By Stephen K. Ryan

The Catholic Herald this week wrote an interesting article asking “What happened to alienate British people from their faith? ”

The article explores the cautious state of the Catholic Church in England and compares its vitality (or lack there of) with the condition of the Catholic faith in Mexico. The author, Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, cites cultural differences for some of the problems the Catholic Church faces in England.

As a Catholic news magazine, Ministryvalues.com is constantly searching for signs of Catholic spiritual renewal – it is what interests us. Today we see a revitalization of faith coming from Green Bay, WI. after the Church approved a Marian apparition that took place on the Door County peninsula. We see a ray of light and hope for the Catholic Church in moribund Europe coming from a town called Medjugorje. For many years, reports of Marion apparitions coming from Medjugorje, in Bosnia Herzegovina, have led to untold conversions and a deepening commitment to Christ from pilgrims and faithful, who discover its messages of hope. The Catholic Church in Mexico has thrived for centuries and is still, according to the Catholic Herald, dynamic and healthy.

We think the common thread in spiritual renewal and revitalization – the Vatican calls it – re-evangelization of the Catholic faith can be found when the faithful accept Pope John Paul II’s advice to “Find Christ through Mary.”

The miraculous, the supernatural, and the redemptive role of the Blessed Mother are keystones to spiritual revival for the Catholic faith.

Our Lady of Guadalupe offers a great example of why the Churches and pews are busy in Mexico and are quiet and sometimes sad in England.

To us it is all quite simple – Our Lady of Guadalupe gave Mexico the Miracle of the Tilma and after 500 years the image still shines – the tilma and Her image are a miracle – period. It is why the Church in Mexico thrives – period The English have old men who talk about Jesus (sort of) and choose not to believe in miracles and the
supernatural. Mexico thrives because they find Christ through Mary.
If England does not venerate the miracles of Our Lady then it will
be finished.

Our Lady of Guadalupe
In 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to Mexican Indian peasant Juan Diego. To prove to all that the apparitions were real; the Virgin imprinted an image of herself on Juan Diego’s tilma, a thin cloth made of cactus fibers. This type of tilma normally decays in 30 to 40 years. But Juan Diego’s tilma is still miraculously intact, the same as it was when he wore it nearly five hundred years later. Over the centuries, many have expressed doubts about the divinity of the image; there are many scientists who have studied the
miraculous painting. Prof. Victor Campa Mendoza has no doubt whatsoever and after studying the image and accumulating enough evidence to prove his point he said. “This is not a human act but an act of God,”

“My dear little son, I love you I desire you to know who I am” These were the first word and can be startling . \The words from Mary were simple yet seemed to almost say everything that needed to be said. The words were simple, loving and came directly from heaven, no dogmas, or abstruse rules Nican Mopohua, (Here it is told) written by Laso de la Vega, Valeriano. Nican Mopohua is the primordial telling of the Virgin Mary’s personal evangelism to the indigenous peoples of the Americas

“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” – spoken by the Virgin Mary Mother of Christ to Juan Diego.

The discovery of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religious 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 as the Virgin Mary: and said

“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.”

Juan, age 57, and who had never been to Tenochtitlan, nonetheless immediately responded to Mary’s request. He went to the palace of the Bishop-elect Fray Juan de Zumarraga and requested to meet immediately with the bishop. The bishop’s servants, who were suspicious of the rural peasant, kept him waiting for hours. The bishop-elect told Juan that he would consider the request of the Lady and told him he could visit him again if he so desired. Juan was disappointed by the bishop’s response and felt himself unworthy to persuade someone as important as a bishop. He returned to the hill where he had first met Mary and found her there waiting for him. Imploring her to send someone else, she responded:

“My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen.”
She then told him to return the next day to the bishop and repeat the request. On Sunday, after again waiting for hours, Juan met with the bishop who, on re-hearing his story, asked him to ask the Lady to provide a sign as a proof of who she was. Juan dutifully returned to the hill and told Mary, who was again waiting for him there, of the bishop’s request. Mary responded:

“My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son.”
Unfortunately, Juan was not able to return to the hill the next day. His uncle had become mortally ill and Juan stayed with him to care for him. After two days, with his uncle near death, Juan left his side to find a priest. Juan had to pass Tepayac Hill to get to the priest. As he was passing, he found Mary waiting for him. She spoke:

“Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me.”
While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary’s instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him:

“My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him.”
At the palace, Juan once again came before the bishop and several of his advisers. He told the bishop his story and opened the tilma letting the flowers fall out. But it wasn’t the beautiful roses that caused the bishop and his advisers to fall to their knees; for there, on the tilma, was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely as Juan had described her. The next day, after showing the Tilma at the Cathedral, Juan took the bishop to the spot where he first met Mary. He then returned to his village where he met his uncle who was completely cured. His uncle told him he had met a young woman, surrounded by a soft light, who told him that she had just sent his nephew to Tenochtitlan with a picture of herself. She told his uncle:

“Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe”.