(108) Our 2012 Family Newsletter

            We hope that all of you are enjoying the Christmas season.  May it all bring us closer to Christ and His mother.  May the Christ child bless you abundantly in the coming new year.  I was on time with our Christmas greeting and here’s our annual newsletter for 2012.  It will probably be a little long; so I put in subtitles to make it easier to scan and read only what interests you.  I tried to shorten it by putting in links to my blogs to whatever you might be interested in for greater detail for future reading if time permits.  I would suggest that you write an annual family newsletter or individual one if single because a collection of them on disk or hard copy makes for a great family history for posterity after we’re gone.  If you do it; I’ll read it.  Promise!  I’d be most interested.

            Naomi and I went on the March for Life in Washington January 22-23 as we did in and 2010 with a busload of people from our parish and two others of southeastern Ohio along with a few non-Catholics.  The Catholic Women’s Club and a second collection helped to underwrite it.  It’s a great experience. Our entire family went in 2008.  For a detailed account of it, click on http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2012/01/southeastern-ohio-residents-march-for.html. On the bus I had a long dialogue with a former witch and a Protestant minister.  She seemed to be so sympathetic to the Church and observed how misunderstood Catholics are.  Later she followed her daughter into the Catholic Church.  An even greater experience would be going with a group to pray at an abortion clinic.   

       Abby Johnson, a former director of a Planned Parenthood Abortion Mill (http://www.abbyjohnson.org/) and author of the book, “Unplanned”,  repeated and emphasized in a televised talk that the single most effective thing that one can do for the Pro-life cause is to simply pray silently and peacefully in front of an abortion clinic.   The love showed despite some risk had a profound effect upon her.  Sidewalk counseling is only effective if one is well trained.

            John-Paul, Our First College Graduate. We did a lot of traveling in 2012.  First was our trek by our salvage ’04 Chevy Cavalier (bought at 120,000 miles and now at 205,000) to Ave Maria University near Naples (see http://www.avemaria.edu/ for a virtual tour), Florida for John-Paul’s graduation.  However, Naomi missed it because of the prom and Stephanie was in the middle of final exams.  Stephanie, however, visited him for Holy Week.  John-Paul graduated Magna Cum Laude as a member of the University’s eighth graduation class with a demanding double major in Math and Economics with an emphasis on a Catholic liberal arts education.  Having taken four years of college courses at the University of Rio Grande as a high school student, he was able to transfer many courses that facilitated a double major.  He was also named the Outstanding Economics Student, thus utilizing his full tuition scholarship to the utmost.

      

Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, was the commencement speaker, a friend of Ave Maria University President H. James Towey (see http://www.avemaria.edu/AboutAveMaria/PresidentsPage.aspx).  He was one of George W. Bush’s senior advisers and member of his senior staff who attended Cabinet meetings as Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from 2002 to 2006.  He was also Blessed Mother Theresa’s counsel in the U.S. for 12 years.  Towey is determined to keep Ave Maria University an authentic Catholic Christ centered campus despite rapid growth with aspirations to be a top academic institution as Notre Dame.  One faculty member says this is very doable because the faculty is behind the concept as opposed to St. Vincent College where he was previously president.  Michael Novak, one of their professors, was decorated by the President of Poland and gave a lecture on social justice at the Presidential Palace (see http://www.avemaria.edu/NewsEvents/News/tabid/92/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/139/Ave-Maria-University-Professor-Decorated-by-President-of-the-Republic-of-Poland.aspx.  On our way back we stopped at St. Augustine, Florida which has a definite Spanish colonial flavor and a well preserved colonial fort.  It’s really worth the stop (see http://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/?gclid=CLnKsuno37QCFUeRPAod63sARQ).

Celebrating the 60^th Wedding Anniversary of cousin Martha and Joe Loya at the Byzantine Cathedral in Parma was a highlight for the extended family.  Deacon Greg Loya and his six sons as altar boys all participated in the Mass.  They were married in St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in East Pittsburgh in May 1952.  Their wedding reception featured a Hungarian gypsy band.  Fred (bless his soul) was a baby and John was a cute ten year old runt who managed to get in on every wedding picture.  Martha and Joe had more than their share of crosses over the years including the tragic death of their only daughter, but stuck it out with faith and courage.  They were rewarded with the joy of having eight grandchildren and one of their four sons being a dedicated priest (Fr. Tom) and another a deacon (Greg).

