Dec 12th is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Many dismiss this wonderful devotion because of its close connection with Mexico. However, Our Mother under this miraculous title and image should be high on the list of all people who love Christianity. Read on as I share only a few amazing facts about this image of Guadalupe.

The Spanish rulers of the native Mexican Indians were brutal, and war between them seemed inevitable. In 1531, the archbishop of Mexico City, Juan de Zumárraga prayed to Our Lady for peace. As a sign that his petition would be granted, he asked to receive roses native to his home region of Castile, Spain. Many know that the Bishop was impressed by the roses, but his utter astonishment was precipitated by the fact that he was receiving exactly what he was praying for. In a matter of months, Our Lady ended the Aztec culture’s cult of death. The Aztec religion involved human sacrifice on an unthinkable scale. In the decade following her appearance, ten million Indians converted to Catholicism.

Jose Aste Tonsmann, a Peruvian ophthalmologist, examined Mary's eyes at 2,500 times magnification. He was able to identify thirteen individuals in both eyes at different proportions, just as a human eye would reflect an image. It appeared to be the very moment Juan Diego unfurled the tilma before Bishop Zumárraga. Dr. Jorge Escalante Padilla a surgical ophthalmologist considers these reflections to belong to the type which have been described on the back surface of the cornea at the center of the lens. Such reflections are very difficult to detect. Dr. Escalante also reported the discovery of small veins on both eyelids of the image. In the 1970s, a Japanese optician who was examining the eyes fainted. Upon recovering he stated: "The eyes were alive and looking at him." Incredibly, when Our Lady’s eyes are exposed to light, the pupils contract. When the light is withdrawn, they return to a dilated state.

And perhaps a detail us modern Americans must contemplate most is the fact that on April 24, 2007, an unusual luminosity in the famed image immediately after that city legalized abortion became visible. The picture below is from an eye witness: "At the end of the Mass, which was offered for aborted children... While many of us were taking photographs of the tilma, this image of the Virgin shows how it began to erase itself, to give place to an intense light which emanated from her abdomen, constituting a brilliant halo having the form of an embryo. All we can say is: “America, wake up, for God’s sake wake up”