Born in Our Image and Likeness

Beloved in Christ, 

Last night, we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Mark's Cathedral for the very first time. It was part of the new Latino congregation being formed there. Before the start of the liturgy, we processed a statue of Our Lady into the cathedral, blessed her with incense and holy water, and set her up on a temporary altar near the front of the building. After the Eucharist, we continued the celebration with Aztec dancers and mariachis, who surrounded the statue while they danced and sang, an offering of a culture's beauty and joy back to God who, through the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, named that culture beautiful and beloved. 

Growing up in a Mexican-American family, images and celebrations of Our Lady of Guadalupe were ever-present in my childhood. Even so, I'm not sure I have ever fully appreciated the extent of the influence this apparition of the Mother of God has had on the spiritual imagination and cultural self-understanding of the people of Mexico, and indeed, all of Latin America. That powerful devotion was beautifully clear last night. 

The miracle of the Incarnation is that the God of the universe meets us on our own terms. God enters into the depth of the real experience of what it means to be human, not generically, but in all the beautiful and messy specificity of a particular time, place, and culture. The ongoing mystery of the Incarnation is that Jesus continues to enter into the depth of every unique culture, time, and place. The appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as a young, Indigenous Mexican woman to a young, Indigenous Mexican boy is a sure and certain sign that God continues to be born in the image and likeness of all God's children, in the uniqueness of every culture and place. The unbridled joy and enthusiasm of yesterday's feast is about particular peoples celebrating and remembering the way God has been and continues to be born in the beautiful specificity of who they, and we, are.  

The elaborately ritualized way in which we installed the statue of Our Lady at St. Mark's last night was about a people coming together to remember that God shows up as one of us, and sanctifies who we are as a people—blesses, affirms, and names us as good, beautiful, and holy. 

The good news of the Incarnation, the good news of Our Lady of Guadalupe, is that through the Mother of God, Jesus knows, loves, celebrates, and hallows all of who you are, and calls you to see and hold as sacred everyone you meet, in all their complex, messy, and beautiful specificity. What an amazing God we have. What an amazing gift of a journey we have been invited into together as God's people in the world. 

Grace and peace,

The Right Reverend Craig Loya
X Bishop