Intro to Marian Apparitions

Diving In

Happy Sunday!

Something I haven’t written about much here is Mary and Marian apparitions, which is nuts because the Divine Mother is my heart! It was a welcome moment this morning after my novena time then when Our Lady of Guadalupe popped into my mind.

“Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”

Marian apparitions are an interesting part of Catholicism to me because they embody the fact that the Church cannot contain or control God, nor can they ever hold true power of any kind. The Mother, the Cosmos, God, the Heart of Jesus all entwine over and over while reaching for us - no man-made institution can stop this. The quote above is attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe during the fourth visitation (iirc) to Saint Juan Diego: he was nervous about disappointing the Mother, his work of getting a church built delayed as he cared for a sick uncle. During previous visitations on the hill at Tepeyac, the Mother (also known to indigenous peoples by the title Tonantzin) came to Juan Diego. She was seeking a chapel to be built. The archbishop did not believe the stories recounted to him and asked for tangible evidence. This is where the fourth and fifth visitations come in. Juan Diego was set to meet Our Lady but was called to care for family. Our Lady met him on the road as he tried to avoid the hill. She gently reminded him that She is present, that she is here to help. St. Juan Diego’s uncle was healed, the roses fell from the tilmatli, and the rest is history. OL of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas and a number of other places. This was a super condensed bit, please read the full wiki here.