Let's Celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe on her Feast Day, Dec.12th by Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

I was blessed a number of years ago to visit a friend in a convent  in San Antonia, Texas , and be there for the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  At 4:30 am, people streamed into the parking lot to pray at the statue of Mary. Some sang hymns, prayed the rosary, most prayed in Spanish. At around 8 am, they filled the pews in the Church next to the Convent.

 Children and youth, in colorful costumes, carried  large posters of Mary and Juan Diego as they processed down the aisle. The musicians played lively Mariachi music that made me feel like dancing! 

The love of the people for Mary permeated the entire worship experience. They knew  that she was always with them- in times of suffering, pain and struggle - as they adjusted to life in a new land. While many came from low-income neighborhoods, they had a strong sense of community and deep faith that their Mother would be always there for them.  

May Our Lady of Guadalupe accompany us  on our journey to deeper solidarity with people on the margins everywhere as we work together for justice, equity and peace. Amen.

https://youtu.be/WhR2VCxurvw

I recommend the following article:

"Science Stunned By Picture of Lady of Guadalupe’s Eyes, Engineer Sees a Reflection, Literally, From a Scene in 1531"

 ROME, JAN. 14, 2001 

(ZENIT.org) .

Digital technology is giving new leads in understanding a phenomenon that continues to puzzle science: the mysterious eyes of the image of Virgin of Guadalupe. The image, imprinted on the tilma of a 16th-century peasant, led millions of indigenous Indians in Mexico to convert to the Catholic faith. 

Last week in Rome, results of research into the famed image were discussed by engineer José Aste Tonsmann of the Mexican Center of Guadalupan Studies during a conference at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. For over 20 years, this graduate of environmental systems engineering of Cornell University has studied the image of the Virgin left on the rough maguey fiber fabric of Juan Diego’s tilma. 

What intrigued Tonsmann the most were the eyes of the Virgin. Though the dimensions are microscopic, the iris and the pupils of the image’s eyes have imprinted on them a highly detailed picture of at least 13 people, Tonsmann said. The same people are present in both the left and right eyes, in different proportions, as would happen when human eyes reflect the objects before them. Tonsmann says he believes the reflection transmitted by the eyes of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the scene on Dec. 9, 1531, during which Juan Diego showed his tilma, with the image, to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga and others present in the room. 

 Though the dimensions are microscopic, the iris and the pupils of the image’s eyes have imprinted on them a highly detailed picture of at least 13 people, Tonsmann said. The same people are present in both the left and right eyes, in different proportions, as would happen when human eyes reflect the objects before them. Tonsmann says he believes the reflection transmitted by the eyes of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the scene on Dec. 9, 1531, during which Juan Diego showed his tilma, with the image, to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga and others present in the In his research, Tonsmann used a digital process used by satellites and space probes in transmitting visual information. He insists that the image "that has not been painted by human hand." 

As early as the 18th century, scientists showed that it was impossible to paint such an image in a fabric of that texture. The "ayate" fibers used by the Indians, in fact, deteriorated after 20 years. Yet, the image and the fabric it is imprinted on have lasted almost 470 years ago. Tonsmann pointed out that Richard Kuhn, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, has found that the image did not have natural, animal or mineral colorings. Given that there were no synthetic colorings in 1531, the image is inexplicable. 

 In 1979, Americans Philip Callahan and Jody B. Smith studied the image with infrared rays and discovered to their surprise that there was no trace of paint and that the fabric had not been treated with any kind of technique. "[How] it is possible to explain this image and its consistency in time without colors, on a fabric that has not been treated?" Tonsmann asked. "[How] is it possible that, despite the fact there is no paint, the colors maintain their luminosity and brilliance?"