Another highlight was the 50^th Wedding Anniversary of Betty and Bob Foley (Martha’s brother).  Congratulations!  May they have many more anniversaries together.  May we all do as well.  I just got out of the Army in time to attend their wedding in Philadelphia in October 1962. 

Finding His First Job. John-Paul found www.catholicjobs.com to be a great starting point after graduation.  We traveled to Stafford, Virginia at the beginning of June for an interview at a parish Catholic middle school and then to Benedictine Academy, a Catholic military high school in Richmond, a long shot for a guy with no teaching experience or education courses.  John-Paul is a natural teacher, having taught his four year old sister how to read and write while in the first grade, even writing lesson plans.  Before returning, we stayed one day with Stephanie’s classmate, Abby Quinan in Manassas, Virginia, the site of a major Civil War battle for a critical railroad junction.  We had a great time with the Quinan family and doing some sightseeing in town.  Her mother is amazing in home schooling I believe five children and working as a nurse.

When we returned, John-Paul found a newly posted ad for Ville de Marie Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona just outside of Phoenix.  All of a sudden, everything fell into place as often happens when it’s the Lord’s will.  The Headmaster, Mr. J. Hickle , called John-Paul an hour or so after he sent out his e-mail resume.  The next day JP was invited for an interview and given an offer before returning.  So he was able to finish his Accounting course at the University of Rio Grande and play softball in the Church Softball League while preparing to teach Math, Physical Science, Biology, and gym.

Catholic Familyland. At the beginning of July our family helped out at Catholic Familyland (see www.familyland.org) just outside of Steubenville. Prior to that we had to bet fingerprinted and go through an FBI background check by diocesan regulations.  Now they’re going from one extreme to the other.  After a home visit, Stephanie worked for the summer at Thomas Aquinas College in the cafeteria.  We did such tasks as helping to supervise the 500 foot water slide, help out in maintenance and setup for events, bus tables, etc.  It’s great as a family retreat.  About 100 families attended the six days of pray and play. Each had their own cabin with room for 1 family of eleven.  There’s something for all members of the family.  

All attend Mass in the morning with enthusiasm and have religious talks and activities.  The afternoons are filled with water slides, swimming, softball, soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball, and even chess with tournaments.  Joseph won the chess tournament and John-Paul had his best games ever in the basketball tournament which his team won.  After a catered supper, there’s a rosary & marshmallows bonfire night, an amateur show, a square dance, family banner night, etc.  Later in the evening, the teens have a couple of hours of fun and faith formation with a night of Eucharistic Adoration.  Several confessors hear confessions every afternoon, each under the shade of a tree.  For more detail and information, see www.familyland.com and a future blog of mine at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com.  Their  www.FamilyCatechism.com has the complete Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Then there's a weekly guide to teach the faith at home, www.FamilyCatechesis.com because the primary educators in the Faith are the parents.  In addition, www.familylandtv.com provides a wide selection of television programs to watch at your convenience instead of being tied down to a particular time.

Westward Ho!  At the beginning of August, we helped John-Paul buy a salvage 2010 Honda Civic and decided to help him to drive it to Phoenix as well as assist him in finding an apartment and moving in.  The trip was so long (almost three days) that I thought at times we were in a covered wagon.  Finally, we made the descent form a high plateau of the Rocky Mountain chain.  It’s almost providential that our good friends, Richard & Celina Koczwara and their beautiful family live in Mesa, another suburb of Phoenix and operates an 11 room motel (see http://www.desertrosemotelaz.com/).  We had a wonderful stay with them and thoroughly enjoyed their traditional Polish hospitality for almost a week while looking for an apartment with John-Paul.  This city in the middle of the desert is beautiful, especially during winter, but it was an oven when we were there……115 F…….still more comfortable than the muggy 90 F in the east.  One afternoon we had a fascinating visit to the Goldfield 1890s vintage ghost town a half hour away (see http://www.goldfieldghosttown.com/).

