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By Stephen Ryan Author of The Madonna Files<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nMany Catholics are familiar with \u201cOur Lady of Guadalupe\u201d and most know the story of the great miracle of Juan Diego\u2019s cloak often called a\u201dtilma\u201d.<\/p>\n
The tilma miraculously transformed into a \u201cpainted\u201d image of the Virgin Mary right before the eyes of the astounded Catholic Bishop in Mexico. For those familiar with the story, it is \u00a0understood that the image was not \u201cpainted by human hands\u201d but rather was supernaturally created by God.<\/p>\n
This great miracle brings us to either an extraordinarily providential sign from the heavens or\u00a0an impossible coincidence. \u00a0I like to think it is a great sign from God.<\/p>\n
We all learned in elementary school the name of the ships that brought Christopher Columbus and his crew to the \u201cNew World\u201d. \u00a0 Columbus\u2019 fleet was made up of \u00a0three ships called \u201cPinta\u201d, Nina, \u00a0and the \u201cSanta Maria\u201d. \u00a0Again, we all know this, but how many of us contemplate on the literal translation of the boat names.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with \u201cPinta\u201d. The English translation of \u201cPinta\u201d is \u201cpaint\u201d or \u201cpainted\u201d. \u00a0 (Keep in mind the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was \u201cPainted\u201d by God.)<\/p>\n
The second ship was named \u201cNina\u201d and \u00a0the English translation would be \u201cyoung girl\u201d, \u00a0certainly a virgin. \u00a0Most scholars believe that Mary was \u00a0a teenager when Christ was born and She was most certainly a virgin. \u00a0**<\/span> a commenter on this site just posted the following: \u201cIt is also interesting to note that Saint Juan Diego in the Nican Mopohua \u2013 the story in nahuatl of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe \u2013 refers to the apparition as \u201cSe\u00f1ora mia, mi ni\u00f1a\u201d,<\/strong> i.e. My lady, mi little girl. ** \u00a0<\/span><\/em>Incredible thanks for sharing !<\/p>\n Lastly, the most famous ship, the ship Columbus sailed \u00a0was the \u00a0\u201cSanta Maria\u201d. \u201d The \u00a0\u201cSanta Maria\u201d is named after, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n So if we put all \u00a0the names of the boats together in a sentence \u00a0we see that Columbus\u2019s fleet \u00a0of ships quite literally describes the great miracle and apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. \u00a0The miracle of the \u201cTilma\u201d is best described as a \u00a0\u201cPainted\u201d (Pinta) young virgin (Nina) named \u201cSanta Maria\u201d (The Virgin Mary).<\/p>\n Pinta, Nina, and the Santa Maria = Painted, young Virgin named Mary = Our Lady of Guadalupe.<\/p>\n It is quite fascinating to think that Columbus\u2019s fleet shipped off from Spain \u00a0to discover new worlds foretelling of the great miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe which would lead to the conversion of millions of pagans to the Catholic faith.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Stephen Ryan is the author of The Madonna Files<\/a>\u00a0(Our Lady of Guadalupe has a big role in book) More on the hidden meanings behind the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe.<\/strong><\/p>\n Christopher Columbus, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico abolishing slavery, the Alamo, black slavery, the American civil war, six hundred thousand dead \u201cThe Trail of Tears\u201d, ethnic cleansing of American Indians \u2013 all these signature events in American history have roots that can be traced back to a little black statue that came to America on a boat named \u201cSanta Maria\u201d<\/p>\n We start with Christopher Columbus and his crew who were deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary \u2013 not so surprising \u2013 after all his boat was named \u201cSanta Maria\u201d \u2013 but what is not well known is that Columbus and his crew were attached to a dark skinned version of the Virgin Mary. Each night, at sunset, the crew sang songs to the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe of Spain \u2013 a black Madonna.<\/p>\n When Columbus landed in the New World, he and his men first prayed the \u201cSalve Regina.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cSalve Regina\u201d, is the final prayer of the Rosary. The prayer explains how God gave Mary to mankind as the \u201cGate of Heaven\u201d.<\/p>\n Columbus understood the best path to Heaven was venerating the heart of the Mother of Christ. Significantly, it is important to understand that Christopher Columbus did not only bring Christianity to the New World, but rather he brought\u00a0a strand of Catholicism defined by a strong devotion to a dark skinned woman.<\/p>\n Please Like Us on Facebook\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Soon after Christopher Columbus\u2019s arrival to the New World, the apparition and miracle\u00a0 of \u201cOur Lady of Guadalupe\u201d took place 1531. After appearing to native American Juan Diego, \u00a0the Virgin Mary left behind a miraculous image of herself and the image was a person of mixed skin color, a skin color chosen by God.<\/p>\n And in this painted image Our Lady of Guadalupe God was proclaiming to the world that we are all one people \u2013 black, white, brown \u2013 we are all God\u2019s people. It is worth remembering that the Virgin Mary revealed herself to a peasant Indian.