On August 15th the Assumption of Mary was celebrated in the catholic tradition. Unfortunately, this year it coincided with the tragic events that affect particularly women and girls in Afghanistan; I feel sad about the situation and I pray/meditate every day for them. Perhaps you do too, whether you worship a white Madonna, a black Madonna, Kanon, Amaterasu, KuanYin, Kali, Shakti or another feminine divinity.
Afghan women are mostly Muslim; Mary is mentioned in the Quran and is venerated. In my previous blog I wrote about the apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun, the sun spinning on itself like a wheel of fire. I believe that behind the representation of Mary, there was a universal divine power who can appear to different people, according to their belief and culture, in a way they can recognize Her. In Motta di Livenza, Italy, and Fatima, Portugal, Mary appeared as a white Lady; but in Mexico, where Mexicans venerate Our Lady of Guadalupe, She appeared as a dark skinned Indian. I did not know about this story until a friend of mine mentioned it to me recently. I read it with great pleasure and am happy to share it with you.
It happened on December 9th, 1531 on Tepeyac Hill in the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. That day, an indigenous man by the name of Juan Diego - originally Cuauhtlatoatzin (“the Talking Eagle”) - who had converted to Roman Catholicism, was on his way to mass. Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to him as a dark skinned Indian and spoke to him in his native language.
She told him to ask the bishop to build a shrine for Her on the hill. As the children in Fatima, Juan Diego encountered incredulity and was asked for proof. It came a few days later: on December 12th, Juan Diego was visited again on his way to find a minister to administer the last rites to his uncle; She told him his uncle would recover and after he mentioned the bishop’s incredulity to Her, on that winter day, roses appeared on the hill.
Juan Diego picked them, wrapped them up in his cloak and went back to the bishop; when he opened his cloak, dozens of roses fell out and the image of the Lady was imprinted inside. Juan Diego’s cloak, called a tilma, was made of cactus fiber. Convinced, the bishop ordered a church to be built on Tepeyac Hill in honor of the Lady. When he returned home, Juan Diego found his uncle’s health restored.
Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin is now venerated as Saint Juan Diego, first indigenous saint of the Americas, beatified in 1990 and canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City contains St. Juan Diego’s tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I found this analysis of the tilma by Massimo Paris, expert on the Sacred Shroud in Turin, Italy, interesting; in his words, “the tilma, made in 1531, is 41 inches wide and 67 inches high. While it was put together from cactus fibers and difficult to have a lasting image painted on it, the image has not faded and the cloak itself appears indestructible”.[1]
May the universal divine power that made the sun turn blood red at sunset in Motta di Livenza, spin on its axe like a wheel of fire in Fatima, dropped roses in winter and imprinted the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Saint Juan Diego’s tilma in Mexico, help the Afghan women and girls.
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[1]https://catholicphilly.com/2019/12/news/local-news/expert-on-turin-shroud-guadalupe-tilma-shares-research/