Introduction

From Dec. 9 to 12, 1531, the Mother of God appeared five times in what is present-day Mexico City. Three of the apparitions were to St. Juan Diego, a native American of the Chichimeca tribe of the Aztecs; one was to his elderly and infirm uncle Juan Bernardino, with whom he lived; and the final apparition was to St. Juan Diego, the Bishop and his attendants. In her final apparition, our Blessed Mother left her image permanently on the tilma or mantle of St. Juan Diego, which remains miraculously preserved today, even though the cactus cloth of which the tilma is made should have disintegrated long ago. 

Within a matter of a few days, the Bishop of Mexico, Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, had a chapel built to the honor of the Mother of God and enthroned the miraculous tilma there. St. Juan Diego, for his part, took up his home at the chapel and recounted the story of Our Lady’s apparitions to all of the pilgrims who came there to pray. His good friend, Antonio Valeriano, a well-educated and esteemed fellow Native American, wrote down the account which he had heard many times directly from the mouth of St. Juan Diego. The text is titled Nican Mopohua, written in Nahuatl, the native tongue of St. Juan Diego. We are blessed to have an English version of the most reliable account of the apparitions by St. Juan Diego, as recorded by Antonio Valeriano. It is available in two books: A Handbook on Guadalupe (pp. 193-204), edited by Brother Francis Mary of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and distributed by Ignatius Press; and Our Lady of Guadalupe: History and Meaning of the Apparitions (pp. 88-100) by Manuela Testoni, published by Alba House. 

Mary’s Month

I recall the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe as we begin May, a month of special devotion to the Mother of God. As inhabitants of the American continent, the Mother of God has made known her great care and love for us through her extraordinary apparitions in 1531. Because her image remains on the enthroned tilma of St. Juan Diego, the Mother of God continues, in a certain sense, to appear to all who go to her on pilgrimage. Her words spoken to St. Juan Diego are words intended for all of her children of America and, thanks to Antonio Valeriano, continue to reach us today. In urging all of the faithful of the archdiocese to renew their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary during the month of May, I recall the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which invite a response of loving devotion. 

From her very first apparition, on Dec. 9, 1531, our Blessed Mother identified herself as the Mother of God and made clear that her apparitions and the message conveyed through them are for all the children of America and of the world. In other words, they are timeless and are directed as much to us today as they were directed to God’s children of America in the 16th century. Her message is of God’s all-merciful love toward us. Through her apparitions, many human lives were saved and millions of Native Americans sought baptism. 

In her last conversation with St. Juan Diego, on Dec. 12, our Blessed Mother assured him of her maternal care for him. St. Juan Diego was deeply worried about his uncle, Juan Bernardino, who was dying at home. He was hurrying to ask the priest to come to his uncle and to pray for him and anoint him. For that reason, he had failed to carry out the request of the Mother of God, although he planned to do what she asked of him afterward. Our Lady of Guadalupe met him on his way to find the priest. Recognizing his worry, she said to him:

"Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not in my shadow, under my protection?  Am I not the fountain of your joy? Are you not in the fold of my mantle, in my crossed arms? Is there anything else you need?" (Nican Mopohua, n. 119)

Her words reassured St. Juan Diego and renewed his trust in God’s mercy. 

With that, she invited him to go to the top of the stony Tepeyac Hill to pick flowers in the middle of winter, which were to be the sign of the truth of her apparitions and of her desire that a chapel be built to her honor, so that she might show God’s merciful love to those who would come to the chapel on pilgrimage. She desired that her children of America and of the world would hear always the loving words assuring us of her maternal care. 

After St. Juan Diego had picked the flowers, he brought them to our Blessed Mother who arranged them in his tilma and then spoke the most wonderful words to him: "Juan, you are my messenger, in you is placed absolutely all my confidence" (Nican Mopohua, n. 139).

Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to have the Mother of God speak these words to you personally? Through her messenger, St. Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe invites us to come to her, to open our hearts to her, and, with her, to bring the message of God’s merciful love to the portion of the world in which He has called us to live. She also places her confidence in us.

The Rosary

I urge you to take time during the month of May to go to Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. Go to her to express your love for her and to ask for her help. There are many ways to show devoted love of Mary during the month of May, devoted love which will continue throughout the year in many forms. 

Praying the rosary is the most powerful Marian devotion. At the beginning of the 25th year of his service as our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II wrote a wonderful letter to all the faithful of the world on the importance of praying the rosary. It is his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, "On the Most Holy Rosary," which he signed on Oct. 16, 2002, the beginning of the 25th year of his service as Holy Father.  The apostolic letter would be a wonderful text for spiritual reading during the month of May. 

In the apostolic letter, Pope John Paul II tells us that the rosary is his favorite prayer (n. 2a).  He uses the words which he spoke on Oct. 29, 1978, shortly after his election as Pope, to describe for us why the rosary is his favorite prayer and why it is so important to our prayer life:

"Against the background of the words Ave Maria, the principal events of the life of Jesus Christ pass before the eyes of the soul. They take shape in the complete series of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, and they put us in living communion with Jesus through — we might say — the heart of his Mother. At the same time our heart can embrace in the decades of the rosary all the events that make up the lives of individuals, families, nations, the Church, and all mankind — our personal concerns and those of our neighbor, especially those who are closest to us, who are dearest to us. Thus the simple prayer of the rosary marks the rhythm of human life" (n. 2a).

