Among the native people who eagerly embraced the new Christian religion were three Chichimeca Indians, Cuauhtlotzin, his wife Malitzin, and his uncle. All three were baptized, receiving the new names Juan Diego, Maria Lucia and Juan Bernardino.
“God does not want human sacrifice,” the friars explained to the people. “The Aztec priests sacrifice blood that is not their own. Instead, the one true God became a man and offered his own blood to save the people he himself had created. No amount of stolen blood could ever equal one drop of the blood of the God of Life!”
The oppressed Indians, loving and gentle, also understood and responded to the idea of God sending his Son to bring salvation to the world. “If an Indian child cries,” they told the friars, “the person closest to him comforts him, even if that person is not the child’s relative. We show love and affection to all our children.”
Because they were especially kind and caring toward their children, the Indians understood that the true God, who had willed to sacrifice his only Son for humanity, must love the human race very much. They said, “God has given us Jesus, his precious Son, the most innocent, in fact, of all innocent children.”
The Indians also placed great importance on the good of the whole community. “The tribe,” they said, “and not the individual, is at the center of things.” They practiced courtesy toward each other. It seemed reasonable, then, that the one true God, the Father of all, would never wish them to harm each other. “God is certainly displeased with human sacrifice!” they concluded.
Since the personal needs of each Indian were subjected to the needs of the group, and decisions were made in common, every person was responsible for the well being of the other, especially of children, whose needs were greater. To the Mexica, who had practiced self-sacrifice for the welfare of others, the idea of God having sacrificed himself for all people made perfect sense. It proved his perfect love.
The most difficult god to please, and the least understandable of all the Aztec gods (even to the Aztecs themselves) was the feathered-serpent Quetzalcoatl (KETS-ahl-KO-waht). “His ways are very mysterious,” those Aztecs who came for Christian instruction explained. “He is the warrior god. Our ancient prophecies say that he will rescue the human world from the dark underworld—not through war and sacrificing others’ blood, but through personal sacrifice! He is the hero of our civilization. He will make us great!”
The Aztecs themselves didn’t understand how this god, who was to preserve their culture, could also be a warrior who would first change their culture. Montezuma and his people knew the date of Quetzalcoatl’s prophesied return. “His return will coincide with the fall of our empire,” Montezuma’s advisors said. The emperor realized that the arrival of the Spanish colonists and the revelation of God fulfilled the ancient prophecies, sealing the Aztecs’ destiny.
The Spanish priests, in the meantime, were teaching how, in the Mass, Jesus offers himself as a perfect sacrifice to God the Father for the salvation of all people. “The Mass is our greatest prayer of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and petition,” they taught the people. “It is both a sacrifice and a holy meal. When we receive Communion, we are receiving the body, blood, soul and divinity of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. The one true God governs everything. The Mass brings God’s infinitely strong assistance to us. We worship God and acknowledge his power. We love God because he is all good and deserves our love.”
Belief in their most powerful god, the feathered-serpent Quetzalcoatl, had prepared the Aztecs to embrace the true God. It provided the seed of the Gospel—a seed that burst into bloom with the teachings of the Franciscans.
“The cross,” the friars taught the Indians, “was once a symbol of disgrace. But since Jesus died on the cross out of love for us, sacrificing his life to save us from our sins, the cross has been changed into a symbol of honor. Our God changes things around. Our God brings us freedom. The cross is a symbol of these things.”
The connection between the Franciscans—the Friars of the Immaculate Conception, consecrated to Mary—and converts like Juan Diego, his wife, his uncle, and many other Indians was growing stronger. The time was almost ripe for the Blessed Mother to appear. And she chose to appear to Juan Diego. Perhaps she chose Juan because of his simple love for God. Perhaps it was because of his humble position in the New World, which was now populated with learned and powerful men from both the Indian and European cultures.
Although we don’t know very much about Juan Diego’s origins, we do know that he probably belonged to the lower middle class. It’s generally believed that he was born in 1474, in the village of Cuautitlan (KWAU-tee-TLAN), just outside the gates of Mexico City.
Juan seems to have been a farmer who owned a small plot of land he had inherited from his father. Besides working in the fields, Juan supported himself and his family by weaving mats out of the reeds that grew along the shores of Lake Texcoco.
Juan Diego’s Aztec name was Cuauhtlotatzin (KWAU-tloh-TA-tzin), which means, “the one who speaks like a eagle.” Mary, the Mother of God, would soon use Juan’s voice to focus everyone’s attention on Jesus—her Son and her God.