Episode Transcript  

One

The Miraculous Image of Guadalupe

Before Mary appeared in Mexico City in 1532, the Aztec people worshipped demonic spirits represented by the "serpent god" under the sign of the Crescent Moon and the “god of war” under the sign of the Sun, whom the Aztec people believed demanded human sacrifice. The Aztec priests offered 50,000 men, women, and children in human sacrifice to these so-called “gods” every year. And one out of every five children were sacrificed. Horribly similar to the fact that many nations today abort one out of every five children. Furthermore, the Aztec culture wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ or the Catholic Church because they had been defeated and humiliated by the Spanish, decimated by disease, and carried off as slaves to the Caribbean islands. 

Theirs was a people and culture that seemed impossible to convert. Yet, when things looked hopeless, as though all was lost, Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to Juan Diego. She left a supernatural, virtually indestructible sign, and within a few short years, the entire Aztec nation, 10,000,000 people, asked for Baptism and entered the Catholic Church. 

These were genuine conversions, a total change of life. A Franciscan Brother, Geronimo de Mendieta, witnessed these events and recorded them. In his diary, he wrote, “Before Our Lady appeared, not only did the Aztec people kill their children, they practiced polygamy and refused to accept monogamous marriages. Yet after Mary intervened, 5000-10,000 came daily almost forcing us to Baptize them, human and child sacrifice stopped, polygamy ended, 500 couples a day came to be married, and whole tribes would walk 80-100 miles just to go to regular confession.”

How was this possible?

Two

The Aztec People converted because they could understand the symbols in the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that matched their Aztec language

The woman stands in front of the Sun, covering it, showing that she is greater than their Sun god of war. She stands on the Crescent Moon, the symbol of their Serpent god, appearing to crush it under her feet. She is wearing a bluish-green mantle, the color reserved for royalty. So she is a Queen. She is surrounded by clouds, so she came from another world to give her message. She is a virgin, signified by the parted hair that hangs loose. Around her waist is a black sash that signifies a maternity belt. She is pregnant. This woman was a Queen, who was also a virgin, yet she was pregnant, pregnant with whom? On her garment, over her womb was the four-petal jasmine flower, the Aztec symbol for the One True God. 

This woman is the Virgin Mother of the One True God. But she herself was not a god because she was praying to the One indicated by the black cross on her brooch, Jesus Christ. He came to offer His life in sacrifice to put an end to all human sacrifice and set us free from slavery to sin, the devil, and death. 

They read the message, believed, and converted. 

Three

Miraculous nature of the Tilma.

A “tilma” was a cloak made from cactus fibers. It lasts for no more than twenty years. The tilma of Juan Diego is almost 500 years old. It laid on the floor in front of the altar of the Church for 116 years, exposed to constant human contact, candle smoke, heat, and humidity without decomposing.

In 1791, Nitric Acid was spilled on the Tilma by a negligent worker trying to clean the wooden frame. It began to eat through the Tilma, but the Tilma, in a sense, healed itself. In 1921, the Marxist, radically anti-Catholic Mexican Government, which had outlawed Catholicism, planted a bomb with 29 sticks of dynamite in a flower arrangement next to the Tilma. When it detonated, it shattered the marble altar, altar rail, marble flooring, smashing windows and doubling over a brass Crucifix, yet the Tilma was unharmed. 

In 1979, a group of scientists from the Univ. of Florida and NASA studied the image. 

In their conclusions, they reported: the colors are not paint or dye. There are no sketch marks or brush strokes. The Image does not even rest on the fibers but floats above the Tilma at a distance of 3/10 of a millimeter without touching it.

In 1981, astronomers demonstrated that the arrangement of the stars on the Tilma matches those found over Mexico City on December 12th, 1531.

Four

The Secret in Her Eyes

Every part of the Tilma has been digitally enlarged with extremely high resolution and studied. In this process, they found something amazing: thirteen people appear in both eyes of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and they match the written account of the thirteen people who were in the room when her image appeared on the Tilma. 

Dr. Tonsmann, in his book, The Secret of Her Eyes, documents the numerous studies that indicate when the eyes of Our Lady are exposed to light, the retina contracts, and when the light is withdrawn, it returns to a dilated state, just as it happens with a living eye. The eyes of Our Lady on the tilma have been ophthalmologically determined to be alive.

Ivan Esther, one of the best technical photographers in Mexico, but an agnostic, was commissioned to photograph the official digital image of the Tilma. While standing on a ladder to get a better shot, he zoomed in on the eyes of Our Lady and suddenly became so startled that he fell off the ladder as he cried out, “She’s alive! She’s alive!” He immediately confessed that the eyes of Our Lady reacted just as the eyes of a living person. He subsequently converted. 

In some manner, the tilma bearing the image of Mary bears her presence. She is not distant. Our Mother is with us. 

Our Lady said to St. Juan Diego, “Am I not here who  am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?”

Five

Share the Story 

Juan Diego spent the last 17 years of his life in the little chapel on Tepeyac Hill that housed the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Day after day, he welcomed the millions who came, sharing again and again the story of how Mary appeared to him and brought a continent to Christ.

Mary always comes to lead people to Jesus. But she needs her Juan Diegos, ordinary people who take simple steps that open hearts. Now that you know the story, you must share it.

This week, as we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, get a copy of the image, or print one out, and ask your family and friends, “Do you know what the Image of Guadalupe really is?” Then tell them the story or share this podcast with them. This is the one episode people tell me, over and over, has a real impact on the unconvinced. And follow up. Ask what struck them. Tell them that Our Lady has come repeatedly in our time asking for one thing: pray the Rosary every day.

Help them sign up for the daily Rosary podcast. Encourage them to form the habit. Because the Rosary is the weapon Mary has given us to change the world and save souls.

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