Guadalupe: A Model of Encounter for All People!
by Paulist Fr. Rich Andre
December 13, 2019

Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, 2019 at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX. There are several options for the Scripture readings for this feast. At this particular Mass, the community proclaimed the following passages: Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 122; Luke 1:39-47.



The more I learn about the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the more devoted I become. In 1531, the Spaniards had been in the New World for only 39 years and in contact with the Aztecs for only 10 years, years filled with misunderstandings, violence, and atrocities. Yet the details of the image of Guadaupe – and the conversations between Our Lady and Juan Diego – show a remarkably sophisticated understanding of both the Nahautl religion and Christianity, expressing the great Truths of Christianity through local cultural symbols, while rejecting the violence and hatred of both the Aztec warriors and the Spanish conquistadors. 

There is no scientific explanation for how the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was created. It was not painted. The fabric, nearly 500 years old, should have disintegrated after 10 years. It has withstood an acid spill and an explosion.

But the miracles of Guadalupe reach far beyond the fields of science, art, and comparative religion. More than anything, it is the miracle of what is possible when two disparate cultures truly encounter one another.

In this season of our waiting to encounter God in new and exciting ways, we ask God to once again grant us the gift of mercy.


[Quietly, slowly, deliberately:] Advent. Listening. Encounter. Relationship. Invitation. Vulnerability. Guadalupe. And us. [Longer pause.]

[Longer pause.] We’ve heard the story of Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth so often, perhaps we’ve forgotten how strange this encounter must have been. Elizabeth is elderly and living in seclusion, and her husband Zechariah is unable to speak. Presumably, she has talked with no other woman in her first six months of pregnancy. Mary unexpectedly arrives – a mere girl, a distant relative from the distant town of Nazareth, probably only a few weeks pregnant. But Elizabeth suddenly senses the extraordinary presence of God in Mary’s womb. And Elizabeth greets Mary with radiant joy, which is really remarkable. Imagine all the other things Elizabeth might have said: “You’re pregnant so young!” “Who’s the father?” “That’s an extraordinary story, Mary, but I have one that will top that!” “I wish you had told me you were coming to visit for three months… the place is a mess, and I don’t have a thing for you to eat.” Instead, Elizabeth meets Mary, woman to woman – amazed, surprised, joyful, initially without words, all the while pondering, treasuring what is happening in both of their bodies, in both of their lives, and in both of their hearts.

The vast majority of us are not like Elizabeth – we go into our conversations with other people from a more self-centered perspective. We don’t so much listen when the other person speaks, as much as we plan what we will say when the other person stops talking. 

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Franics has repeatedly invited us to consider the importance of encounter. Almost all of his most notable writings, speeches, and actions can be understood from the perspective of truly meeting people where they are. 

In the 2,000 years of Christian history, Guadalupe is a historical moment par excellence of true encounter, an encounter as remarkable as Mary’s encounter with Elizabeth. The young pregnant virgin, dressed as royalty, looking to be of either indigenous or mestiza race, appears to the elderly, humble Juan Diego, at a location long associated with one of the most important nonviolent deities in the Nahautl religion. In Juan Diego and Our Lady, we have an encounter of different genders, ages, socio-economic levels, cultures, religions, and hemispheres. Despite the intense efforts of conquistadors and missionaries to bring the Christian faith to the people of the New World since 1492, Our Lady accomplished more in her encounters with Juan Diego over a few days in December of 1531. As St. John Paul II said, “Guadalupe and Juan Diego… are a model of perfectly inculturated evangelization.” 

In his book on the miracle of Guadalupe, Virgilio Elizando claimed that it was the most remarkable event in the history of Christianity since the first Pentecost.1 When I first read that, the statement took me aback. Greater than Constantine? Greater than Vatican II? Greater than the conversion of St. Paul? 

But after some reflection, I think Fr. Elizando may be correct. Up until this point, the spread of Christianity was primarily accomplished by the strong and the mighty accepting the faith, and then forcing their subjects to become Christians. But Guadalupe embodied a new model of conversion: as Mary proclaims in her Magnificat, Christ comes to the poor and the humble, and through them, the world inches forward towards the new creation God intends for the earth. For the past few centuries, our whole idea of spreading the gospel is modeled on the example of Guadalupe. We must first have true, authentic relationships with people before we invite them to our faith. This is a given. 

Today, we are all called to live a spirituality of encounter, to be truly present to people, as Elizabeth was to Mary, and as Mary was to Juan Diego. It is through authentically loving people and knowing their stories that our faith will shine through. Only the Holy Spirit can convert hearts; our job is simply to meet people in their vulnerability, so that their hearts can be opened.

According to Monsignor Arturo Banuelas of El Paso, the average American Latino or Latina Catholic is 24 years old. The average American church employee is a 52-year-old Anglo woman who does not speak Spanish. How often, on our own parish doorstep, are we re-enacting the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth? How often, on the streets of our city as we see suffering people, are we re-enacting the encounter between Juan Diego and Mary? How often, at a meal we share with people who hold different political beliefs from us? How often, when we consider those desperate people clamoring for entry into our nation? 

In these moments, may we be like Mary, greeting unexpected circumstances with an exultant Magnificat. May our souls proclaim the greatness of the Lord. May our spirits rejoice in God our savior!


Footnote

  1.  https://www.orbisbooks.com/guadalupe.html