John-Paul’s school, Ville de Maria Academy (see http://www.villedemarieacademy.org/), a Catholic college prep school with only about 75 students, has only a handful of students in each class, great for individual attention in its classical liberal arts curriculum.  Its small faculty is very dedicated to make the school Christ centered with the faith integrated into all of its courses while still being very good academically.  We’re very happy that John-Paul has a key role in this very noble enterprise that has so much potential.  Next year it will occupy the closed St. Daniel School.  With more space in a parish environment, it hopes to expand and be better able to compete with the excellent charter schools in the area. 

Visiting Stephanie at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California.  Finally, we drove the car across the desert with its occasional almost blinding sandstorms into California to visit Stephanie at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula just outside of northwest Los Angeles.  The scenery there is breathtaking, being nestled in a bowl surrounded by mountains with a newly constructed church standing out.  That together with the landscaping, ponds, gardens, & an orange grove plus Spanish colonial type architecture makes it one of the most beautiful campuses in the world.  The functioning pendulum and statues of great scholars further gives a great learning atmosphere.  Click on http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/ for a slide show on its home page.  Naomi was already there for a two week summer great books program for high school seniors. 

 

The beautiful church recently constructed dominates the campus.  Much of any Mass there is in Latin.  We attended one Liturgy during the week in the old Tridentine Mass completely in Latin.  I thought I was in a time capsule going back to the 1950s as a kid.  They have a staff of full time priests to attend to the spiritual development of the students as well.  Most of the students attend daily Mass and each dorm has prayer to end the day. 

     

Being ranked among America’s Top Colleges by the U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and the Princeton Review, Thomas Aquinas College is probably the best Catholic liberal arts college in the country (See http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/about/press-releases).  The entire very demanding standard curriculum for all graduates is based upon reading the great books in the original……Aristotle, Homer, Plato, Augustine, Aquinas with some readings in the original Latin, Shakespeare, Euclid with the same proofs & propositions, Einstein, etc.  Reading and discussing these pioneering works puts the student in the shoes of the pioneer intellectual who encountered obstacles, road blocks, and contradictions.   The student goes through the same discovering and reasoning processes as the original scholars to obtain insights and arrive at the truth in the advancement of knowledge throughout history…….Theology, Philosophy, Mathematics, and the empirical sciences with labs.  

The focus in this Christ centered institution is upon searching for the true, the good, and the beautiful in God’s creation.  The small classes (less than 20 students) with a total enrollment of 358 are based upon the Socratic Method (mainly discussion) with an emphasis upon rhetoric and developing the mind.  Classroom discussion even spills over into the cafeteria after class. 

    

Stephanie will have a general liberal arts degree quite equivalent to majors in Philosophy and Theology.  Many of their graduates teach and do parish work.  Others go on to graduate school to pursue a variety of specialties……law, business, medicine, education, etc.  Tragically, one of Stephanie’s friends there, Andrew Kent Moore ended up as a martyr for the pro-life cause in the Walk Across America.  You can read the details on my blog at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html.  With each home visit, we see in Stephanie marked intellectual and spiritual growth.  She’s our scholar, a perfect fit for Thomas Aquinas College and she loves it.  In addition to the academic, Stephanie works 13 hours a week since they don’t give academic scholarships as such; participates in social functions; and takes part in different intramural sports.  Her high school varsity experience makes her a standout in basketball.

Back to Kent State.  After flying back to Columbus minus John-Paul and Stephanie, it was back to school for Naomi and Joseph.  In September Jaga and I attended the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the Kent State University Catholic Newman Center.  Needless to say, the campus looked so different and it was great seeing old friends, especially Janet and Bob Stadulis who were wonderful to us, inviting us for Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving.  I wrote about it and the crucial importance of Newman Center or Club on the secular campus in my blog at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-newman-clubcenter-catholic-presence.html.

