Today, December 12, is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On this day in 1531 she appeared to an Indian peasant, Juan Diego, on Mount Tepeyac outside of Mexico City. The meeting of the Virgin and Juan is described in a text entitled Nican Mopohua. She identified herself with these words (translation by The Rev. Virgilio Elizondo):

Know and be certain in your heart my most abandoned son, that I am the Ever-Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the God of Great Truth, Teotl, of the One through Whom We Live, the Creator of Persons, the Owner of What Is Near and Together, the Lord of Heaven and Earth.

Continuing, she describes her ministry as follows:

I will show and give to all people my love, my compassion, my help, and my protection, because I am your merciful mother and the mother of all the nations that live…