BOOKS

Leader of the Knights calls on Catholics to follow Our Lady

Reviewed by Andrew Junker | Aug. 6, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

Chances are, if you live in the southwest United States and are Catholic, you know at least a little bit about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Our churches are filled with her image, and across the Valley many pray for her intercession after every Mass. We have a yearly celebration dedicated to her. And this newspaper has devoted many words to her over the years.

Chances are also that you may know the basic outline of the Guadalupe story — how she appeared to an indigenous Catholic convert named Juan Diego in the 16th century asking for a church to be built on the hill called Tepeyac outside Mexico City.

Juan Diego went to the local bishop and relayed the message. The prelate was, perhaps understandably, skeptical and sent the 50-year-old man away. Later, the bishop asked for a sign from Mary so he would believe Juan Diego.

Mary was very accommodating, and led Juan to the top of the hill where — in the middle of winter — Castilian roses had sprung. She arranged these roses in his cloak and sent him back off to the bishop. When Juan opened his tilma, the flowers had miraculously imprinted an image of the woman who appeared to him on it.

It remains to this day in a basilica on the same grounds where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared all those years ago.

That, at least to me, was the CliffsNotes version of events, which is why it was such a great surprise to read Carl Anderson’s new book written with Msgr. Eduardo Chavez, “Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love.”

 Anderson, who leads the Knights of Columbus as their supreme knight, showed great timing with the publication of “Our Lady of Guadalupe” on at least two counts.

Firstly, the Knights are meeting this coming weekend in Phoenix for their First International Marian Conference, which will conclude with a Guadalupe Festival. Secondly, this new book follows on the heels of Anderson’s excellent book, “A Civilization of Love,” which explored the calling of all Catholics to change the world and the methods for carrying out that vocation.

Anderson connects the two books immediately in the new book’s subtitle: Mother of the Civilization of Love. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Anderson posits, showed the world — but especially those living in the Americas — a way of living that will bring Christ’s peace to those who follow her message.

Anderson understands that Our Lady’s message is as ever fresh for Catholics today as it was for Juan Diego and Bishop de Zumarraga hundreds of years ago.

But, like so many times when trying to live a Catholic life, in order to move forward, you need a true understanding of the past. So, Anderson begins his book with the most thorough recounting of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s history that I’ve ever read.

Researched and copiously footnoted, Anderson and Msgr. Chavez meticulously present the historical facts of the apparition. They recount the miraculous history of the tilma, which should have disintegrated centuries ago just from normal decay, but which has managed to survive bomb blasts and nitric acid.

More importantly, the two authors are able to place this history in context. They spend ample time reading the symbolism not only of the image, but of the miraculous events themselves.

Our Lady also appeared to Juan Diego’s uncle, Juan Bernardino, as he lay dying. She cured Bernardino and told him what they should call her. She did this because uncles, especially old, wizened uncles, held an important place in Aztec culture as passers-on of truth and their people’s history.

The image she left behind was surely for all people to witness and be moved by. But at the same time, there are ciphers embedded into the image that held special meaning to the Aztecs.

Likewise, Anderson and Msgr. Chavez argue, we need to be able to read the signs of the times around us to decipher the message Our Lady of Guadalupe holds for us.

As always, her message points to her Son, the only One who can bring light to the world and give the perfect example of how to build a civilization of love.

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Media critic Andrew Junker is a staff writer for The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.