• May 6th - Bl. Indians of Mexico

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Sat May 5 10:04:00 2018
    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)