baptism. A poor native living in a small village near Mexico City, his Indian name was Cuauhtlatohuac (“Singing Eagle”). I suppose this isn’t an earth-shattering revelation and it certainly is easier to spell and pronounce a name that means “John James” rather than his Indian name, but for me it emphasizes what is written in the reflection for today from franciscanmedia.org. Fr. Don Miller says that Mary’s appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept all people. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is not only the named patron of Mexico by the Roman Catholic Church, but also of the entirety of the Americas – both North and South. As I consider the treatment of Native Americans in my own country even to this day, I think it an appropriate moment for all of us to contemplate the conclusion of Fr. Miller’s reflection. In these days, when we hear so much about God’s preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God’s love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roses in December

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Aztec, birdsong, cloak, fidelity, holiness, message, Mexico, miracles, Native Americans, Our Lady of Guadalupe, pilgrims, roses, sign, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a celebration especially dear to those who claim their heritage as natives of Mexico and, by extension, all Native Americans and native peoples everywhere. It is the story of clearly documented appearances of the Blessed Mother, Mary, to a 57 year-old peasant who was on his way to a Saturday Mass to honor her in a small village near Mexico City on December 9, 1531. As he passed the hill of Tepeyac, Juan Diego heard beautiful music like birdsong and saw in a radiant cloud a beautiful young woman dressed as an Aztec princess. She spoke in his native language directing him to go to the bishop of Mexico to tell him she desired a chapel built in her honor on that hill. He did as he was instructed. The bishop told him to ask for a sign from the lady. Although he tried to avoid her because of his need to care for his sick uncle, she found him again on December 12th, saying that his uncle would recover, and gave him roses which he carried to the bishop in his cloak. When he opened his cloak, the roses tumbled to the floor and the bishop fell to his knees in prayer because on the cloak was imprinted the image of Our Lady just as Juan Diego had described her. This image is now well-known to pilgrims world-wide and the story reminds us that God does not discriminate in the choice of those who carry the message of love into the world. We are all called to holiness and fidelity in the everyday events of our lives. Who knows what miracles await?

Our Lady of Guadalupe

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birth, Christ, God, Juan Diego, Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, roses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Virgin Mary

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a very popular feast of the Virgin Mary. Perhaps it is the story of the apparition itself that has caught the imagination of people everywhere. It was reportedly on December 9, 1531 that a Mexican peasant named Juan Diego saw a beautiful young lady on a hill outside his village. She asked him to build a church on that spot and he recognized her as the Blessed Mother of Jesus. He went to the bishop to ask the favor and the bishop sent him back to her for a sign of authenticity. The miraculous sign given to him was a beautiful and plentiful blooming of roses of a type not found in that region – and certainly not in December. Diego gathered them and returned to the bishop where, when he opened his cape, the roses spilled out all over the ground and their impression was left on his cape. That Mary chose this humble man for this miracle is reminiscent of God’s choice of her to bring forth the Christ into the world. The pilgrimage spot at Guadalupe is the most visited one in the world today and Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the patroness of the Americas.

Today I am grateful for all those people whose trust in God is in itself miraculous and is an example to me. I am thankful as well for mothers who daily birth God into the world with their devoted love. And I rejoice daily for roses, the beauty of which overwhelms the senses and warms the heart. How magnificent a choice for this manifestation of the Virgin!