The story:
The opening of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religous preachers desiring to convert the native populations to the Christian faith. One of the converts was a poor Aztec indian named Juan Diego. On one of his trips to the chapel, Juan was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico. Near Tepayac Hill he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself:It gets better from there. For one of the best books out there on Our Lady of Guadalupe, see here. One of the authors, Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, had this to say in another venue:
"My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother's Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard..."
...I...continue to believe that in the historical event of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we have a blueprint for our own work in the new evangelization.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Empress of the Americas. She calls all of us to unity within the Gospel message of her son.
Mindful of our important principle of unity, the Knights of Columbus has been working to unite people of faith throughout our hemisphere, since 1882 in the United States, since 1897 in Canada, since 1905 in Mexico and since 1909 in Cuba. An organization that is thoroughly “American” in the broadest sense, the Knights of Columbus have sought to strengthen the faith of all those who live in the Americas.
It is the rosary, a prayer to Our Lady that we will say together this evening, that is the cornerstone of our prayer as Knights of Columbus. Each new member of the Knights is given a rosary and is encouraged to say the rosary with his family. All of us gathered here today are children of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and we should view our time together as time with our spiritual family, learning about the mother we all share.
At our Congress earlier this week we heard from some of the most learned and well-respected experts on the history, science and message of Our Lady of Guadalupe...But none of this learning, none of these words will matter unless we take her message to heart. We must see the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, not as something distant, but as a present reality in our lives, a reality that can transform our lives...
No comments:
Post a Comment