I am writing about our Lady of Guadalupe since she is one of the symbols of Advent—our time of hopeful expectation and preparation for the coming of our savior.  The Church celebrates her feast day on December 12.

 

The image of our Lady of Guadalupe is filled with symbolism about the coming of a new kingdom and a new king for the Aztec peoples.  I’d like to explain some of these symbols for you and review a bit of the story about her apparitions to Saint Juan Diego.

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Appears

According to tradition, a simple Aztec convert to Catholicism, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, was traveling.  On December 10-12, 1531, our Lady appeared to him on a hill, speaking to him in his native Nahuatl language.  She asked him to have a church built on that very hill.

 

When Juan related his fantastic story to the Spanish bishop, the bishop asked him for a sign from our Lady.  Although it was winter, our Lady told Juan to go to the top of the hill and gather Spanish roses.  There he found them in bloom and gathered them inside his tilma (work apron) to take back down to our Lady.  She arranged them inside his tilma and he set off to see the bishop.

 

When Juan opened his tilma before the bishop, the roses fell to the floor, and on the inside of the tilma was imprinted the image we now know as our Lady of Guadalupe.  The bishop ordered a church built, and Spanish missionaries used the story of our Lady of Guadalupe to bring millions of indigenous people to Christ.

 

The Symbolism of Our Lady’s Image

Our Lady’s image on Juan Diego’s tilma is an Aztec pictograph.  In this way, the Aztecs who viewed it readily understood its mystic symbolism—

 

Her face and hands—The woman who appeared to Juan Diego was not a Spaniard, but a beautiful woman of his own race.  It is important to remember that in his culture the face of the person was the very identity of that person, whether man or woman.  The tilt of her head and cast of her eyes, along with her hands folded in prayer indicated to the Aztecs that as great as she was, she was showing deference and reverence to one even greater than she.

 

The celestial images—She stands in front of the rising sun, coming out of the east.  The Aztecs took this to mean that she was greater than their sun-god Huitzilopochtli.  Her feet rest on the crescent moon, the symbol of the Aztec god Quetzalcoátl.  Both these images indicate that she is greater than the Aztec gods.  Stars are scattered across her mantle to announce the end of one civilization, and the beginning of a new one, that of Jesus Christ.

 

Her mantle—The blue green color of her mantle indicated that she was royalty, for these were the colors of the Aztec god Ometéotl, mother and father of all the gods.

 

Her belt—The black belt is an Aztec symbol that means she is pregnant with new life.

 

Lessons for Us

When she appeared to Juan Diego, she appeared as a fellow Aztec, looking like him, and speaking his language.  Thus, she evangelized through her very person.  She was also a symbol of hope for the Aztecs at a time when their society and culture were suffering.

 

Just as Catherine Labouré did during her life, when she labored to propagate the Miraculous Medal, Juan Diego spent the rest of his life spreading the story and the meaning behind the apparitions of our Lady of Guadalupe.  The messages of hope of our Lady of Guadalupe and our Lady of the Miraculous Medal can help us during Advent as we prepare for the coming of a new kingdom, heralded by the birth of our king, Jesus Christ.