<\/p>\n Following the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Mexico, as millions of Aztec Indians were converting to Catholicism, the Protestant Reformation in Europe was taking place. Millions of Europeans left the Catholic Church between 1532 and 1538 \u2013 ironically, to a large degree because of the Catholic Church\u2019s excessive devotion to the Mother of Christ.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Protestant Reformation was not only a rebellion against the authority of the Roman Pope but the Reformation was also about the Catholic Church\u2019s excessive veneration of the Virgin Mary. Protestants parted ways with Catholics because devotions to the Blessed Mother were not only viewed as extreme but they were considered not scripturally sound.<\/p>\n To Protestants, the Virgin Mary\u2019s role in Christianity was based on legends and dogmas that were simply invented by Popes and obscure Cardinals in Rome.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Protestant\u2019s believe in \u201cSola Scriptura\u201d \u2013 \u201cScripture alone\u201d \u2013 that is, only the Holy Bible revealed God\u2019s word. That the Pope would elevate the role of the Virgin Mother \u2013 willy-nilly \u2013 was, in the end, the real deal killer for Christians who broke away from the Catholic faith.\u00a0\u00a0Protestants believe the role of Mary is insignificant in Christianity.<\/p>\n There is a stark contrast between the Catholic New World and the America that was settled by English Protestants. Right from the start, Franciscan Monks built schools, churches; provided medicine, and farmed side by side with the local native people. Catholic Mexico outlawed slavery and fought at the Alamo to enforce abolition laws.\u00a0\u00a0The first Protestant settlers in America, on the other hand, quietly shunned the Virgin Mary. When Protestants and evangelicals were forced to confront the Virgin Mary, usually only at Christmas, she was sanitized and depicted as a white faced Northern European. There was no place at the table, or the church, or in the homes for a dark skinned Madonna in the puritan and white world of Southern evangelical Christians and New England Protestants\u00a0\u00a0and this intransigent fact set the stage for the racial horrors that would challenge and define the United States for next two hundred years.<\/p>\n Most people who know the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe believe it mostly speaks to the rise of the mestizo people, the rise of Christianity and an end to pagan rituals and human sacrifice -nothing more \u2013 but the call for racial harmony is the crucial message and it was not heeded \u2013 at least not by all. What transpired north of the Rio Grande would be horror for Native Americans, African Americans, and the six-hundred thousand young men who died fighting over the right to own slaves.<\/p>\n The sad result of not heeding the Blessed Mother\u2019s warning would be a nation defined by racism that would lead to epic\u00a0repression and violence against people of color. Ignoring \u201cOur Lady\u2019s call for harmony among races was followed by \u00a0the enslavement of African blacks, the American Civil War, six hundred thousand dead, ethnic cleansing of the American Indians, the Trail of Tears, and the near extermination of a race. \u00a0The ugly truth\u00a0is that American Christian Evangelical and Protestant leaders left the blood of Native Americans on the killing fields and kept the blood of Indians away from their veins while Spanish monks invited Indians into their churches.<\/p>\n North of the Rio Grande we have White Anglo Saxons free of the stain American Indian blood and in the South we have a mixed race, dark skinned people, who love a painted picture of a miraculous Catholic Virgin. A racially harmonious message had come down from heaven to remind the world that we are all one people and tragically that message was ignored by many Protestant Christians and secular leaders of the United States with devastating results.<\/p>\n ALSO READ<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n By Stephen Ryan Author of The Madonna Files Many Catholics are familiar with \u201cOur Lady of Guadalupe\u201d and most know the story of the great miracle of Juan Diego\u2019s cloak often called a\u201dtilma\u201d. The tilma miraculously transformed into a \u201cpainted\u201d image of the Virgin Mary right before the eyes of the astounded Catholic Bishop in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2537,"featured_media":1295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miracles-and-apparitions"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Nina,](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/616\/2016\/02\/everystockphoto-nasa-space-57494-o-300x225.jpg\")
\n![\"2eeccb8051e03c3cdadd7c4bbb624fbc\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/616\/2016\/01\/2eeccb8051e03c3cdadd7c4bbb624fbc-300x128.jpg\")
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\n\u201cWith an air of National Treasure, or Pier Paul Reads\u2019 novel, Death of a Pope, the reader plunges into political controversy, chase scenes, a coded message, and an exposition on Marian apparitions\u2026In a style akin to that of Bud McFarlane\u2019s Pierced by the Sword, this novel connects all of mankind with the reality that divine grace is at work every day. \u201d Catholic Fiction.net<\/b><\/p>\n
\nRUSSIA AND THE WEST \u2013 LOOK TO CATHOLIC PROPHECY TO UNDERSTAND OUR WORLD IN CRISIS<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
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