Tag Archives: Virgin Mary

St. Juan Diego’s Tilma: a reflection for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

07 Saturday Dec 2024

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Friends, a good artist will take care to choose the best canvas to paint on as well as the best paint to work with.  With this thought it is worthwhile to reflect on the “canvas” and the “paint” used in the miracle of Guadalupe. 

The canvas is the tilma – the cloak worn by the people of the time.  Also, it is the tilma of a poor man.  Juan Diego was a poor and common man but a man devoted to his Christian faith.  Juan Diego was probably never noticed by the powerful people of his time but he was noticed by the Virgin Mary.  Mary saw Juan Diego – the poor man in his simple tilma.  Mary always sees the poor and the common person who is often overlooked by the powers of the world. Mary sees because she herself lived a simple life in a small village in a forgotten part of a large empire.  She who was not noticed by the world was seen by God and to her the Holy Spirit came and through her the Word became Flesh.  Mary’s choice to make Juan Diego’s tilma her canvas shows how God chooses the lowly to proclaim his love to the world and how God himself and the saints choose to walk with those persons often forgotten and overlooked by the world. 

The paint is the flowers – the miracle of the flowers that are found in abundance and blossoming even in winter!  Juan Diego tells the virgin that the bishop wants a sign, Mary sends the poor man to gather the flowers.  The flowers growing in the dead of winter are pure gift.  The flowers are grace from heaven.  In many ways, flowers are given to us also during our journey as Christians – the grace of the sacraments – new birth in baptism, the very body and blood of our Lord in the Eucharist, the healing of reconciliation.  The flowers are the beauty of God’s love and mercy in our lives and salvation that Jesus won for us in his death and resurrection.  The flowers of prayer, devotion, living Christian charity towards others.  The flowers of the teaching of Jesus.  Just as she asked Juan Diego, Mary also asks us to gather these flowers that are pure gift and grace from God. 

As we gaze upon the beauty and the miracle of the image of our Lady of Guadalupe, we are left with some important questions. Do we know that we (each one of us) is seen and noticed by Mary, by God?  Can we gather the flowers of grace and gift that God sends to us into the tilma of our lives?  And what will be the image that is shown in the tilma of our life when we stand before God? 

Friends, each one of us is seen and loved by God and our Lady.  Each one of us is given an utterly unique tilma and each one of us is given beautiful flowers of grace in our life and each one of us is meant to make of the life we have been given a beautiful image that reflects the wonder of God. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.   

A Reflection on Mary

08 Friday Dec 2023

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In my office hangs a painting by the artist Janet McKenzie.  The painting is entitled, “Mother and Child” but knowing the artist’s tradition of depicting the Holy Family via marginalized peoples and groups, I easily see within the painting a depiction of Mary and the young Jesus. 

Here is what I see in the painting. 

The young Jesus’ eyes are turned downward towards a flower he holds in his hands.  He does not look forward.  His time of mission has not yet arrived.  He is now in the quiet time of growing and learning the hope and faith of the people of Israel and his mother and foster-father are the ones chosen to teach and guide him.  His time of mission will come – as he contemplates the flower he holds – but for now he is in the care and love of his earthly parents. 

He is partially wrapped in the cloak of his mother.  There is a protective tenderness seen here.  It is a worthy prayer to ask Mary to be always kept within the mantle of her protection.  Mary is the new Eve who crushes the head of the serpent.  In tender love she protects all those who turn to her.

In her eyes and straight posture is found strength, resolve and freedom.  Mary is not bent in on herself in sin.  She stands fully before God in her dignity and worth as the handmaid of the Lord.  Her steady gaze invites the viewer into the same trust in God and freedom that she knows.  True freedom is found and fulfilled in saying “yes” to the will of God.

I do not know the full intent of the artist in placing the young Jesus as she does before Mary but I see within the placement of the two a reflection of the strength of a mother bison protecting her calf.  This is said to give full honor.  The strength of the bison is a powerful and noble thing.  Mary’s strength of love for her son is an unmovable and unstoppable force. 

The white of her cloak echoes the stars in the cloak of our Lady of Guadalupe. 

Behind the two figures are seen colors and animals important and sacred to the Native American peoples revealing that Mary is mother to all tribes and nations just as her son is Lord and Savior to all peoples.    

I pray before this image.  In it I find comfort and resolve and I hear the invitation to freedom found in saying “yes” to God’s will.          

Pentecost – we have a part to play

15 Sunday May 2016

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PentecostIn looking at my Facebook feed this weekend I have been reminded that we are in the midst of graduation season. Picture after picture of smiling graduates, at all levels, all across the country…  We certainly celebrate with graduates and congratulate them on what they have achieved.  But it is worthwhile to also note that behind every graduate stands dedicated teachers – men and women who often selflessly work for the good of their students.

I have recognized that one of the greatest gifts I have known in my life is that I have had exceptional teachers.  I have been blessed with men and women who have challenged and inspired me from elementary school all the way through my study of theology.  I owe to them so much – more than I can ever repay.  They guided my learning and also taught me how to keep learning.

But here is the catch – a teacher (even the very best teacher) can only instruct if the student is willing to listen. The student has a role to play.  The student must understand that he or she has a lack, that he or she does not have full knowledge, that he or she has something to learn and maybe even does not know what he or she does not know.  A student has to be open and willing to receive.  A student needs to be humble.

