Monday, December 12, 2016

Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe



QUEEN OF ROSES – MARY, THE EARTH’S SACRED CLOAK

No estoy yo aqui que soy tu madre?  Am I not here, I who am your mother? – San Juan Diego of Guadulupe

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A young woman appeared in the sixteenth century to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill.
 As the story is told she was radiant with light and he was overcome by awe and fear.  She asked the Aztec man to return to his bishop and to tell him that she asks for a chapel to be built in the place that she appeared.  She also told him to climb to the top of the hill and pick of the roses that is growing there and to bring them back to her.  This was in the middle of December in the heart of winter!! It would surely be impossible for roses to be flowering on the top of the hill?  He however did find roses growing on the top of the hill, picked them and brought them back to her.  




She arranged the roses inside his cloak made of rough fibre.  He took these roses to the bishop hoping to prove to him the miracle of the Lady and Her roses that magically appeared in the middle of winter.  When he opened the cloak, the roses spilled out at the bishop’s feet and an image of the woman herself covered the inside of the garment. An even greater miracle than the roses themselves!

 A basilica was built for her on the spot where she appeared and the same image that appeared on the inside of his cloak, is still hanging in the church. Not only does this image still hang in the church, but the cloak that Juan Diego wore, made of rough cactus fibre, is still intact and also still on display.

The Lady of Guadalupe’s cloak is dark like the night sky and covered in stars.  Her robe is a rose colour, similar to a new dawn, and as in all the apparitions of Our Lady, her robe is in the style worn by pregnant mothers. Our Lady of Guadalupe, standing on the moon, upheld by the angels of creation, surrounded by the radiant rays of the sun emanating from her,  is once again ‘the woman clothed in the sun’ Rev. 7:12.  She is the Cosmic Mary Herself cloaked in the constellations and matter of Earth. 



Without the earthly cloak of the Cosmos she would be invisible as each one of us would be invisible.  And she was not the only one wearing a cloak.  Juan Diego also wore a cloak made of the plants of the Earth and this cloak is also miraculously still intact and part of the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The cloaks of earthly matter demonstrate that Juan Diego’s existence is related to the manifestation of the Cosmic Mary.  Both are made of star dust and earthly soil and green plants.  She tells us that there is no separation between spirit and matter and that the one cannot exist without the other.





blessings
Hettienne

7 comments:

  1. I cant believe its day 12 already. Blessings, Hettienne.
    I was looking on the internet for a Mary picture, and I came across some art that I was sure was yours. When I looked further, it belonged to Alana Fairchild. Someone paints so very much like you. xoxo

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  2. What a perfect offering for the last day of our pilgrimage together! Thank you!

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  3. Thanks so much for retelling the Guadalupe and Juan Diego's story. And, as always, eery image you post is a wondrous one. It has been lovely participating with you in 12 days again. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

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  4. Thanks so much for retelling the Guadalupe and Juan Diego's story. And, as always, eery image you post is a wondrous one. It has been lovely participating with you in 12 days again. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

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  5. Happy for the opportunity of honouring Mary these 12 day with you. Happy Feast Day

    much love...

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  6. Beautiful. I love this story and your photos are a perfect fit. Thank you Hettienne!

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  7. thank you hettienne for sharing this ancient and beloved story. the virgin of guadalupe is the patron saint of mexico. she appeared with brown skin and humble attire-unlike the bejeweled depictions from europe. and most noteworthy she appeared before an indigenous man. one jaun diegos first attempt to visit the bishop he was turned away. sadly he was scorned as the bishop found it hard to believe the mother of god would chose an "indian" to reveal herself to. no wonder she is so deeply revered in mexico! such a lesson of pure love and inclusion. juan diego spent the rest of his life sharing his love of guadalupe and there visitations to all who walked by. i have been in the basilica and stood beneath his milta with her imagine, i have also been inside the tiny humble one room house where juan diego lived all the days of life devoted to our loving Lupita! thank you for your offerings and light as we shared our procession of mother love together!

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