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Our Lady of Guadalupe - She Who Crushes the Head of the Serpent

12/12/2012

(Page 2 of 2)

Our Lady of Guadalupe came from a misunderstanding of the translation into Spanish of the word Nahuatl coatlaxopeuh.  Thus, Our Lady of Guadalupe is in reality Our Lady of Quatlasupe - She who crushes the head of the serpent.

At that moment in history the Aztecs executed around 50,000 men, women and children as human sacrifices to their pagan gods.  A common symbol of the Aztec religion was the snake and their temples were richly decorated with snakes.  

Within a few years, around nine million Aztecs converted to the Catholic Faith. They understood the message of the miraculous image. 

The image is covered with stars which accurately map out numerous constellations of the Mexican sky.  The stars on the image are in reverse thus providing a view of the constellations from the vantage point of Saint Juan Diego looking towards the sky.  The stars on the image are consistent with what astronomers believe was in the sky above Mexico City on December 12, 1531. 

The colors of Mary's tunic are unique in Aztec culture and reserved only for the emperor. 

Mary appears in the miraculous image as a pregnant woman.  Over the place where the heart of the unborn child would be is the Quincunx which is an Aztec flower.  The Quincunx is an Aztec symbol of the Lord of the Universe. 

The proximity of the apparitions to the site of the temple of the Aztec mother-goddess Tonantzin had an amazing effect on the Aztecs because they saw that Tonantzin (Our Mother) or Teonantzin(God's Mother) was to replace the Aztec mother-goddess.  Thus, the Mother of God led the Indigenous people away from the Aztec religion to the Catholic Faith. 

The ancient temples of the Aztecs, interesting archeological sites of the past, have been replaced by the new temples of materialism, secularism and consumerism.

On their altars the poor, the unborn and the elderly are forgotten , neglected and sacrificed by knives driven by greed, power and narcissism. 

Mary will lead humanity back to her Son.  Mary will free us from the sins of our modern times.  Mary, Our Lady of Quatlasupe - She who crushes the head of the serpent, is leading the new evangelization. 

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Father James Farfaglia is a contributing writer for Catholic Online and author of Get Serious! - A Survival Guide for Serious Catholics.  You can visit him on the web at www.fatherjames.org. 


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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention:
The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Guadalupte, Our Lady of Guadalupte, Mother of God, Rosary, New Evangelization, Marian, Fr James Farfaglia

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1 - 10 of 13 Comments

  1. judy claar
    5 months ago

    Excellent explanation! I tend to agree w/Judy...No matter how much one thinks they know, there is always something more that one does not know! Prayerful Blessings...

  2. KATHY
    5 months ago

    Rizzo, as a former Protestant, I can tell you that they only repeat what they hear. Protestants do not take the time to learn the history of Christianity. This is what I did,
    began reading the history, and hence, I am now Catholic. I had a revelation one day, about some of the things that Protestants find sort of weird about the Catholic faith. I say to them, if God could send his Angel Gabriel to Mary, and Mary could become pregnant with the Savior of our world, and Jesus could perform many miracles, and could show some of the disciples the heavens, and could be raised from the dead and bring the Holy spirt into the lives of those who call on him, then why could not these other things happen too. Mary was apart of Christs whole life. She was there in the beginning and there at the end of his earthly live. The Rosary is such a beautiful prayer. It makes us focus on Christ and his life, death and resurrection. Mary is playing a much broader roll in Christianity than some give her credit for. She is humble, and wants us all to return to Jesus.

  3. Lilian
    5 months ago

    The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is also on the Web address below. It is really wonderful.

    http://www.catholic.org/about/guadalupe.php

  4. Rizzo The Bear
    5 months ago

    Theophile, if I had a dollar/pound sterling coin/Euro for every time I read posts like yours referring to Our Blessed Lady - and the misunderstanding thereof of her place in the life of the Christianity... I'd be rich!

    Roman Catholics/Orthodox DO NOT WORSHIP OUR LADY AND NEVER EVER HAVE WORSHIPED HER. Period. In fact, it is as sinful to worship her and the saints as any idol!

    When we pray the Hail Mary, we do not say 'blessed art thou above women' but we pray, 'blessed art though AMONGST women.' The Hail Mary is, when you boil it down, recalling the mystery of the Incarnation as written in the Gospel. The greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary and the unspeakably profound and joyous words of her cousin, Elizabeth, in whose womb her child leaped for joy. In Elizabeth's womb was John the Baptizer.