If today’s gospel (Jn. 14:15-16, 23b-25) sounds familiar it is because part of it was proclaimed last Sunday. Last Sunday I choose to focus on the Father and Son coming to dwell with the believer in friendship.  This Sunday, being Pentecost, it is appropriate I believe to focus on these words offered by our Lord, “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”  

One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to teach but a teacher (even the very best) can only instruct if the student is willing to listen, if the student recognizes that he or she has a lack and if the student is humble and willing to receive. On Pentecost we proclaim and celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples but the coming of the Spirit did not end there.  If this celebration is to be authentic then we, on our part, must be willing to ask the question, “Am I willing to listen and then receive the gift of the Spirit and the Spirit’s instruction for me?”  I have to be humble enough to acknowledge my need and my lack and then I have to be faith-filled enough to accept what the Holy Spirit has to give.

That day of Pentecost the gathering of disciples was so little, so small in such a big world. The Holy Spirit comes upon them like a strong driving wind and they begin to proclaim the good news!  Acts lists a multitude of nations and peoples present and then we are told that each nation and grouping heard the disciples proclaiming in their own tongue.  To this small, little gathering of disciples God gives nothing less than the whole world!  We have a part to play on Pentecost.  We have to be faith-filled enough to accept what the Holy Spirit has to give us!

Lord, may we not be so stingy and little of heart as to begrudge your call. Playing small is not part of Pentecost.  It is a false humility.

Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church and on this birthday we find two things – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the small gathering of disciples in prayer, listening and fully aware of their need. How do we learn how to listen?  In any age the skill of listening is needed but I believe now, even more, this skill is needed in our lives and in our world.  How do we learn how to listen?

Here is one simple thought. Scripture testifies that there is only one person who was present at the birth of Christ, who was present at the crucifixion and who was present at Pentecost.  One person – Mary, the mother of our Lord.  To learn how to listen and then have the faith to say “yes” go to Mary.  Seek her out in Scripture, seek her out in prayer.  Ask her to pray for you and to pray with you.  She will teach if we are willing to listen.

A teacher can only instruct if the student is willing to listen. We have a part to play on Pentecost.  We need to listen and we need to have the faith to say “yes” to the Holy Spirit.

Mary’s witness: Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)

19 Saturday Dec 2015

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maryTwo things struck me as I prayed over the gospel this past week. The first is when Luke tells us that Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  I found myself returning again and again to that scene in my imagination.  How joy-filled it must have been!  Mary stepping into this house which for too long had been barren of the sound of new life, the sound of children.  Elizabeth said that the child in her womb leapt for joy at the sound of Mary’s greeting – a confirmation of what the angel had promised Zechariah.  What was thought barren will now bring forth life and it will be a life that, in turn, will proclaim the coming of the Messiah!  For nothing is impossible to God.

Mary comes to Zechariah and Elizabeth not as we are, weakened and wounded by sin, rather she comes as God would have us. On December 8th we affirmed that Mary is the Immaculate Conception.  In a great mystery she is preserved from sin.  In Mary we see not the exception but in fact the true norm – the human condition as God intends.  Mary reveals our true nature and dignity where sin obscures, denigrates and denies.  The very presence of Mary reveals that sin and evil are, in fact, the exception and will always be so.  Sin and evil have no true power.  Sin and evil can destroy and tear down life but they can never bring forth new life.  God alone is the author of life.

Mary is the true missionary of hope and Mary stands as the great witness to the impotence of evil.

The second thing that struck me is when Elizabeth proclaims Mary “blessed” because she believed that what the Lord had spoken to her would be fulfilled. Someone recently asked me if Mary could have said “no” to the angel Gabriel and refuse God’s request.  Mary certainly had free will in that moment and it was a free will untainted by original sin.  Mary chose to believe.  Despite all things to the contrary – the darkness and violence of the world, the confusion of what the angel’s words meant, the scandal that would be in the eyes and thoughts of people – Mary chose to believe that what God had spoken to her would be fulfilled.

This last Sunday of Advent, standing before the celebration of Christmas, Mary witnesses to us the true impotence of evil and that God alone is the author of life. Mary also witnesses to us the choice to believe that what God has promised God will fulfill.  We need to live the hope of this season and we need to learn from Mary how to be missionaries and witnesses of hope.

Recently Archbishop Joseph Kurtz (current president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops) shared the following words in a statement regarding the violent times we find ourselves in and how we are to respond as Christians.

We must not respond in fear. We are called to be heralds of hope and prophetic voices against senseless violence, a violence which can never be justified by invoking the name of God. Watching innocent lives taken and wondering whether the violence will reach our own families rightly stirs our deepest protective emotions. We must resist the hatred and suspicion that leads to policies of discrimination. Instead, we must channel our emotions of concern and protection, born in love, into a vibrant witness to the dignity of every person. We should employ immigration laws that are humane and keep us safe, but should never target specific classes of persons based on religion. When we fail to see the difference between our enemies and people of good will, we lose a part of who we are as people of faith. Policies of fear and inflammatory rhetoric will only offer extremists fertile soil and pave the way toward a divisive, fearful future. As Pope Francis reminded us in his speech to Congress: “The yardstick by which we measure others is the yardstick by which time will measure us.”  

When we recognize the impotence of evil, we stand with Mary. When we make the choice to not give in to fear and to believe that what God has promised God will fulfill then we stand with Mary.

Come, Lord Jesus!