St. Catherine Labouré and St. Juan Diego
In the first part of this series of blog posts, St. Bernadette Soubirous was presented as a visionary instrumental in the popularity of devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. This second blog post will now present two other visionaries who also were chosen by God to make devotion to Mary popular. These two visionaries are St. Catherine Labouré and St. Juan Diego: the former promoted devotion to the Miraculous Medal, and the latter promoted devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Signs of God's divine power
In Our Lady of Lourdes' grotto in France, the sign of God's divine power in Mary's apparitions to St. Bernadette, are the countless healings obtained from the hidden spring in the grotto. In Our Lady of Guadalupe, it is the imprint of Mary's image on the tilma (cloak) of St. Juan Diego that marked God's miracle for His people. The apparition at Guadalupe, Mexico, happened in the 16th century. Up to the present time, that image of Mary is still imprinted on the tilma of St. Juan Diego. As for St. Catherine Labouré, the sign of God's divine power for His children are the millions of Miraculous Medals minted as a response to the request of the Blessed Mother to produce a medal making known her role in the salvific plan of God as the Immaculate Conception.
Three humble servants chosen
Although Mary appeared to many holy men and women, blessed and saints (and children too), the three mentioned in this series of blog posts attest to the truth that God chooses the humble and the lowly to be instruments of His salvific plan. Mary herself is the handmaid and the servant of the Lord who proclaimed her "yes" to God's will which called her to be the Mother of God. In the same way, God chooses Bernadette, Catherine, and Juan Diego to make known to us that God desires the conversion of hearts of all His children.
Simplicity and humility
Just as Bernadette lived a very uneventful life (but filled with prayer and holiness) before and after the Marian apparitions, it was the same for Catherine and Juan Diego. Catherine spent her life until her death at the Hospice d'Enghien performing menial tasks. And Juan Diego was a widower advanced in age, a hermit, and a native American who spoke the Nahuatl language.
Purpose of the visions
The Church teaches her children that for a Marian apparition to be genuine and authentic, it must add nothing to what is already expressed in the gospels. As Jesus in His public ministry called everyone to repentance and to believe in Him and the Good News, so the messages of Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, also call all the faithful to repentance, to penance and conversion, and to fervent prayer. The Blessed Virgin Mary appears to a select few of her chosen servants along the time continuum of Church history to relay important and very urgent messages: most of which are to save the world from a direction of sin, chaos, and destruction.
To be continued
In the next blog post are stories of Jesus appearing as the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alaçoque, and as the Divine Mercy to St. Faustina Kowalska. The rest of the series will then be devoted to stories of the stigmatists and the incorrupt remains of blesseds and saints. God at urgent times in the history of mankind chooses servants to speak a stronger message of conversion not only to members of the Catholic Church, but to other people of all races and cultures as well.
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