Aleteia interviewed Monsignor Eduardo Chavez, Director of the Superior Institute of Guadalupan Studies, postulator of the cause of canonization of St. Juan Diego, and Canon of the Basilica of Guadalupe.
During the conversation, Monsignor Chavez explained how the document of the Nican Mopohua emerged first from the oral tradition started by St. Juan Diego. It later became a text elaborated by Antonio Valeriano, who — listening to the voice of Juan Diego — transcribed the account in the Nahuatl language with Latin characters.
He mentioned that the image of Our Lady was not only contemplated and interpreted by the indigenous people (because it was a whole visual codex), but also by the Spaniards, because they saw a woman dressed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, about to give birth (Cf. Revelation 12).
Aleteia: What is central or essential to the Guadalupan event?
Mons. Eduardo Chávez: It’s Jesus Christ. The center of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is her immaculate womb. She’s a pregnant woman, so the center of her image is Jesus. [...]
Consequently, it’s not just another apparition, but is an encounter with Jesus through Our Lady of Guadalupe.
That is why it’s marvelous, sublime, and that’s the reason for the intuition that all our brothers and sisters have: 23 million pilgrims come annually to this sacred place. This doesn’t happen in any other part of the world. There’s an intuition of this Truth of Guadalupe, Truth with a capital letter, because it’s Jesus Christ our Lord, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
What light can the Guadalupan event shed on the current situation of the world?
Mons. Chávez: There was a calamitous situation after the conquest. There was slavery, and the death of the indigenous population due to smallpox, and the other terrible things that the indigenous people and the first missionaries lived and suffered. This is very similar to life today, with so many injustices and terrible things that we are experiencing: forms of corruption, insecurity, the blood of innocents spilled, missing people. We are living in chaos.
At that time, Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, in a letter to the king [of Spain], said these words that for me are a prayer crying out to God: “If God does not provide a remedy from his hand, the earth is on the verge of being totally lost,” and God really intervenes through Our Lady of Guadalupe.
What does it contribute, then, in today's world? Precisely, to live in fullness of God's love, to see ourselves as brothers, as a family, where there’s no place for injustice, criminality, and shedding our brother’s blood. Because you know that you’re part of this family, God’s family.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is your mother, who shows you the merciful face of God, our Father; of Jesus Christ, our Lord in her Immaculate womb; and of the Holy Spirit, who is his breath, his Word that touches your heart. The transformation of a whole society starts from the heart, when we know how to love and forgive.
Mons. Chávez also reminded us of Mary’s comforting words, which are powerful in the face of war, divisions, and uncertainty, so present in today’s world:
“Do not be afraid. Am I not here, who have the honor, the joy, the happiness of being your mother? Am I not your protection, your shelter? Am I not the source of your health, the source of your joy? Are you not perhaps in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? What else do you need?”
