Friends of the Rosary:
The Aztecs had dark beliefs in their pagan religious center of Tenochtitlan. They offered human blood to their divinity by killing people. They thought that sacrifices were necessary to keep the sun moving across the sky and preserve their lives, otherwise, the world would end.
We despise these barbaric beliefs today. However, many dominant ideologies in our secular society are also very destructive. They may not kill the body, but they are intended to kill the soul, which is much worse, as Christ Jesus revealed.
The Spanish conquistadors arrived and established Christianity in the old Mexico. Over two decades, the Franciscan missionaries in charge had little success in converting the indigenous people.
Many Aztecs didn’t trust the Spaniards and did not want anything from them. The situation was only getting worse.
Supernatural intervention was needed. The Holy Trinity sent the Blessed Virgin. She appeared to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin as a mestiza woman — a mix of indigenous and European descent.
The Heavens chose as their messenger a macehual Indian, that is, of a lower social class, only above the slaves.
Seven years before the apparition of the Virgin Mary, he received the sacrament of baptism, and along with his wife, the sacrament of marriage.
His wife, María Lucía, passed away in 1529, prompting Juan Diego to turn his life to God by attending Mass and catechism lessons at a Franciscan church in Tlatelolco. He lived with his uncle Juan Bernardino, an elderly man.
On December 9, 1531, as Juan Diego was on his way from his home in Tulpetlac to the Franciscan missionary’s church in Tlatelolco, the unexpected happened. Mary appeared to him, speaking in the native language of Náhualt.
Juan Diego's gravely ill uncle, Juan Bernardino, would be cured; a shrine would be built on the same spot at Tepeyac, and nine million Mexicans would convert to the true faith.
The course of history was changed forever.
Ave Maria!Jesus, I Trust In You!Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for Us!
To Jesus through Mary!
+ Mikel A. | RosaryNetwork.com, New York

• ⁠December 13, 2023, Today’s Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET