Lecture 10 Outline

Guadalupe in Contemporary Theology

1. Sources used in this theology:
1. Image
2. Story: theological reflection on sacred narrative of the Nican mopohua
3. Devotion: Guadalupe in the life of devotees: see especially Jeanette Rodriguez
4. The fundamental theological question being asked about Guadalupe is: What is there about her image, story, and presence that makes people feel so deeply about Guadalupe?
2. Theological Meanings (start by surfacing some of their meanings for Guadalupe – note how many theological themes in Guadalupe have parallels in the Gospel itself):
1. Inculturation or the Gospel on native cloth, as Virgilio Elizondo puts it. We see this especially in interpretations of the image and in Pope John Paul II’s acclamation of Guadalupe as a model of inculturated evangelization.
2. Evangelization: Not an evangelizer who scares or coerces, but one who wins hearts with the love and compassion of God. La Virgen evangelized Juan Diego and empowered him to be an evangelizer of others. Just as Mary visited Elizabeth to share the good news of Christ, so Guadalupe visits Juan Diego (and through him the indigenous of the New World) to bring the Good News of her son.
3. Liberation/announcement of the reign of God (seen especially in the story) = reversal of conquest in a manner akin to the liberating reversals in Gospels, especially Luke (e.g. “he has brought down the might from their thrones and raised up the lowly; the hungry he has given every good thing, while the rich he has sent away empty”).
4. Theology of conversion: here both the powerful and the oppressed are called to conversion – Juan de Zumárraga to overcome the blindness of ethnocentrism and pride and Juan Diego to overcome his belief that he is a nobody, that he doesn’t matter. The pathway of conversion is not the same, but the call to conversion and transformation is for all. We are all called to see ourselves as God sees us: as precious, dignified, and made in God’s own image and likeness. But we are also all called to confront our sinful pride and prejudice – the Juan Zumárraga tendencies that lurk inside all of us.
5. Theology of reconciliation: The conversion of Juan Diego and the bishop are a mutual conversion that leads to true reconciliation, what many call the birth of the Church – a discipleship of mutuality – in Mexico and the New World.
6. New humanity: Guadalupan theology often revolves around the clash/encounter of two halves of the globe – the “Old” and the “New Worlds” – as one of the most momentous historical occurrences of the second Christian millennium. As a mestiza who combined the Iberian Catholic and the native Aztec in her story and her image, Guadalupe is the mother of the Americas or, as Pope John Paul II put it, the “patroness of América” from Tierra del Fuego to the northernmost reaches of Canada. The pain which conquest, enslavement, and colonization have caused in the Americas, Guadalupe calls us to heal and forge a new unity based on mutual respect.
7. Divine Providence: God brought good even out of the violent clashing of peoples. Devotees like those at San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio trust in Guadalupe to intercede for them, but do not lose faith when their prayers are not answered in the way and manner desired. They show a deeply Catholic balance between the need for human initiative and simultaneous trust in God.
8. Option for the Poor: not an exclusive option, but a preferential one. We see this not just in the story, but in the devotion itself down through the centuries: Guadalupan devotion has consistently been stronger among women and the marginalized.
9. Discipleship (with related theme of lay leadership): Juan Diego as an empowered evangelizer who spreads the good news and calls even church leaders to conversion.
10. Dignity of Motherhood/Guadalupe and Women’s Lives. Calling Guadalupe a loving mother is what most devotees say about her first; she is a mother. But this is not all Guadalupe means in women’s lives. As sisters, daughters, and/or mothers, women devotees often identify not just with Juan Diego, but with Guadalupe herself, a powerful but ambiguous figure of motherhood, womanhood, purity, activism, and strength. This can lead to double messages (tell story of 1930s Hijas de María at San Fernando), but those who promote the devotion present Guadalupe as a source of strength and empowerment for women, e.g. Jeanette Rodriguez and the women I met at San Fernando who say Guadalupe enabled them to move into their professional lives. As one woman told me, “Guadalupe gives you dignity to go places you haven’t been before.” On this point some controversy can enter, e.g. differing views on the role of women, Guadalupe as intercessor or wielder of divine power herself?, Guadalupe as feminine face of God?
11. Equality of Women: Men need to hear foregoing as a challenge to treat all women with respect, as we would treat our own mothers and want them to be treated. Example of man at San Fernando who sought La Virgen’s forgiveness for mistreating his wife, but didn’t plan to ask his wife’s forgiveness as well. Guadalupe calls us to embrace women as our partners in every way.
12. Solidarity: Jeanette’s Our Lady of the Massacre story from Chiapas. One local leader explained it this way: “After the massacre we put her back together with a bandage that was how she was resurrected. The Virgin saw everything on that day and now she is complete. This is why we gave her a new name – the Virgin of the Massacre. The displaced and the communities recognize the presence of God in the Virgin of the Massacre. We feel her presence in the village. She unites us with regard to differences, she unites us because she is the mother of everyone, she intercedes on our behalf with God, and we feel her presence in our suffering, in our dreams, and in our hope.”
13. Hope: For numerous devotees the core experience of Guadalupe is the replication of Juan Diego’s intimate, mystical encounter with their celestial mother. In innumerable conversations, prayers, and sustained gazes at her image, devotees relive this mystical encounter. The major way this devotion has spread has been by word of mouth, devotee to devotee. Testimonies of miracles are frequent, though not all prayers are answered in the time and manner desired. But always Guadalupe is, as one woman told me simply, “hope in all we face.” Devotion to Guadalupe has not resolved all the problems in the lives of her followers, but it has given them hope.