Shema yisra’el Adonai ‘elohenu Adonai ‘ehad
Hear O Israel: the lord is our God, the lord
is one
(Duet. C.6, V.4)
The Vatican II vision of Pope John XXIII and
Pope Paul VI was to facilitate peace through a worldwide Faith community effort
(ecumenical) to promote justice. In the
call for the Vatican II Ecumenical Council, John XXIII stated:
“The bloody wars that have followed one on the
other in our times, the spiritual ruins caused by many ideologies, and the
fruits of so many bitter experiences have not been without useful teachings.
Scientific progress itself, which gave man the possibility of creating
catastrophic instruments for his destruction, has raised questions. It has
obliged human beings to become thoughtful, more conscious of their own
limitations, desirous of peace and attentive to the importance of spiritual
values. And it has accelerated that progress of closer collaboration …” (John XXIII, “Humanae Salutatis,”
(December 25, 1961)
“Hence
we humbly and ardently call for all men to work along with us in building up a
MORE JUST and brotherly city in this world. We call upon our brothers
whom we serve as shepherd, but also upon all our brother Christians, and the
rest of men of good will whom God ‘wills that they be saved and come to the
knowledge of the truth.’”
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE –
A RECOGNITION OF THE HUMANITY
OF THE INDIGENOUS
Vatican II is no longer the vision of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy, but the “people of God” continue the struggle for
peace and justice. The Milwaukee New
Sanctuary Movement of Voces de la Frontera sponsored a celebration of the feast
of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Ascension Lutheran Church in early December. Could such a celebration that would include
Latino Catholics and Lutherans remembering the story about Our Lady of
Guadalupe been possible before Vatican II?
Lutheran
Pastor Walter Baires introduced the program, a Cap Corps volunteer, Kathleen
Shea of Peruvian ancestry, played Our Lady of Guadalupe, Ms. Nikki Meirose
played the Franciscan Bishop Zamárraga, and Guadalupe Romero was Juan Diego. Nancy Flores Lopez, New Sanctuary Coordinator,
directed the show. The program included music
by the St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church choir from Lake Geneva and a enthusiastic
performance by young women Aztec Dancers.
Former Cap Corps volunteer Amy Tutenberg closed the program with an
outstanding rendition of Ave Maria.
Tamales and champorrado were prepared and
sold by the Palermo strikers. The money
taken in from the sale went to the strike fund and amounted to about $250.
THE MYTH AS
IT EXPLAINS FAITH – IN HISTORY
What was the play at Ascension Lutheran all
about? Let us briefly outline the Guadalupe
story. The legend begins with the
appearance of the Virgin Mary to a Mexican peasant Juan Diego in 1531. This is the time of the Spanish “conquista”
of Mexico which included a military and attempted cultural takeover. Tepeyak, a
hill overlooking the Mexico City, is cited as the place where the Virgin
appeared to Juan Diego. Tepeyak had been
a holy place for the indigenous people long before the conquest. It was the special place for worship of the
Aztec goddess Tonantzin. The Virgin Mary appeared pregnant, “en cinta” with a cord
around her waist, a belt or “cinteron,” indicating her pregnancy. She was luminous with sunlight stars around
her and the moon at her feet. She had a
dark complection – an Aztec Pacha Mama – a “diosa.”
Malinche, the translator for Hernando Cortez,
asked a Franciscan friar:
“But then, who is that
lady with the child in her arms whom you place in the temple?” The friar responded, “She is the mother of
Jesus Christ, who came to save us.” Malinche
became aware, “She was a mother! The
mother of them all, and so she had to be the lady Tonantzin. …It was sort of a nostalgia for the maternal
arms, a longing to feel enveloped, embraced, sustained, and protected by her
mother, as at one time she must have been; by her grandmother, as she had
definitely had been; by Tonantzin, as she hoped she would be and by a universal
mother…” (Esquivel,
Laura, Malinche, Simon & Schuster Inc. 2006, P.47)
The legend
recounts that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531 at Tepeyak in Mexico, but
the story is much older. At the time of
the Muslim conquest of Spain in the 8th century, a carving of the
Blessed Virgin – a black Madonna – supposedly by St. Luke - was buried. When it was rediscovered near the River
Guadalupe in Spain, many years later after the Muslims were pushed out of the
region, a shrine was dedicated to the “Virgin of Guadalupe.” Christopher
Columbus is said to have visited the Franciscan shrine.
In 1571
Pope Pius V sent Don Juan of Austria, brother of Phillip II of Spain, into the
sea battle of Lepanto against the Muslims with prayers to the Blessed Virgin
for victory. A Genovese admiral placed a
picture of the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe in his flagship command post. The Christians won a bloody battle with a
total of 16,000 killed from both sides. Pius V credited the victory of the
Christians to the Blessed Virgin. (See Chesterton’s poem, “Lepanto.”)
Spanish art depicted Mary – the Immaculate
Conception, conceived without original sin, similar to the Mexican image of Our
Lady of Guadalupe.
(Original Sin is a Christian doctrine.) The painting of Francisco Zurbaran (1598 –
1664) “La Inmaculada Concepción” one hundred years before the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by Pius IX (1854) provides a link to our
faith understanding of the Virgin Mary.
“A great sign appeared in the sky, a
woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars.” (Book of Revelation, C.12, v.10)
Martin
Luther (1483-1546) thought the Immaculate Conception teaching was erroneous.
And the Prophet said:
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