A successful lawyer in the oil industry, Mexican Maria Guadalupe gave up her life of success, money and lies to follow God’s will and put her talent as a lawyer at the service of the Virgin of Guadalupe…

A predestined life

Maria Guadalupe was born in Mexico City on December 6, 1974, and when she gave birth, her mother received Holy Communion. Then her grandfather, as the eldest member of the family, chose her first name, Maria Guadalupe, and the date of her baptism: December 12, feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Thus began her life, under the blessing of the Empress of the Americas!

A prestigious lawyer

After a childhood influenced by her grandfather’s deep faith, Maria Guadalupe obtained a law degree and became a lawyer. She then devoted all her energy to her career. She worked in a climate of constant competition;  she had to be the best, to earn more and more money… She lived in the United States, Sweden and then South Korea. She had everything she wanted:  house, apartment, nice clothes and she traveled a lot…

But she was less and less happy. She was a Catholic without really understanding what that meant, without living her faith. When the Mexican government hired her to help implement new energy laws, she reached the peak of her career. She was on TV, on the radio, in the newspapers, she was everywhere…

Time to choose!

Maria Guadalupe realized that she was being asked to lie, to cheat, to accept corruption. But she couldn’t do it, and that saddened her because she felt unfit to do her job. Then, on a big case, you had to do things completely illegally. For 3 months, she resisted and proposed legal alternatives, but nothing suited her employer…

So she went to confession, talked to the priest and returned to her boss, to whom she said: “You hired me because I was Catholic, and that’s why I can’t do what you’re asking me to do. I suggest you do things properly, or I’ll have to resign.” It cost her a lot because 30 people were working for her on this project and counting on her… But then her boss accepted her resignation, and assured her that he would do everything to make sure she would never find another job.

God’s call

It was then that God touched her heart and her life changed. She lived near a church and used to go there every day. One Sunday, at the end of Mass, her heart was gripped and she wept for a long time. A few weeks later, the priest suggested that she get to know God’s love. From then on, for the next 5 years, she faithfully prayed to discover God’s Will in her life.

And one day, at last, she received a sign! She found herself on Tepeyac Hill, where the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared in 1531. A group of Colombians had come to the Shrine to thank the Virgin Mary for extraordinary graces. The man leading the group approached Maria Guadalupe and her companion, opened his wallet and declared:

« God wishes 3 things from this money I’m giving you: that you have a good meal together, that you use part of this money to bring his children to him and, finally, that the third part be given to a charity in his name. »

The art of serving Our Lady of Guadalupe

Maria Guadalupe didn’t understand what it meant to “bring her children”. Just as she was about to leave the shrine, a lady came out of nowhere and asked her for information about Our Lady of Guadalupe. The ex-lawyer explained the story of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions to the Indian Juan Diego in 1531.

The Colombian man who had just given them some money then approached Maria Guadalupe and said: “This is exactly what the Virgin of Guadalupe wants from you.” That’s the sign!  From now on, Maria Guadalupe will put her talents as a brilliant lawyer at the service of the Blessed Virgin!

Promise kept

Since that day, Maria Guadalupe has brought hundreds of people to Our Lady of Guadalupe. In this very first Marian shrine in the Americas, located at the junction of North and Latin America, the Virgin Mary made this magnificent promise to Juan Diego:

« I am the most merciful Mother, yours and that of all men on this earth. I will listen to their complaints in order to remedy them, and I will heal their miseries, their pains and their sorrows. »

For years, Maria Guadalupe has witnessed with wonder how the Empress of the Americas keeps her promise, granting numerous miracles of healing, conversion and liberation from all evil…

A Revelation for our time

Amazingly, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in the guise of the Virgin of the Last Times, the Woman of the Apocalypse surrounded by the sun, with the moon beneath her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.

And, even more astonishingly, it seems that this 16th-century apparition is particularly relevant to our own times! For the signs hidden on the Tilma* (the cloak on which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is mysteriously imprinted) could only have been revealed by modern science, as if they were intended for us living in the 21st century!

A message waiting for us for 4 centuries

So, what is this message that Our Lady of Guadalupe has been preparing for our post-modern age for so long?  It must be very important for her to have chosen a prestigious lawyer to defend her cause…

Given the current state of knowledge, the message can be interpreted as follows:

• First of all, the Virgin Mary calls upon her children, i.e. all mankind, to care for them, heal them, protect them and deliver them from evil.
• What’s more, historians claim that the Virgin’s appearance in 1531 put an end to the countless human sacrifices practiced by the Aztec religion, as the population converted to Catholicism, thus avoiding tens of thousands of sacrifices.

What about today? The exceptional feature of Our Lady of Guadalupe is that the Virgin Mary reveals herself pregnant. Hence the title, given by Saint John Paul II, of “Patroness of the Unborn”. Isn’t this a sign of the millions of abortions taking place today?
And here is the heart of the message, the final objective of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was recently brought to light by a new, highly accurate translation of the apparition story:

« I am willing,” said Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, “and I ardently desire that in this place a house of God be erected for me, to show Him, to praise Him, to manifest Him, to give Him to all.”»

So the Virgin Mary’s aim is to lead all men to God! Only there can the happiness of mankind be found!

I prefer this life a thousand times over the last one

The ex-lawyer Maria Guadalupe, who is taking part in this wonderful mission, wouldn’t want to go back to her old life for anything in the world. Money, fame, travel, beautiful clothes – all these are nothing compared to God’s infinite love!  At the foot of the miraculous Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe, she affirms with a smile:

« Today, I’m pursuing God’s will and, if I had it all to do over again, I’d do it again without hesitation! »

* The Miraculous Tilma is the coat of the Indian Juan Diego, on which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was mysteriously imprinted. It is called “miraculous” because science has been unable to explain several phenomena:

• the mantle, made of natural agave fibers, should have deteriorated in 30 years at most, but for 400 years it has remained intact and shining as brightly as on the first day. Even the smoke from the candles burning continuously in the sanctuary and the acid accidentally poured over the Tilma have not altered it in the slightest.
• the image of the Virgin Mary was printed in an unknown way, without pigments or any known process (just like with the Shroud of Turin).
• the constellations of stars on the Virgin’s cloak show the map of the sky at the precise moment of the apparition, December 9, 1531.
• modern ophthalmologists have detected the recognizable silhouettes of Juan Diego and the bishop in the eyes of the Virgin’s image when they opened the Tilma. Moreover, ophthalmic analysis has shown that the pupil reacts sensitively to light, as if the eyes in the image of the Virgin Mary were mysteriously alive.

Interview by Marie-Eve Bourgois at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico