People’s faith gives insight to Juan Diego’s existence

December 4, 2009

People’s faith gives insight to Juan Diego’s existence
“Do you believe in science or in faith?” a young man asked me. I answered, “I know science and I have Faith.” The young man smiled and walked away. I looked at him and by the look of his face he was not pleased with my response.

Questions that stem from this line of thinking do not surprise me because of the society we live in. We live in a society that is obsessed with certitude. We will not take risks unless we know we will not lose anything. We long to prove our point by finding evidence that supports our claim. The scientific method, as wonderful as it is for science, has become the measuring stick by which we judge all things even things that are beyond this capability of science.

However questions that juxtapose science and faith presuppose that science (reason) and faith are at odds and that both of them treat the same subject matter. They place them at opposite poles as if they were lobbying for votes to see who the people will choose. As a result people are lead to think that faith is for the ignorant soul.

The Catholic Church has always objected to this type of understanding. Catholic theology maintains that faith and reason are complimentary. They are two ways of knowing, and both are working towards the same end. The end is God. They are not like two runners in a competition trying to outrun each other. Instead they work together to better discern the will of God for His people.

St. Thomas Aquinas claimed that faith was a higher way of knowing because it dealt with God as its first matter. Reason is secondary to faith because its first matter is the created world. Thus in his view reason is the handmaid of faith not vice versa as our society seems to indicate.

For example, if you visited a gravesite, and saw that the grave had been dug up, what would you think? Someone has robbed the grave. Judging by what our senses tell us and from the evidence presented that seems to be a reasonable answer. However, when, Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved entered the tomb, John believed (cf. Jn. 20: 1-10). Through the eye of faith he saw what the women who entered the tomb first did not see. He saw and gave witness to the mystery of redemption, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, something reason alone could not have achieved.

Another example is that of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. In July 2002, Blessed Juan Diego, the Aztec native, was elevated to sainthood. During the long process of his beatification, many historians questioned his existence. Some of them even went as far as to deny the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s interaction with him as authentic. While reason searched to find historical proof, thousands of Catholics did not need that proof, because faith had given them an insight into Juan Diego’s historical existence. The people of God knew that he had been a real historical person not because they could prove his existence with absolute documentation but because the Mother of God chose a lowly servant like herself to reveal to him and those like him that God loved them.

We know from the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe that Juan Diego was practicing his new faith. He was receiving instruction on the faith and attending Mass. This tells us that Juan Diego was living out his faith in a concrete way. He was trying to understand what we believed as much as possible. He was an example for the other Indians and in this way he is an example for us and encourages us to live our faith in a concrete way.

While some still question Juan Diego’s existence, the fact is that Saint Juan Diego was born in 1474, 18 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He was one of the first Aztec natives who were evangelized by the Christian Missionaries in the New World. We know that he was married to Maria Lucia and he became a widower. We also know that after the death of his wife, he went to live with his uncle Bernardino in Tulpetlac. We know he was a man of faith. Of all the evidence found that attest to his existence, the oldest dates back to 1548, the Escalada Manuscripts.

The Church has set his Feast Day on December 9 to commemorate the life of a simple man with deep faith. It was on this day in 1531 that the Virgin Mary first appeared to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill.

Faith and reason need each other. When one is missing, overlooked, or dismissed there is disharmony between them. Remember the goal is to discern God’s will. Then let there be harmony between these two powerful tools God has given us so that we might be holy men and women of God.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap