Juan Diego, hermit                                 12-8-05 dcn.ca

 

It sure seems that when we hear the story of someone having some type of spiritual vision, the person is described as being a simple peasant. And this again is the case with Saint Juan Diego whose memorial we celebrate today. The story goes that on this date in 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a simple, native Mexican; convert Juan Diego on a hill, near Mexico City. She told him that a church should be built on the site of her appearance. Juan Diego went to his bishop and told him of the request. The bishops response was, “yah sure” bring me some proof; disappointed but undaunted he left.  On the occasion of another visit 3 days later; Our Lady, hearing of the bishop’s demand, sent Juan Diego to gather flowers and present them to him. Juan did this and when he opened his cloak to display the out of season roses he brought, the flowers fell to the floor and to the amazement of all a picture of Our Lady was imprinted on the inside cloak. To say the least, that was enough to convince the bishop, he had the church built. Juan Diego was canonized in 2002 and today the cloak is preserved and can be seen in the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

For most of us the seasons of Advent and Christmas do not lend themselves to the practice of a simple, uncomplicated life style. Maybe our Blessed Mother knew something about the times that were to come and through Juan Diego invites us to imitate his simplicity and spend some of our time, during this very special time of the year, in uncomplicated preparation for Her Sons Coming.