   

The visit of the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue in October and later the visit of the Pilgim Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December (sponsored by the Knights of Columbus) were among the highlights of our parish devotions.  Our pastor combined it with Eucharistic Adoration for 24 hours each time.  It was such a privilege to be involved in its promotion.  To our great surprise, our local newspaper not only published much of my article on the first visit, but also published a photo of the statue in color on the front page.  For greater detail including fascinating facts about Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Guadalupe, see my blogs #95-96 for the former and #104-106 for the latter at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com.

   

Naomi is a senior, her fourth year in the PSO program at the University of Rio Grande where she simultaneously receives high school and college credits for each course she takes there.  It’s still seven straight semesters of all A’s (one A-).  She continues on the Swimming Team for her base high school, Gallia Academy and hopes to make the district championship meet in her specialties of breast stroke and the butterfly.  Naomi works as a cashier nine hours a week at the El Toril Mexican Restaurant in town and three hours a week with the local Municipal Court. 

       

In November we made a campus visit to Franciscan University of Steubenville, a very Christ centered Catholic university.  This is one of the few Catholic Colleges that has remained very faithful to their original missions.  John Paul’s Ave Maria University and Stephanie’s Thomas Aquinas College are of the same mold.  Naomi plans to get a Bachelor Degree in Nursing and then go to graduate school to become a midwife.  We ran into one of the leaders of the Diocesan Youth Rally who is on the swimming team.  So she arranged to meet the Swimming coach and observe one of their practices.  Naomi is only a few seconds within the times of their best swimmers.  She fit right in and got a partial scholarship to boot.

Joseph is a sophomore, his first year in the same PSO program as Naomi at the University of Rio Grande.  The baby of the family is already the tallest of all of us.  He plays basketball and tennis in the spring for Gallia Academy.  He’s also one of the top members of his high school’s Quiz Bowl team.  He is an avid reader, subscribing to the Weekly Standard and regularly reads the National Review online.

Jaga continues as a full time mother since we have two kids still in the nest and the other two come home during the Christmas and summer breaks.  Our family is blessed.  That frees her to volunteer as a nurse in the Free Clinic we helped to found, to work in a soup kitchen, to be a member of the Catholic Women’s Club, and other activities as daily Mass and reading the Divine Office each day.  Because Jaga is a stay at home Mom, I can get involved in considerable volunteer work. 

Paul continues as a Eucharistic Minister to the sick.  I have learned the value of suffering in becoming closer to God and have the opportunity to unite one’s cross with the Lord’s cross, offering it all up as a dynamic prayer for the Church, the missions, for our country, and our loved ones.  In this way the sick person can be more valuable than the President!  The Knights of Columbus is also a great opportunity for fellowship and service.  I continue on the Steering Committee of the Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal (see our Conference Blog by clicking on www.diosteubmen.org).  Fr. Tom Loya has been one of our speakers and has four articles on that blog. I’m also vice-president of our free clinic (see Blogs #90 & 91 of http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com. 

 

Jaga and I are advisers to the Catholic Newman Club of the University of Rio Grande where I am Professor Emeritus and a member of the Chaplaincy Board.  With what time is left, I like to write for the Gallipolis Daily Tribune and my blog at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com.  Take a look at the titles; I think that you’ll like at least some of them, especially Blog #102 on a detailed analysis of the unsustainability of the National Debt.  Being busier than ever in retirement is a lot better than becoming a couch potato and wither away.  Retirement is such an opportunity to serve on one’s own terms and pace while keeping sharp mentally and intellectually and utilizing past experience and skills acquired over the years for the benefit of God’s people.  On the fun side, I follow the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers closely along with Rio Grande sports.  To keep in shape I try to take daily half hour walks and a weekly mile swim.  Changing strokes and keeping a good rhythm makes it rather easy. 

    

 So 2012 took us from a beach on the Atlantic Ocean at St Augustine to another beach on the Pacific Ocean at Ventura as we continue to carry on with our family, aspiring to grow spiritually and doing our part for the Church and the Community.  When you die, may the world be just a little bit better because of you.  God bless. 

