Day by Day 7 - Seeing Ourselves in God's Face

Friday, February 20/09

We arrived at the last day of our trip, and it would prove to be a jam-packed day. After our breakfast in the hotel, we headed out to see the Shrine of Guadalupe. I was not expecting much from this tour, but it proved to be the most meaningful part of the day, despite the huge Catholic setting. I had never heard of this shrine or the miracle before, but I saw echoes of our own story in it. Guadalupe is actually a painting around which a shrine and a town were built. Many pilgrimages have been made there since 1532.

Our guides explained that Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican, saw an apparition of Mary in a blanket which was carrying roses. This is the short version of the story. The Mary he saw had indigenous features on her, in other words, she was Mexican not Caucasian like the Spaniards. This had a huge impact on the spread of Catholicism within Mexico. Before then, Mexicans were suspicious of this new God and his dying Son. But when they saw Mary was like them, they began to believe, and they began to make pilgrimages to the spot where the miracle happened. It struck me that this was a perfect example of "transcend and include". They had to include their own identity in the new God before they could transcend the religion of their past.

As our guide explained this, I was also struck by our own crew at Watershed. In leaving the conference, we did not see our "faces" for a while in the new world away from what we'd known. For me, studying scripture in recent years and seeing Christ and the cruciform path in a deeper way is the face that helped me embrace the new. As I saw the statue of the pilgrimage the Mexicans made to Guadalupe (seen in one of the photos), I found myself grateful for my own pilgrimage along with you all at Watershed. 

Interestingly, as we looked at the painting commemorating this vision, our guides and other members of the group, whom I had not heard talk in "religious" language during the week, now began to talk of miracles. One teacher excitedly said that he had studied the painting and had heard how there is not known paint on her cloak. Scientists can not explain it. "And," he said enthusiastically, "Scientists have studied the painting under microscopes and have seen that the right eye alone has 12 people in it." Erik our guide said that we need to remain open to miracles. Marcos said that a cousin of his whose life was going downhill with alcoholism, became healed when he asked for a miracle at the Shrine.  Maybe these places of pilgrimage open us all up to the miraculous in life.

We walked around and I enthusiastically bought cross necklaces for the gals and had them sprinkled with holy water from someone who looked like a priest. I found myself praying for Paul here and asked for his healing. It was strangely a moving experience. 

One interesting fact from this tour was how the ancient buildings (hundred of years old) are starting to sink and lean dangerously. They are bracing up the church and trying to fix it, but it looked like a daunting project to me! I took a picture for Cal and Eldon (can you see the angle of the church compared to the straight building beside it?) 

From here we drove out to see the pyramids, about a 45 minute drive outside Mexico City. We saw a lot of poverty outside the bus window, very poor looking homes in grey, concrete ghetto like areas. We received a lot of teaching here in the pyramid area, and then we went to climb to the top. We made the trek up to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, like I had seen in the Lonely Planet video with Lyle. It was getting hot out, but we all made it up the steep steps. Miraculously, we saw butterflies swooping around at the very top, not monarchs, but some other kind of butterfly. Erik explained that for some mysterious reason, these butterflies are often at this very location, doing a mating dance. It was quite beautiful up there.

Going down, we had to walk the gauntlet of shops and hawkers, ready to sell their wares. I practiced "ignoring them" by looking down and not offering any encouragement whatsoever, which went against the "be nice" attitude of a 2 :-). We were told that if we dared look at them, they would hound us to the ends of the earth until we bought what they were selling. Marcos told us, in his Mexican accent, "Stay-uh strong!" It was however, fun buying some last minute souvenirs, among which were the Aztec calendar for Paul and Bev, a t-shirt for Lyle, and a Mexican shirt for myself. 

Next on our whirl wind tour was our trip to see the Diego Riveria murals at the National Palace in Mexico City. I had heard of Riveria but only vaguely, and we saw these amazing huge murals which depicted the history of Mexico. It was fascinating but at this point I was on "information overload" and not much was sinking in! After this, we walked to see an archeological site where there are some Aztec ruins, found in the heart of Mexico when they were digging a new subway.

We headed back to the hotel with a bit of time to get ready for our "farewell supper". We walked to a local restaurant. We ordered supper and people could say whatever they wanted to about their trip. Many got teared up as they spoke (not me though, I was too tired). My speech however was heartfelt. I said the quote about the pilgrimage which Lorna had given me, "What was the purpose of our pilgrimage? To let a new intelligence prevail." Over and over again people said how one of the highlights of the trip had been meeting all the great people on the tour. I agreed with them all about that. Marcos and Erik had made this a great trip with their knowledgeable teaching, sprinkled with kindness and humanity and wisdom.