Guadalupe Day

St. Juan Diego heard no voice of God,
he saw no burning bush, he wasn’t Moses,
but heard and saw God’s Mother, and what’s odd,
she filled his tilma with a bush of roses.

Yet more than flowers he’d to the bishop carry,
who with his aides saw stamped upon that robe
an Aztec image of the Virgin Mary,
from then a work of art seen ‘round the globe.

She there appeared in fifteen thirty one,
ten years since Spain had conquered Mexico,
led then eight million Indians to her Son,
and millions more to her great shrine would go.

Americas’ sweet Patroness, we say,
and honor her on Guadalupe Day.

by Pete Voelz      12/12/13
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe