Day Two ~ Guadalupe Novena Countdown ~ Daybreak

Lets' not be just admirers of the Guadalupe story, but see how even the details of the account play in our own lives today.

The account of the First Apparition of the Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego begins: On a Saturday just before dawn, he was on his way to pursue divine worship and to engage in his own errands. As he reached the base of the hill  known as Tepeyac, came the break of day, and he heard singing atop the hill, resembling the singing of varied beautiful birds. 

The words before dawn indicate that Juan Diego had set out in the dark, and as he reached the bottom of the Tepeyac hill, day break occurred. We're not just being told the time of day but symbolically, in the coming of light, there is signified the coming of understanding. I would suggest that as the conversation unfolds between Juan Diego and the Lady, that he will come to understand not only who She is, but perhaps even more importantly, who he and his people are.

We might also imagine that Bishop Juan de Zumarraga will come to some new understanding of who these non-Spaniards are. Pray that as She appears in the dawn-light of understanding that anyone who draws near to Her will understand as God understands: that each human person is irrevocably soul-endowed and heaven-born.

In the early morning too, our perceptions are heightened. Perhaps it is because we are rested and ready for what's new. Daybreak transforms what's familiar and gives the senses new depth. Moments before the apparition takes place, Juan Diego even asks, "Am I awakening?" 

But Juan Diego's heightened perception wasn't simply of his outer environment; he was waking up spiritually and psychologically. Maybe in those dawn moments he started to grow up in some new human way. We must remember, Juan Diego was a man whose race had been defeated. The possibilities for new understandings were tremendous. Defeated, crushed, degraded - even enslaved, Juan Diego might be asking, "Who am I, who are we now?"

"We are always beginning again," Dorothy Day said. To appreciate the Guadalupe story is to appreciate this daybreak aspect - that of new beginning, new understanding. There is an Easter echo in all of this too, isn't there: And on the first day of the week at dawn the women came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared." (Luke 24: 1,2)

• A relationship is healed and amends are made.
• An opportunity is presented to learn something new.
• The first creative thoughts of the day are acknowledged.
• Perhaps some insight was revealed, even in the night's dreaming.
• A marriage comes to a place of new relational depth - even born of sorrow.
• There is the resolve to begin again after some failure or setback.
• A mistaken or fruitless approach, method or way of thinking is abandoned.
• Health is restored or not - and we grow in new understandings.
• A reprieve is given.
• One sets out in new sobriety.
• Pride or fear is put down and growth can occur.
• Sadness, perhaps as deep as depression, is pushed back.
• We stop rationalizing, procrastinating and justifying and start to live in the truth.

Name the dawn - the coming out-of-night to break-of-day.

Day One ~ Guadalupe Novena Countdown

ALL NARRATIVES OF the 1531 Guadalupe Apparitions are traced to the Nican Mopohua, written in Nahuatl, the ancient language of the Aztecs. The original has disappeared but a copy exists from 1649. The account begins with the words, "Ten years after the seizure of the city of Mexico, war came to an end and there was peace amongst the people." 

This is a reference to the defeat of the Aztec Empire by Cortes. And so the peace is the peace of a crushed people: defeated, killed, enslaved, oppressed. Even Christianity was foisted on them. It is in this context of annihilation that the Lady appears. Mary is not just being sweet to Juan Diego in the dialogue, but rather she addresses him and involves him in her work as one who, with his people, has been utterly degraded. It is essential to understand this if the Guadalupe is not to be reduced to one more tame devotion.

In the tenth year,
in the quiet of defeat
you appeared
Virgencita,
striding into the cemetery
of Mexico
where you uncovered your
littlest son,
who in accepting
colonial degradation
called himself
the dog's tail,
a bit of rope,
the bottom rung,
a leaf.

In his reduction
you elevated him,
your agent now,
to the chaplain of
the aggressors -
   orders from the
   barefoot!

Stride now little girl
into our political divide
and up to the ecclesial chasms,
the air space of drones
the outer space of satellites -
   the advance men
   of wars yet to be declared.

Stride now, my Lady and Child,
into the demilitarized zones,
the no man's lands,
the Guantanamos and
Abu Ghraibs,
the deepest undergrounds
  of exploitation and
  torture.

Mother in motion,
exit the outer world
of cartoon piety,
historical debate,
of scientific proof,
and stride into the inner world
where there's no golden mist,
no song of tzinizcan,
where weedy thoughts
   await the transformation
   of your sparkling
   turquoise and gold.

• The Virgin-Guadalupe called Juan Diego her littlest son.
• Virgencita: Juan Diego employs the diminutive in addressing the vision - the language of intimacy.
• Chaplain to the aggressors: that would be the local Spanish bishop.
• a leaf - commonly used as toilet paper.
• The barefoot: Just short of slavery, Juan Diego was at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.
• The tilma image shows Mary walking - see her left leg. Where does she need to stride today? But let's think beyond Mary wanting to correct the sex lives of people.
• Scientific proof. The Church has allowed the tilma to be subjected to countless scientific tests to prove its authenticity. I think this is foolish. "For those who have faith no proof is necessary. For those without faith, no proof would suffice."
• The Lady appeared first in a golden mist.
• The tzinizcan was a beautiful song bird. We might wonder if it has gone extinct.
• In the account of the first apparition the desert weeds glittered like precious stones.
• When heaven opens to us, there is always beauty. 

Sunday Intercessions ~ Second Sunday in Advent

This second week of Advent/ we pray for hearts to be opened to God's Word,/ that by it, we would be trained to live our lives in goodness./ We pray to the Lord.

In preparation to receive Jesus,/ John the Baptist calls us first to repentance and contrition of heart./ We pray to possess these dispositions, / where Christ will meet us in his mercy./ We pray to the Lord.

In the dark time of the year/ we stand in a prayerful solidarity with those who live in the darkness of war,/ disaster,/ poverty,/ ignorance or fear./ We pray to the Lord.

This past week the Church kept the memory of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children./ We pray for the world's young people,/ asking for their safety and health,/ their well-being and growth in goodness./ We pray to the Lord.

In the holiday time/ we pray for our families/ and that our hearts would be warmed by Christ./ We pray for our relatives where people are at odds with each other,/ or where faith is lessening./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray again for those whose lives have been disrupted by recent storms or accidents,/ asking that they would find relief and cause for hope./ We pray to the Lord.

We prayerfully remember those whose lives are very difficult for their believing in Jesus Christ./ We ask for a world where Christians,/ Muslims and Jews would know and love each other./ We pray to the Lord.

Asking for gifts of healing and consolation,/ we remember in our communal prayer/ those who are sick,/ elderly or frail./ We ask for those who have died/ a place in God's heavenly kingdom./ We pray to the Lord.