Luceat!

Today in prayer, I was reflecting on Our Lady of Guadalupe as a great model of communicating the gospel to a specific people in a particular time, place, and culture, without changing the essence of herself or her message. Archbishop Claudio Celli of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications emphasized this same aspect of Our Lady’s ministry in his message today.So often I hear of youth ministers trying to be “cool” or “young” or “with it” in order to witness to high school and college-age students. In doing so, they often are more concerned with fitting in than with focusing on their call to elevate the culture. At the same time, FOCUS missionaries and other ministers to today’s world cannot be so disconnected from the modern culture that we fail to communicate to teens and young adults in their own language.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appropriately strikes this balance. In the image on her tilma, she wears the colors of royalty and the waistband of a pregnant woman, and she stands on and in front of symbols of the old Aztec idols. Using the cultural symbols of the day, she communicated her message partly through her appearance alone. In her beautiful words to Juan Diego, spoken in his native tongue, she poignantly addressed the concerns and tribulations that burdened many of the Indians in the early 16th century. She also delivered a message of hope and truth to those thirsting souls. Our Lady was authentically herself, but she was also specifically offering herself as the adopted mother of the broken Aztec nation.
How may we learn from her? I propose that we too can use the symbols and modes of communicating in our culture to spread the truth. Our modest clothing tells others that we respect ourselves and value our dignity. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, not Victoria’s Secret mannequins. Wearing a cross or keeping a rosary on our person identifies us as a Christian and Catholic. People will look at our words and actions to see if we wear these symbols as a fashion accessory or as a reminder of the One we love. Also, in our words we do not always need to know the latest phrases or to employ the word ‘like’ 50 times in each paragraph in order to talk to young Americans. We do, however, need to know them–to know where they are hurting, what they worry about, what they love, what they hate, and why they do what they do. If we speak to their heart, if we speak to the heart of their generation, and encourage them with a true message of hope, THEN we will be living “in” this generation “but not of” this world. Rather, we will live with one foot in the world to come and steal some of the pearls from the gates of heaven to hand to the children of our age.

Dear Lady of Guadalupe, please help us, like you, to minister effectively to the people to whom Christ has commissioned us to carry the Good News. Reveal to us the needs of our time so that we may seek to serve those we encounter, and in that service to lead them to Your Son.