Juan Diego was born in Mexico in 1474 to a poor family who taught him the pagan Aztec religion. He worked on a farm in the fields and was married with no children. At the age of 50, Franciscan missionaries came to Mexico and Juan Diego and his wife were some of the first in their area to become Christians. On December 9, 1531, he was on his way to Mass and the sight of a beautiful woman bathed in radiant light stopped him. The beautiful woman was Mary, and the events, miracles, and countless thousands of conversions that followed make up the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
CHALLENGE
When Mary asked St. Juan Diego to build a chapel in her honor he said that he wasn’t important enough for the task. Mary insisted that he was the one she had chosen. Has God given you a task that you feel unworthy of completing? Spend some time in prayer today. Ask God what he needs you to do for him, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you the gift of fortitude to see it through.
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