You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, Spouts.

Today is Tuesday, May 5th, 2020.

Now, this week we are talking about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Yesterday, we talked a little bit about Juan Diego, who was an Indian man who had converted to the faith, but for the most part in the area that is now called Mexico, there was a huge amount of tension between the Spanish that had

arrived and conquered the Aztecs and the Indian people. And for the most part, the Spanish people

were not treating the Aztecs very well.

So it was into this situation that Mary appeared. One day, Juan Diego was walking down a long dirt

path through the desert when all of the sudden, on the top of a small hill, he saw a beautiful woman appearing.

She called to him by name, and she called him her littlest and dearest son.

Right away in this apparition, Mary identified herself as the queen of heaven and the mother of Jesus Christ. She told him right

away that she was Mary. Now, Juan Diego fell to his knees and he didn't really understand why

she would appear to him. He was simply a poor Indian man. But Mary made it clear that she had

picked Juan Diego for a specific mission.

She wanted a chapel built in her honor at that exact place. Now, if you can imagine,

this place was in the middle of a desert on the tiny hill where cactus and thistles were

growing. But she told Juan Diego to go to the Archbishop, even though

Juan Diego knew that he would not listen to him. And yet, because she asked in such a beautifully

motherly way, Juan Diego went. Now, the Archbishop of the area was a very holy man, and he listened to Juan Diego.

He listened to him, and he wanted to believe Juan Diego, but he didn't really know if he should.

So he sent Juan Diego away, and Juan Diego went back on this dirt path, walking right by the same hill, and once again,

Mary appeared to him. He was very sad and downcast, and Mary told him, don't worry, don't worry.

...