(105) Our Lady of Guadalupe (II): Mary's Message to us in the Image

AMDG

           Only eight weeks after receiving the statue of the International Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima, St. Louis Church Gallipolis-Ohio is especially privileged and blessed to receive the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the date that coincides with her great feast day on December 12.  The Knights of Columbus is sending it to parishes all over the U.S. for a day or two over the course of a year in its Marian Prayer Program as part of the New Evangelization.  We will receive the large image the evening of Tuesday December 11 with benediction and rosary.  The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration through the night into her great feast with Mass in the evening……some 24 hours.  In this Year of Faith, Mary will continue her great mission of nurturing our faith and bringing us closer to her son as she has done over the centuries.  As part of the spiritual preparation for Christmas, individuals and parish groups are invited to sign up for an hour of adoration as our Latin American families will do from 9-10 am on Wednesday. 

NUESTRA SENORA DE GUADALUPE (II):  MARY'S MESSAGE TO US IN THE IMAGE 

            During the ten years after the conquest of Mexico in 1521, evangelization of the Indians was painfully slow.  Only about 30,000, a small fraction or 0.4% converted to the faith.  St. Juan Diego was one of the few.  The Indians resented their treatment by the Spanish conquerors.  Strife and unrest increased.  Bishop Juan de Zumárraga (see his portrait below), a Franciscan who fought for better treatment of the Indians, feared a full scale revolta blood bath.  He turned to Mary for help, praying to Our Lady for reconciliation and peace.   It is believed that he asked to receive roses native to his homeland of Castile Spain as a sign that his prayer would be answered.  His prayer was answered through St. Juan Diego in spectacular fashion on December 12, 1531 with the miraculous image of her that she placed on his tilma beneath his cargo of Castilian roses as he presented them to the Bishop.

                                                                                                                         

                                               

  The Indians could immediately relate to this icon of Mary, which was full of symbols they could easily understand.  Mother Mary adapted to the Aztec culture by appearing in the dress of an Aztec princess.  She seemed to be one of them and their mother too.  Suddenly, they could relate to the Church her son founded.  The Spanish missionaries did not have to go out and proselytize; the Indians eagerly sought them out.  In the short span of seven years the message of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe brought 8,000,000 Mexican Indians to the fold within seven years and thus firmly established the faith in our hemisphere, roughly making up for the losses to the Protestant Reformation.  Note in reading this article, how Mary ingeniously adapts her message to the Indian culture.  Clearly Mary, the patroness of the missions, is the greatest evangelizer of all time. Mother, in this Year of Faith, pray that we become more firm with a deeper faith and to spread it in every way we can.  As you did in the 16^th Century, please reach fallen away Catholics, lukewarm Catholics, and non-Catholics in the New Evangelization while nurturing our faith.

Juan de Zumárraga, the first Archbishop of Mexico City  

            The question then arises: Exactly what does the image convey through its many symbols to millions of Indians having the same gods, but 22 different languages?

            It is interesting to note a parallel between the image and Indian customs and culture.  The Aztecs wrote their histories by painting on cloth and in their codices (hieroglyphics) used drawings and symbols instead of letters.  The figure of Nuestra Señora is shown blotting out the sun which they adored.  Only its rays are visible.  Thus the human figure of the Mother of God is shown as greater than the sun which therefore could not be God.

Another important deity was Quetzalcoatl, the comet or sky serpent.  According to Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, there actually was a great comet which passed close to Earth about 4,000 years ago and caused great destruction.  Interesting is that Halley's Comet passed close to earth at the time of Mary's appearance.   For centuries the Indians would sacrifice hundreds, even thousands of prisoners and babies at their festivals to appease the Sky Serpent, reminiscent of the dragon that appeared in the sky in Revelations 12:3 of the Bible.  Without realizing it, what they had probably amounted to a form of satanic worship.   

            Evil certainly had considerable control of their religion and culture, much of the latter advanced in some ways for the times and beautiful, yet in other ways diabolical.  The Aztecs at the time would wage war with their neighbors for the express purpose of obtaining prisoners for their human sacrifices…..as many as 50,000 per year…….a Culture of Death.  Mary continued the work of her Son, who saved the Indians from the darkness.  Today in essence “modern” mothers sacrifice their unborn babies to the idols of convenience and pleasure in abortion and euthanasia……another Culture of Death in some ways worse.  Lord, save our world from the darkness that engulfs us today.