When we pray the rosary, our Blessed Mother helps us to draw near to her Son. Through the praying of the rosary, we make our hearts one with her Immaculate Heart, placing our hearts completely in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As our Holy Father states so strikingly, we not only come to know our Lord more fully and lovingly, but we also come to know more fully and lovingly all of those for whom we pray. 

In the apostolic letter, our Holy Father, reflecting upon the situation of our day, asked that we pray the rosary especially for peace and for the family (n. 6). Uniting ourselves to Christ, in the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation, we find the only source of our peace and of the peace of the world. Over the centuries since the rosary was first given to the Church, the successors of St. Peter have frequently urged the praying of the rosary to obtain God’s help and mercy. In our time, marked so tragically by violence at home, in our communities and between nations, let us pray the rosary to know peace in our own lives, to beg peace for the world, and to obtain the grace to be peacemakers. 

I am certain that there is not one of us who has not experienced the deep wounds which have been inflicted upon the family in our time. To address the great harm which has come to the family, let us pray the rosary for families and encourage families to make the praying of the rosary a stable part of their home life. Countless graces have come to families, strengthening them to meet challenges and protecting them from harm, through the praying of the rosary. 

May Altar

Another popular devotion to Mary during the month of May is making a May Altar in our home. I recall with so much gratitude the practice in my home of dedicating a special place of honor to our Blessed Mother during the month of May. As children, my siblings and I found great joy in gathering wild flowers to adorn the little table set aside to honor our Blessed Mother. We looked forward to spending time before her image there, expressing our deep love of her and asking her intercession for various needs. 

It would be good to have the May Altar become a permanent part of our home. A good friend of mine, Eduard Dietmaier, a woodcarver who grew up in Oberammergau in Bavaria and now lives outside of La Crescent, Minn., often told me about the tradition of the Gotteswinkel in the homes of devout Bavarian Catholics. His wife, children and he always maintained the Gotteswinkel in their home. The Gotteswinkel, or God’s Corner in the home, is a place of devotion. It can be a table or shelf on which we place sacred objects which evoke our prayer and devotion. It reminds us that our homes are consecrated to Christ, that Christ desires to be the permanent guest in our home and should be part of everything that happens in the home. Family members stop by the Gotteswinkel during the day to offer special prayers and even to leave a written petition or place there the photograph of a family member or friend in need of prayers.  The whole family gathers there to pray, especially the rosary. 

It would be most fitting to create the Gotteswinkel around the enthroned image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by which we consecrate our homes to Christ and proclaim Him the King of our hearts and homes. During the month of May, it can also serve as our May Altar, our place of special devotion to the Mother of God. Throughout the year, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially of the Immaculate Heart of Mary or Our Lady of Guadalupe, should have a prominent place in the little altar which we set up in our home to remind us that our home is a little church, the first place in which Christ comes to dwell with us. 

Pilgrimage

Another way to show our devotion to the Mother of God is to go on pilgrimage to a sacred place dedicated to her honor. On pilgrimage, we leave the ordinary circumstances of our lives, to discover their truly extraordinary character, because Christ dwells with us always. I suggest a visit to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville. Special graces come to us when we make the effort to visit Our Lady in one of her shrines. 

In this regard, I ask your prayers for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Diocese of La Crosse, the diocese which I served before coming to St. Louis. The building of the Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe has been very close to my heart, for I see it as a singular way in which to express our devoted love of Mary, increase our devotion, and seek the help of her prayers which we and our nation and world so much need. Until the new bishop of La Crosse is appointed by our Holy Father, I remain the president of the board of directors of the shrine, a duty which I carry out with great joy. 

On this coming May 12, I will travel to La Crosse for the groundbreaking for the shrine church, the heart of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on the following day. It marks a key moment in the history of this important spiritual work, for it is in the shrine church that the pilgrims will reach their goal and find so many graces for their daily living. In the shrine church, Our Lady of Guadalupe will speak to the hearts of her children, assuring them of God’s merciful love and inviting them, with St. Juan Diego, to be the messengers of God’s merciful love in the world. In a world which has become so forgetful of God and His plan for us, the message of the Virgin of Guadalupe is ever more timely. Going on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we will hear her words, spoken first to St. Juan Diego and now to us: "Am I not here, I who am your mother?" In other words, we will come to understand how the Mother of God is also our mother who assists us to live daily in Christ, to bring Christ, God’s merciful love incarnate, to our world. 

If you wish more information about the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Diocese of La Crosse, the address of the Web site of the shrine is: www.shrineofourladyofguadalupe.org. The regular address of the shrine is P.O. Box 1237, La Crosse, Wis., 54601; the telephone number is (608) 782-5440. Also, I will be happy to provide more information about the shrine to anyone who is interested. I hope to lead a pilgrimage from the Archdiocese of St. Louis to the shrine in the fall. 

Please pray for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Your financial support also will be most welcome, for significant funds must yet be raised to complete this important spiritual work of our time. 

Conclusion

May the month of May be a time of special Marian devotion for you and in your home. May Mary draw you close to herself and, in turn, lead you to her Son. Through her intercession, may many graces come to you and those for whom you pray.  Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization, pray for us.