    In other words, we are repeating words from the Gospel.

    We ask Our Blessed Lady to PRAY FOR US, in the same way when people ask us to pray for them in times of joy and strife. She is the Mother of Christ - the same Christ who tells us 'no-one can come to the Father except through me.' Even Our Blessed Lady goes to her Son with our prayers and hers. Do you see where we are coming from?

    Would an idol accept that? No.

    Christ gave Our Blessed Lady to US as he hung on the cross in the words he said to Our Lady: 'Behold your son.' and to Saint John: 'Behold your mother.'

    So, are we not to make a home for Our Blessed Lady in our lives as St John did at Calvary? Failing to do so would be letting down Our Blessed Lord very, very badly.

    Our Lady, when she appears, is a good and perfect mother doing what good mothers do: constantly reminding us of what's important - whether its tying your tie, being careful, being aware etc. Our Lady is the same with us, reminding us constantly of her Son, of the dangers of sin and asking us time and time again to turn TO her Son and even turn back to her Son, to do penance (Lourdes) and be aware of what's happening in the world (Fatima).

    To paraphrase Pope Paul VI, 'Our Lady is the lamp through which Christ is the Light'.

    Now, a god who demands worship would not be happy being a lamp...

    Think about it.


  5. Francis Xavier
    5 months ago

    There are many mysteries about our lady,I believe that she herself is a mystery. as one can't easily understand God,so it is with our lady.in my country,it is believed that the apparitions took place in Guadalupe in Mexico,it is also believed that it was there that she got the title,Mother of Mercy.the book of the prophet Ezekiel chapter 44:1-3 reveals her as the east gate.this is one of the many proofs that Mary is truely who the church say she is

  6. jh
    5 months ago

    Wonderful explanation, Father. May our Blessed Mother help us all.

  7. R. Elizabeth
    6 months ago

    The Book of Revelation states that the elected will rule with Jesus in Heaven (Rev. 20:4 -6). And,that this kingship or the authority is given to them for laying down their lives for the sake of their witness for Christ and for the Word of God. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, no doubt, suffered in her heart the agony of Jesus. I wish every Christian (Protestants, Pentecostals, Assembly of God, Jehova Witnesses and whosoever call himself a Christian) to meditate on this. This will help them crush the head of satan effectively.

    And, to those who say that Jesus never called Mary 'Mother', I want to ask : do you think Jesus sinned against the fourth Commandment of Moses? No, we all know Jesus is sinless. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus is sinless. And His mother is also Immaculate, sinless. The original sin of Adam and Eve has nothing to do with the Immaculate Mother. Because, the mighty God has done great things for her. She is made special, so special than the Angels in Heaven. Meditate on this fact. I guarantee, you will not sin, throughout your life.

    God bless you. May Mother Mary guide your ways.

  8. Ken
    1 year ago

    Good story!!!

  9. abey
    1 year ago

    With regard to the above article, the event at the garden of Eden need to be more clearly understood. Satan through deceiving Eve got to Adam, for that is how he goes about doing things & from the Biblical words which says that it was the woman who was found in transgression & not the man. It was to keep the woman from going with satan into the future that GOD put a wedge which is the enmity between the woman & the serpent, further GOD also told the woman that her desire will be to her husband, meaning not to satan, even though she obeyed the serpent. The second part which says the seed of the woman will bruise the head & the seed of the serpent will bruise his heel. Now Jesus Christ as the first fruit is the seed, then again Rev: CH 12 says of the remnant seed of the woman who make war with the devil. This remnant seed who are the Elect of GOD & as Rev states 144000 males redeemed & sealed of men with Jesus are them who will be involved in the war with the serpent .These are males as the seed(s) of the Women who do the bruising & not the woman or the female kind, but who will keep only the enmity against the serpent. In other words the female cannot crush the head of the serpent but the male of her seed, for the simple reason that the woman was the one who transgressed, over whom satan holds the power. A through theological study is needed to understand it in the rightful context, lest misinterpretation can cause more harm than good, as is widely seen through the ways of Anti-Christs, that which the cunning devil seeks.

  10. Maria
    1 year ago

    @Theophile: The "queen of heaven" referred to in Jeremiah 7 is Ashtoreth/Ishtar whom the canaanites of those days worshipped by "making cakes" and "pouring out drink offerings". The prophet Jeremiah lived in the 6th - 7th century BCE, and at that point of time, Mother Mary would have been an unknown Jewish girl whom no one had ever heard of.


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