Lenten Watchfires: The Meekness of Saint Juan Diego

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Lenten Watchfires is a Lenten series based on the Beatitudes and the lives of the saints following the delightful picture book Rejoice and Be Glad! If you missed the first installments you can find them here: Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Peter.

Today we encounter Saint Juan Diego, a humble Native American who was given the privilege to be Our Lady’s messenger. Juan Diego was a simple farmer on his way to Mass when Our Lady called him to her, calling him “my little one”. Can you imagine having Mary call you “MY little one”? Just thinking about it makes me tingle all over. Let’s explore what allowed Juan Diego to be Our Lady’s little one and how we can grow to be more like him.

A state of beatitude

I love this definition from the Cambridge dictionary: A state of beatitude: “complete happiness that comes from being blessed (= made holy) by God”. We saw last week how the word beatitude means an extreme level of blessedness and how understandable it is that the blessings given to us by Our Lord during the Sermon on the Mount are called Beatitudes. But to actually be in a state of beatitude must be amazing. And I would imagine that Saint Juan Diego was very much in a state of beatitude once his initial fear wore off.

Having Our Lady call you “my little one” can have no other effect. But can WE reach this state, without an apparition? Yes! “Blessed are those who believe and have not seen”. Maybe this one should be the ninth Beatitude 😉 This week’s beatitude has a lot to do with being able to be in a state of beatitude and being open to receive the blessings of Our Lord.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

This beatitude was hard for me to understand for a long time, mainly due to a language misunderstanding. I understood meekness as being spineless, I am not sure how things got lost in translation but it made me disappointed in Our Lord to see Him as meek. Then one day a wonderful homily enlightened me that meekness is actually humility. And there is nothing spineless about being humble! It is one of the hardest virtues to acquire as it is so counter intuitive to our human pride. 

How can being humble help you inherit the earth? In so many ways! A humble person does not worry or get affected by outside events the way a proud person does. Humility helps us detach from the things of this world to contemplate the things to come. It is truly liberating. This week we will focus on the four things that will help grow in meekness and humility.

Learn

What is the best way to learn from Jesus? To read His Word and follow His example. We have such a tendency to overcomplicate things! This week is a great time to introduce Lectio Divina to my children. This short video is a great way to understand how to go about it and I am looking forward to implementing this with my youngest kiddos and giving a refresher for myself and my oldest kids. And Katherine Bogner (All About Lent and Holy Week) has some wonderful printables to help those of us who need more visual help to get going.

Serve

The Lord was not afraid to wash his disciples’ feet himself. How can I better serve my family this week and for the rest of Lent? Paying attention to what needs to be done around the house is a skill that I have to teach my children over and over again. The trash is so full that you cannot add another tissue to it? Take it out. No one can do it better than yourself and everyone will be so grateful they didn’t have to do it… Increasing paying attention to others encourages us to serve more.

Acknowledge

How often do we thank the Lord for His blessings and His intervention in our lives? How about His presence in our life? Do we give Him the space and acknowledgement He deserves? This week establish, or re-establish a rhythm of prayer in prayer. An easy one for me is the Angelus: I have a phone alarm (church bells, lol) that rings at 6:00am, 12:00pm and again at 6:00pm. This is mainly for me. But my kids know not to interrupt and usually just join in when the alarm goes off. It has been a beautiful way to create a prayer rhythm for myself and my family. I usually add an intention or a prayer of thanksgiving at the beginning.

Humility

The words of the Centurion are very dear to me due to a French tradition that I have never seen in the US. After the Consecration, when the priest says ”Behold, the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world.” And we answer “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the Word and my soul shall be healed” we strike our breasts in the same way we do during the Mea Culpa. While the priest speaks, we look up to the Host being elevated. Then bow our head and strike our breasts while saying the words of the Centurion. This always helps me refocus on the importance of receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist and of my littleness.

Saint Juan Diego

Saint Juan Diego was truly the smallest of the small. He was a native Mexican who did not speak Spanish, he was a farmer who toiled the land and a new convert who did not know much about the Catholic faith other than basic catechism. Yet, Our Lady chose him to carry her message to the bishop and to the Americas in general. And I am sure you have noticed that Our Lady always does that: Bernadette, Francisco, Jacinta, Lucie, Catherine Laboure were all very little and humble. And every time they were the ones chosen by Our Lady to be her messenger. The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola illustrates the littleness of Juan Diego and the great love of Mary beautifully. 

Let us grow in littleness!
I am praying for you.
Love,
Mattie