Our Lady of Guadalupe — ‘Am I not here, I who am your mother?’

The Virgin intercepted him and asked where he was going. After his explanation, the Virgin asked, ‘Am I not here, I who am your mother?’”

Dennis Warden, columnist

I want to organize society into three groups for this column.

First are those who have never heard of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The second group includes Catholics and non-Catholics who have heard of Guadalupe but don’t know the details.

The last group are those who know about the series of five Marian apparitions and the details of the miracle.

I’ll start with an abbreviated version of the story and then explain the six amazing facts of the miracle that science has proven.

In December 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican peasant, telling him to instruct Archbishop Zumárraga to erect a church in her honor on the site of the apparition — the Hill of Tepeyac.

The bishop, being skeptical, asked for a sign to prove this message was indeed from the mother of God. The Virgin arranged roses in Diego’s tilma, or cloak, and when he opened it before the archbishop, the flowers fell to the floor, revealing an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the fabric.

Here are six facts  for skeptics of God and this apparition.

1. There is no under-sketch or under-drawing on the image, as demonstrated by infrared photography. Dr. Philip Callahan, a research biophysicist from the University of Florida, explains: “It is inconceivable that an artist in the 16th century would paint a portrait without first doing a drawing on it.” 
2. Diego’s tilma is made of a rough cactus fiber that typically disintegrates in 15 to 30 years. Yet, the image of Guadalupe has remained intact for 491 years without fading or cracking. In 1921, a bomb concealed in some flowers was placed on the altar directly under the image. When the bomb detonated, the marble altar rail and windows 150 feet away were shattered, and a brass crucifix was twisted out of shape, but the image was left unharmed. 
3. In 1983, Dr. Juan Homero Hernandez and Fr. Mario Rojas Sánchez discovered that the stars on the image correspond precisely to the constellations of the winter sky on Dec. 12, 1531.
4. The microscopic likeness of a bearded man was discovered in the pupils of the Virgin; first in 1929, and verified in 1951. No human painter could have foreseen putting infinitesimally small images of Diego in the eyes of the Virgin so that later advances in human technology could detect them. Furthermore, it is impossible for any human to have painted the images because they are too minuscule.

Also, when the eyes are exposed to light, the pupils contract. When the light is withdrawn, they return to a dilated state. 

5. Mary assumes a different ethnicity depending on one’s vantage point. It is remarkable that at one distance Our Lady appears to be a Native American, but at another distance, she appears of European descent. This miraculous feature is meant to show the unity of the two peoples and the two cultures in light of the true faith of Christ. 

This change in color at different distances occurring in nature miraculously happens on the tilma. The pigment combines with the rough surface of the cloth to impart alternating colorations. No human artist can duplicate this effect. Such evidence strongly suggests the image was fashioned by a divine hand. 

6. It is verifiable that no matter the surrounding temperature, season, or weather, the image remains at 98.6°F. Dr. Carlos Fernandez del Castillo, a Mexican gynecologist, carefully examined the tilma and the image of the pregnant Madonna and concluded that the dimensions of her body were that of a pregnant woman at the end of gestation.

Diego tried to avoid Mary the day she placed the roses in his cloak. With his uncle on his deathbed, Diego took another route around Tepeyac Hill in search of a priest for the last rites.

The Virgin intercepted him and asked where he was going. After his explanation, the Virgin asked, “Am I not here, I who am your mother?”

After this apparition, 8 million indigenous Aztec people found Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church in seven years.

The cloak is now enshrined within the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City — the most-visited Catholic shrine in the world.

The Catholic Church marks important events with special feasts — like birthdays and anniversaries. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on Dec. 12.

My prayer is that this article has helped strengthen your faith in Jesus this Advent season. 

Dennis Warden is publisher of The Gasconade County Republican, The Maries County Advocate, the Unterrified Democrat, the Cuba Free Press, the Saint James Press and the Steelville Star-Crawford Mirror newspapers. This column was originally published Dec. 7, 2022, and is republished here with permission.