Greetings, folks! I'm back from my business trip to Mexico City, where all was not serious work, but also a bit of fun. The highlight was a personal pilgrimage to the largest Marian Shrine in Christendom, the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
I got there last Thursday, late in the afternoon. The week-long celebrations leading to her feast day on December 12 that saw over 10 million pilgrims had just concluded and the town of Guadalupe Hidalgo was still a tad disheveled for the wear-and-tear.
I entered the plaza from the underground parking and started taking pictures inside and out, then I entered the Basilica and was bedazzled by its sheer size and space. My eyes went straight to this Icon "not painted by hands" as--Eastern Christians might describe it--and wondered how I could approach it, since it was right behind the altar. One of the hourly Masses was just coming to an end and in the meantime, my hostess another two guests and I walked toward the crypt, not knowing that my question will be answered right there, for you see, the wall behind the altar is separated from it by several feet, its closeness to the altar an optical illusion created by the sheer size of the building.
The "gap" behind, between, and below the altar and the Image is really a passage way pilgrims may access to beheld the Icon closely without disturbing the Sacrifice of the Mass constantly going on at the altar. One gains access to it through the crypts. Ironically, that's where an ancient faith and cultus meet modern technology. As I entered the crypt I saw four mobile sidewalks, the kind you may see at any airport; three go in one direction and one returns. The pilgrim "rides" the belt as s/he contemplates the image.All the pedestrian, tacky things aside, as well as the press of humanity converging on the Shrine with all its accouterments, I have to say that my moments there were precious, intimate, and contemplative. It is difficult for me to describe the sense of wonderment that filled me as I saw the ancient image, photographically printed, some say, on cloth. I "felt" Our Lady's motherly concern and love very distinctly and dare I say, very personally, as if it were directed solely and uniquely to me. It was strange, it was powerful, overwhelming. The Holy Image out shined and eclipse everything else but Her and through Her, the Son. All this crowned, as it were, when Christ Himself, substantially, hidden behind the species of bread and wine, came to me once again. It was the Mother who prepared the encounter and reacquainted us once again, as she had done to others so long and has continued to do down the centuries.
I have seen copies and renditions of this Holy Icon elsewhere before. Incidentally, the Cathedral church of my birthplace in Ponce, Puerto Rico (pictured at right) is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. An authenticated replica of the Image hangs over one of its side altars. I've seen other replicas in other places, but let me tell you, none of these ever moved me as much as the real thing. I cannot explain my experience completely during my visit there, nor can I tell you that mine may be termed a "typical" experience. Nothing in the outside really prepares you for the encounter! The collective psychological pressure of the place and the people around you is not enough to explain away the sense of intimacy that I had with the Mother of Jesus and our Mother in that holy place. I tell you this: for a brief moment, all doubts I had melted and for the moment I beheld Her clearly on that photograph, I was in Heaven. How good it was to be there! I was tempted to build a tent for me and my companions on that Marian Tabor.
If you ever have a chance to visit there, go. You won't regret it.
Well, I am back, I am happy to be back, and now this little project of mine, this blog, will continue with renewed faith and devotion, now also dedicated to our Lady of Guadalupe, once of Nazareth, now of the World. ¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva Santa María de Guadalupe!