            The image of Mary convinced the Indians that they would no longer have to make human sacrifices to appease it.  The sky serpent or moon god is represented as a crescent moon charred by the flames of hell.  The moon also symbolized darkness.  In addition Santa María (Holy Mary or Saint Mary) is shown triumphantly standing upon the charred crescent moon in the same manner as she is depicted crushing the same serpent over 300 years later as the Immaculate Conception on the Miraculous Medal which she gave to St. Catherine Labouré in her Paris convent in 1830 to distribute.  Both remind us of Genesis 4:15……”I will put enmity between you and the woman” and Revelations 12:1…….”A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”  All of this shows us that her son, the light of the world, triumphed over darkness and evil.  

“Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”

         Today tourists can visit the Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Mexico City and the two large pyramids to the Sun (246 ft. in contrast to the Great Pyramid of Egypt at 481 ft.) and the Moon (140 ft.) outside of the city.  The Pyramid of the Moon is shown below.  The Aztecs probably made human sacrifices there as did their predecessors in the 6^th Century.  Our Lady of Guadalupe put a stop to human sacrifices in Mexico.  Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn, please do the same with the human sacrifice of babies through abortion in today’s world.

Pyramid of the Moon as Seen From the Pyramid of the Sun

            The mantle of Nuestra Señora is blue green, which was the Indian color symbolizing royalty as fit for the Queen of Heaven and Earth.  Covering it with stars indicates that she came from heaven and that the celestial bodies which they adored were not gods, but instead were created to serve His creatures.  Another interesting fact may be added about the 130 foot Tepeyac Hill on which la Santísima (Most Holy) Virgin appeared.  Prior to the arrival of Hernán Cortés, the conquistador, this region was dedicated to the worship of the goddess, Teotenantzen which means Mother of God.

            After studying her figure, the Indians were sure that she had been an inhabitant of earth at one time.  Having made herself visible to St. Juan Diego proved that the human soul is immortal.  Her image also taught them that Maria Santísima is not a goddess.  While supported by an angel, her hands are folded in supplication-- indicating that she is interceding for us at the throne of the true invisible God.  Her eyes are also cast downward, showing humility and compassion as our mother and God’s messenger. Also, in Indian iconography, a god looked straight ahead with wide open eyes.

            On her neck a small golden brooch with a black cross identifies Our Lady with the cross which the Indians had seen on the banners of the troops of Hernán Cortés.  It convinced them that they should embrace the religion of their conquerors and follow the Christ who is symbolized by that cross and thus is greater than Mary.  Thus in great numbers they eagerly sought the missionaries in order to learn about the meaning of this cross.  These Indians were astounded to hear that the Son of God had offered Himself as human sacrifice for their salvation especially since they for years had offered slaves, prisoners of war, and babies as human sacrifices to their pagan god.  See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2147622/posts.

            Furthermore, Mary is wearing a black sash or bow (symbol of new life) around her waist, indicating to the Indians that she is pregnant, thus making her feast day in Advent a beautiful part of reliving the joyful expectation of the long promised Messiah at Christmas.  Therefore Our Lady of Guadalupe is also the Patroness of the Unborn. Furthermore, the four pedal flower over her slightly enlarged womb symbolizes life.  Her blouse has a very high neck line, perhaps a message to women of today regarding modest dress, notwithstanding that the culture today is so different from any culture in history. 

                                  

In 1921 a terrorist hid a stick of dynamite in a bouquet of flowers and placed it within three feet of the image.  Marble blocks were torn out of the altar; every window was broken; and a brass crucifix now on display in the shrine as shown above was badly deformed.  In addition a painting of St. James behind the image was destroyed.  Yet not even a crack appeared in the glass covering as the image was left completely intact.  Evil again tried to prevail, but failed.  God is in control.  Through all of this the image has survived and is beautifully preserved over the main altar almost as it actually was nearly a century before the Mayflower touched our coast.  Can it be then, that this divine work of art also has a message and a significance particularly applicable to our modern but chaotic times?

