Our Lady of Guadalupe: Was She Mary or Something Else?

In December of 1531, near Mexico City, it is believed that a vision of the Virgin Mary, who called herself Our Lady of Guadalupe, appeared to a peasant named Juan Diego. She instructed Diego to tell the bishop she wanted a temple built in her honor.

Go and put forth all your effort, she said. Diego told the bishop, who of course was skeptical, he wanted proof. So Diego went to the top of Tepeyac Hill and found roses when they were not in season, and the lady told him to take the flowers to the bishop.

When Diego presented the roses, he opened his cloak, and everyone saw that Our Lady of Guadalupe had miraculously left her image on Diego's cloak. That garment still exists today. It hangs in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, one of the most visited religious sites in the world, with more visitors annually than even the Vatican.

If you look up the legend, you'll find a lot about the miraculous qualities of the image on the tilma. But do you know what you may never hear? The gospel. The gospel was not in any of the four messages the lady gave to Diego, nothing about how Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, or that we should share that message with the world.

Instead, the lady said she wanted a temple, so she could exhibit and give all my love to all who love me, and remedy all their miseries. Only Christ can take away the misery of our sin. But the lady never mentioned Jesus, though there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Why would Mary go on about herself and never point to her son? Why would she demand a temple to be built to her? And why would she verify her appearance with a picture of herself? Because this self-centered apparition was not Mary.

There's no question the impact Our Lady of Guadalupe has had on Latin America. It's practically a cultural icon, but it has resulted in no one's salvation. Do not be deceived. Romans 1 16 says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, when we understand the text.