On a recent trip, I picked up a couple of unique gift items from the Jesuit Retreat House in Novaliches, Quezon City. One of them is the 2012 “Flowers for Mary” calendar, a desktop datebook of Marian feasts for the coming year. Each leaf features a meditation and the date chart is printed over a so-called “encaustic” wax-painting courtesy of one Remy Ignacio.
In all, there are 43 feasts in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the months of May and September having the most number of celebrations. The month of June has the leanest, with only two. Most Marian observances are included in the liturgical calendar, meaning, the dates had been predetermined by Catholic hierarchy and as such, are universally celebrated by the faithful. Some local feasts are also inscribed, as if to remind Filipinos about common cultural traditions with deeply Marian themes.
Such is the feast celebrated today by the people of the Archdiocese of Cebu. Although civic in nature, it is closely tied with the people’s devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe de Cebu, the patroness of the Archdiocese of Cebu. Her image is venerated in barangay Guadalupe’s parish church, an archdiocesan shrine which stands out for its imposing and beautiful dome.
Every year at this time, local government officials keep pace with church leaders in keeping tradition through Masses and general prayers. The gozos or antiphons sung during the Mass are intended to make people remember how Mary helped them surmount difficulties, especially the kind that almost wiped out the village in 1904.
Oral tradition has it that the image of the Virgin of barangay Guadalupe was discovered in a cave in what is now barangay Kalunasan in the 1880s, but it was only in 1904 when villagers prayed with intensity for Mary’s intercession. People were then dying in numbers due to the cholera epidemic and villagers could no longer handle the increasing human toll. Feeling utterly helpless, people gathered together at dawn to pray the rosary as they walked up to the cave where the Mary’s image was placed. To this day, the people of Guadalupe pray to Mary not only to seek favors but also to thank her for many blessings brought about by her powerful intercession.
Meanwhile, Dec. 12 is that time when Catholics all over the world honor Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The center of celebration is the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, one of the most visited Marian shrines all over the world.
The apparition of Our Lady in Mexico in 1531 to Juan Diego is emblazoned in the “tilma” or cloak, which was not only meant to direct the bishop at that time to build a church on the spot where she appeared to the native, but also to tell him about the real presence of Mary among the Mexican peoples.
Present-day theologians like Boston College professor Nancy Pineda-Madrid view the apparition in the context of the “dashed hopes of the apostles and the downtrodden, even suicidal native peoples of 16th-century Mexico.” The images left by St. Juan Diego’s “tilma” combined the Aztec and Catholic symbols, such that they not only mediate a “sense of the divine,” but also serve as inspiration for the native peoples that there is hope for themselves and their children.
According to Pineda-Madrid, Our Lady of Guadalupe “initiates a zeal for mission, crosses racial and ethnic lines, and continues God’s promise that the presence of the Holy Spirit, will continue to be with and empower the faithful.” Because she represents the “American Pentecost, a renewal of hope that, like the coming of the Holy Spirit both to the apostles after Jesus’ ascension into heaven and continuing today, the miracle of Guadalupe is an ongoing event”.
People tuned in to Mexico’s national affairs might find this reflection quite fitting as the country grapples and battles with the widespread problem of illegal drugs. Mexico is not just a transit state for illicit narcotics but also heavy with producers and consumers of marijuana, heroin, cocaine and shabu.
A 2006 report by the Mexico City-based Citizen Council for Public Safety and Legal Justice pointed to pervasive consumption of cocaine and shabu, with some “70 to 80 tons of cocaine per year internally consumed, and as many as 20,000 sales outlets scattered across the country”. Mexico has enlisted the aid of the United States through its lead anti-narcotics agency to combat the dreaded drugs menace. In the process, thousands of government agents including policemen, judges, lawyers and advocates have lost their lives.
The suicidal tendencies of the Mexican peoples in the 16th century were brought about by a godless culture. Doesn’t that situation mimic, if not duplicate, today’s acceptance of drugs in fashion and culture? What a fearsome scenario, which in the context of widespread graft and corruption, would seem to defy human solutions.
The background of today’s celebration with its center in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City is not connected with the people’s faith-based experiences in Mexico although a number of parallels may be drawn. Illegal drugs have become pervasive while corruption besets both Mexican and Philippine societies.
It’s time for us to reach out to our cultural roots and find meaning in religious feasts. As another theologian very well put it, “Every feast, every act of devotion to Mary, finds its dignity in turning our hearts to God.”