From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
May 6th - Bl. Indians of Mexico
(Sixteenth Century)
On May 6, 1990, during his second pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John
Paul II proclaimed the beatification of five Mexicans. One of these
was a modern priest of Hispanic blood, Father Jose Maria de Yermoy
Parres (1851-1904), noted for founding a congregation of nuns, the
Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Poor, and many
charitable works. The other four new =E2=80=9Cblessed=E2=80=9D were Indians=
of the
earliest days of the Spanish settlement of Mexico. What the Iroquois
virgin St. Kateri Tekakwitha is to North America, these four are to
Middle America.
Best known of the Mexican Indian beati was Bl. Juan Diego. It was he
to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on Tepeyac Hill on December 9,
1531.
Juan Diego (1474-1548) was the baptismal name of this devout Indian
convert and farmer, whose native name, Cuauhtlatohuac, means, it
seems, =E2=80=9CEagle Who Speaks.=E2=80=9D The Lady who greeted =E2=80=9CJu= anito=E2=80=9D as =E2=80=9Cthe
smallest of my children=E2=80=9D, identified herself as the Mother of God, = and
told him to inform the bishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumarraga,
that she wanted him to build a church on that site. Juan Diego
conveyed the message, but the bishop said he would need some sign to
persuade him to act.
The humble Indian, embarrassed by his failure, would have preferred to
have no further dealings with his bishop, but the Lady appeared to him
again and insisted. As for the sign, on December 12 she instructed her messenger to gather some roses nearby and carry them to the prelate in
the lap of his tilma or poncho. Now, roses do not bloom in December at
the altitude of Mexico's capital city. Nonetheless, Juan found enou=
gh
of them for a fine bouquet. When he entered the bishop's presence a=
nd
let drop the hem of his cloak, the bishop and spectators saw not only
the cascading flowers, but, on the very tilma itself, a lovely
portrait of Our Lady represented as a pregnant young Indian woman in
Indian dress. After that, Bishop Zumarraga could only obey.
He inaugurated the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where the
principal focus is still on the remarkable portrait of Mary.
Tradition tells us that afterwards Juan Diego got permission to live
as a hermit near Tepeyac. There he remained as guardian of the shrine, practicing poverty and prayer, and engaging in good works, including
teaching Catechism to others. He was responsible for the conversion of
many Aztecs.
From his death onward, the Mexican faithful hailed this simple peasant
as a saint. Mexican priests would say to the children, =E2=80=9CMay God mol=
d
you like Juan Diego.=E2=80=9D Recently the Holy See has acknowledged this long-term veneration, and what the present pope did on his recent
visit was to give official confirmation to continuing popular acclaim.
John Paul appropriately assigned Blessed Juan Diego December 9 as his
feastday.
The other three whom the Pope beatified were child martyrs of
Tiaxcala: Cristobal, Antonio and Juan.
Bl. Cristobal was born at Atlihuetza about 1514, the son of an
influential pagan Indian and one of his 60 wives. Cristobal attended a
school opened by the Franciscan missionaries. There he converted to Christianity and was baptized. Wishing to share his new-found faith
with the rest of his family, Cristobal pointed out to his father the
folly of his polygamy, drunkenness and idolatry. Instead of yielding
to persuasion, the parent killed Cristobal in 1527. He was then only
12 or 13 years old.
Bl. Antonio, a native of Tizatlan, was the heir of one of the local
Indian senators. He, too, became a convert while attending a
missionary school. Then he volunteered to join a mission bound for
Oaxaca, led by the Dominican missionary Bernardino de Minaya. Antonio
was aware that this was a perilous undertaking, but he went anyhow. He
met martyrdom near Puebla in 1529.
Bl. Juan was about the same age as Bl. Antonio, a native of the same
town and an alumnus of the same school. He, also, volunteered to join
the Dominican mission to Oaxaca. On that expedition he won his
martyr's crown.
From their deaths onward, the missionary priests had the three junior
teenagers buried in their mission churches, and hailed them as
catechists of and martyrs for the faith. The Church has now confirmed
this veneration; Pope John Paul II cited the trio as exemplifying the
role to which every Christian is called: to spread the faith without
counting the cost.
=E2=80=93Father Robert
Saint Quote:
'If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin
every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in
the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end
in all our actions but the divine honor.'
--St. Charles Borromeo
Bible Quote:
In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected
reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together
with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I
found none. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink." (Ps. 69:21-22) DRB
<><><><>
=E2=80=9CLove is watchful.
Sleeping, it does not slumber.
Wearied, it is not tired.
Pressed, it is not straitened.
Alarmed, it is not confused
but like a living flame,
a burning torch,
it forces its way upward
and passes unharmed
through every obstacle.=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CNothing is sweeter than love,
nothing stronger or higher or wider;
nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller
and nothing better in heaven or on earth,
for love is born of God
and cannot rest except in God,
Who is above all created things.=E2=80=9D
--Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) =E2=80=93 Imitation of Christ
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)