The Virgin of Guadalupe

Tomorrow, in Mexico City, the Shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe will be as crowded as St. Peter's Square on Easter Morning. Dec. 12 is the annual day of the Virgin. And people will be coming from hundreds of miles away. Some will ride, some will walk, some will crawl on their knees. In Mexico, it is a day for pilgrimages, petitions and thanksgiving.

And with the influx of Mexicans and other Hispanic people into Utah, the day has great overtones here, as well.

For centuries the Virgin of Guadalupe has been the patron saint and guiding light of all Latin American Catholics. Each year she seems to gain in popularity. And that may be because the Virgin of Guadalupe is intensely biased.

She is biased in favor of the lost and lonely, the disenfranchised, the destitute, hungry, homeless and the confused.

If St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes, the Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of lost people.

When she first appeared on the hill of Guadalupe, she didn't visit the archbishop of Mexico. She didn't drop in on the political leaders, the military generals or the landowners of the era.

She came to an Indian boy named Juan Diego — now St. Juan Diego — a peasant farmer. On the Virgin's instructions, Juan rolled roses up in his serape and took them to the Catholic leadership. When he unrolled his cloak, the roses rolled out, leaving a stunning portrait of the Virgin Mary on the fabric.

Juan Diego's serape, with the portrait, still hangs at the Mexico City shrine. Conveyor belts whisk pilgrims by it, so that everyone gets a chance to be near the miracle.

But over the centuries, the image of the Virgin Mary on that serape has become more than a painting. It has become a symbol of hope for all struggling people. The image was said to have appeared on a severed tree limb in Salt Lake City not long ago. People believe it has magically appeared on everything from tortillas to the dented fenders of Chevy Camaros throughout the Southwest. It graced the sombreros of the revolutionaries who followed Emiliano Zapata in 1910. It will likely be seen on windshields, cabinet shelves, candles and baseball caps long after 2010.

As long as there are people who strive to rise above poverty and pain, the Virgin of Guadalupe will be around.

Get used to seeing her.

She is a fixture, an icon. She's here to stay.