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By Gene Sager for Mystic Post<\/b><\/p>\nBy Gene Sager for Mystic Post<\/b><\/p>\n
My spiritual journey began in an Anglo Protestant family in the Midwest, far from Tepeyac; Tepeyac \u2014 the Mexican village where Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe appeared to a Native American man (Juan Diego) in 1531.\u00a0 The ideas of a Marian apparition and devotion to Mary were totally foreign to me \u2014 something embraced by \u201cothers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was drawn to Albuquerque and the University of New Mexico to study philosophy and religion.\u00a0 Only later would I understand that it was the Mexican-American culture of the Southwest that somehow drew me there and filled the gaps in my spiritual life.\u00a0 My Mexican-American friends introduced me to the Guadalupano tradition:\u00a0 the account of the apparition itself and the on-going devotions today.\u00a0 It was not the historical events five centuries ago, but the experience of the presence of Guadalupe in the here and now that moved me deeply.\u00a0 When I opened my mind and heart to Guadalupe I felt her awesome compassion and power.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was 25 years ago that I converted to Catholicism and began devotions to Our Lady of Guadalupe.\u00a0 My wife is Mexican-American and I feel I have been adopted into her family and into their culture.\u00a0 I continue to grow in the faith, expanding my understanding and experience of Our Lady.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I used to think of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans as Guadalupe\u2019s \u201cchosen people\u201d.\u00a0 But I now feel this term has an exclusive connotation:\u00a0does it mean that other people are not Her chosen?\u00a0 Guadalupe\u2019s words to Juan Diego were explicitly inclusive; she assures him that she is the merciful mother \u201cof all mankind.\u201d\u00a0 She is rightly called the \u201cmother of all the living\u201d (The Tidings, August 10, 2012).<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps a series of concentric circles can help us picture the waves of Guadalupe\u2019s compassion.\u00a0 A small circle around Tepeyac indicates the immediate site of her appearance. In time, people realized that her blessings encircled all of Mexico.\u00a0 Since the people of South and Central America are also Latino, Guadalupe\u2019s compassion naturally extends to them as well.\u00a0She is now called the Queen of the Americas (North and South America).\u00a0And the expansive blessings of Guadalupe go out in equal potency to all peoples, to all the living.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The simple truth about Marian apparitions is that Mary takes a variety of different forms but remains the same in essence.\u00a0 Mary is not essentially Latina, Portuguese, French, or any other ethnic variety.\u00a0 I am fascinated by the multifarious apparitions of the Virgin Mary and by the other ways she is present to people all over the world.\u00a0 One of the most inspiring is the apparition of Our Lady of Akita who appeared to Sister Sasegawa, a deaf Japanese nun; the sister\u2019s hearing was miraculously restored.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the reported appearances of Mary are not designated as genuine apparitions by the Church.\u00a0 Sometimes this is because the evidence is questionable.\u00a0 Sometimes it is just not possible to obtain sufficient evidence.\u00a0 I know of numerous cases where the person blessed with the apparition has not made any official claims about the event.\u00a0 Mary appeared to a friend of mine, but he has told no one but me; he is embarrassed because the event occurred in his bathroom.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A \u201cpresence\u201d or \u201cappearance\u201d need not involve a visible, human figure or a bright light.\u00a0 Often it is a sense of Our Lady\u2019s consoling maternal assurance that we will survive the current frightening problem or crisis.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another type of appearance is an icon (Greek:eikon).\u00a0 Icons function like a conduit or window, channeling the energy of holy beings to humans.\u00a0 I see no reason why we cannot treat mosaics, painting or statues of Mary as icons.\u00a0 Maybe I am a naughty Catholic, but I find Mary present in a mosaic on the wall of a coffee house near my home.\u00a0 Locals call her the Surfing Guadalupe.\u00a0 It is Our Lady of Guadalupe riding a wave on a surfboard, veil flowing in the wind.\u00a0 This striking 6\u2019x6\u2019 mosaic is on the outside wall of the Cafe Ipe in Encinitas, California, a half mile from Moonlight Beach.\u00a0 For the likes of me, it is a pilgrimage site.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Church officials cannot keep up with Our Lady\u2019s devotees.\u00a0Apparitions abound, and they are not the sort of thing readily proved or disproved.\u00a0 Catholic prelates may be asked to evaluate reports of iconic mosaics. Glowing paintings and healing miracles may stir some controversy.\u00a0 And in my neck of the woods, the ubiquitous image of Guadalupe may raise questions, especially when tattooed on an \u201cinappropriate\u201d part of the body.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since officials can\u2019t keep up, Marian devotion is a cage free spiritual movement.\u00a0 People ask if post-Vatican II Catholic policy is authoritarian or democratic.\u00a0 This is not quite the right question.\u00a0 It is, perhaps, \u201cde facto democratic.\u201d\u00a0 The movement is vast,\u00a0 officials and priests too scarce; the result is a free flowing movement.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I converted to Catholicism because I was a motherless child, spiritually speaking.\u00a0 My Protestant upbringing left a hole in my religious life.\u00a0Devotion to Mary satisfies a spiritual need and I like its unregulated, grassroots feel.\u00a0 The Catholic mass is highly regulated and only a priest can perform it.\u00a0 But Marian devotions like the rosary or contemplation of an icon are totally unregulated.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Finally, I hasten to say again that Latinos are not Guadalupe\u2019s chosen people.\u00a0 Nor is Guadalupe a \u201cbetter\u201d form of Mary than others.\u00a0 Never should we play the game of \u201cMy Mary is better than yours.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As for me, when I need my spiritual mother, it is always Guadalupe who appears to me.\u00a0 She listens and listens and cares.\u00a0 She gives me the courage to go on joyfully despite the difficulties of life. And she urges me to help protect God\u2019s creation from overuse and abuse.\u00a0 She is indeed the mother of all the living.<\/p>\n
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