            Scientific Scrutiny. As with the Shroud of Turin, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been subjected to scientific examination.  Investigations by artists and scientists show that no one of this world could have painted such a work.  The cloth had never been prepared for painting; even gold adheres to the rough cloth with no fixative.  A painting done by an artist on the rough fibers would be very uneven.  The fibers are not penetrated; and not even a brush mark could be found.  In his study of thousands of paintings throughout the world, Professor Francisco Camps Riberia and others could find no technique or process that approached the image.  Unusual is the fact that the icon seems larger and the colors even more vibrant at a distance.

            The tilma of St. Juan Diego was hand woven from the fibers of the maguey cactus plant, which has a lifespan of only twenty years.  Since the material is rough, very absorbent, and has a large seam running through the middle; it is most unsuitable for painting.  Through the years it has been exposed to a 50% nitric acid solution that spilled on it, thousands of people touching it, and the smoke of countless candles.  Yet the colors have a bright freshness instead of the expected dull and dark colors so common to other paintings of the period.  Turquoise paints in particular fade very easily.  The sun burst does have some fading to indicate that it will pass away.  Mysteriously, the image has a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the normal body temperature,  

In 1936, Fritz Hahn, a professor in Mexico City, took two fibers from the tilma……one red, the other yellow, and then brought them to Germany for a close examination. There, Dr. Richard Kuhn, Nobel Prize Winner and director of the Department of Chemistry of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, came to the conclusion that the fibers in question contained no known artificial coloring — neither mineral, vegetal, animal, nor synthetic.  Attempts to duplicate the image on the same type of cloth worn by Juan Diego failed.  More recently a NASA scientist and Dr. Philip C. Callahan, a biophysicist confirmed these findings with infrared analysis.  Nor does the color penetrate the fibers.  There is no over-varnish or under-drawing (i.e., under-sketch) as standard in painting.  The stars on Mary’s mantle mirror exactly the positions of the visible constellations before dawn on December 12, 1531, looking from many light years away, as if from heaven.  The flowers on her inner garment follow a contour map of central Mexico, further indicating her queenship and the encounter between and earth.  See http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/williamsaunders/straightanswers/101.asp.              

            This image is the only authentic portrait of Our Lady.  It corresponds very well to the only known detailed description of Mary's features made in 1821.  This is described in the book, “The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich”.  A painting later discovered in the catacombs and a portrait of her said to be painted by St. Luke also resemble the image.  The height of the Virgin in the image measures four feet eight inches which was probably her actual height.  Her features are not really those of an Indian maiden and while her color is slightly tan, it is not dark……a blend of the Hebrew, the European, and the Indian.  She is Mother of all.   

            A Most Affectionate Motherly Message to Each One of Us.  Let us close by quoting Nuestra Señora's own words which have particular application to our lives, our special missions from God, and work with its not infrequent frustrations.  Here St. Juan Diego, as we so often do, is so involved in the worries of this life and caring for his sick uncle that he forgets to keep his appointment with Nuestra Señora.  Thus in her last appearance she said to the 57 year old Indian in his language:

“Hear and let it penetrate into your heart, my dear little son:  Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.  Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.  Also do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety, or pain.  Am I not here, who am your Mother?  Are you not under my shadow and protection?  Am I not your fountain of life?  Are you not in the folds of my mantle-- in the crossing of my arms?  Is there anything else you need? (Qué más te falta?)”  At that moment his uncle was healed.  These words are the most affectionate expression by Mary of her motherly love to each one of us. Once again la Madre de Dios (the Mother of God) personally reiterates her maternal function in the Church as the mother of each one of us individually.  Can she be any more precise, tender, and loving in her declaration?  Dear reader, she’s also talking to you.  Take this personally and your love for Mary will grow.

            Note: Acknowledgments are due to Helen Behrens for much of the information in this article.  Her fascinating booklet, “America's Treasure” together with a wealth of slides, pictures, and other material in English as well as Spanish is available from her English Information Center at Apartado 26732.  Furthermore, I enjoyed so much talking to her and listening to her explanations.  May she rest in peace.

Books on Our Lady of Guadalupe

Warren H. Carroll:  Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness

Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate:  Handbook on Guadalupe

Fr. Christopher Rengers: Mary of the Americas