If tattoos are a good barometer of Marian piety, then Our Lady of Guadalupe has got to be one of the most popular Marian feast days of them all.
Lots of people know that in 1531, Our Lady appeared to a peasant man named Juan Diego in Mexico City. And every year, millions of people visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe to see Mary’s image on Juan Diego’s famous tilma.
(Apparently many then head to the ink parlor.)
I actually visited the Basilica as a Protestant missionary to Mexico in the 90s, but obviously didn’t appreciate what I saw back then. I certainly didn’t head to the tattoo parlor. If I had, it probably would have been a Billy Graham tat, and not Our Lady.
While most of the attention of this great feast is rightly focused upon Mary, there’s another aspect to the story that isn’t often considered. Namely, Juan Diego.
What most people don’t realize is that Juan Diego was in his fifties, which made him an old man for that time in history. (Fifty was the new eighty, back then.)
But because of Mary, his evangelistic life was just beginning.
And look what he was able to accomplish. Look what God was able to accomplish through him. Look what his mother inspired him to do.
St. Juan Diego, not to mention Our Lady, is a great reminder that God can use us no matter where we are in life. All we have to be is willing. We have to ask for God’s grace to stop coming up with excuses or allowing distractions to take our focus off of what’s really important.
So ask yourself, are you willing? Are you willing to do whatever God wants? To conform yourself completely and totally to his perfect will like Our Lady? Are you willing to say “yes” (or “si” in Juan Diego’s case), and let God do wonders through you regardless of where you are in life?
Because if you are, he can use you to help change the world, too.
I pray you continue to have a Blessed Advent!
Matthew
- Come on pilgrimage with me to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe and other great sites in sunny Mexico from February 11-16, 2016! Click here for info.
- Want to go deeper in prayer? Grab my FREE cheat sheet 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life. You can grow close to God!
