In the Folds of Her Mantle: Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe with Childlike Love

Mountains of roses and flowers sit at the feet of a gargantuan image of our Lady. Tissue-paper garlands of green, red, pink, orange, and cerulean parade merrily by. Men with large hats play mariachi music in her honor and stay up till midnight to sing to her. Even our Lady’s clothing in the image seems technicolor beside other apparitions: a teal starry mantle and coral robe with golden accents. The solemnity that usually accompanies a Marian feast is replaced by ecstatic joy and an explosion of color for la Guadalupana.

The Church goes all out for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

For those experiencing this celebration (especially those who do not descend from a Hispanic heritage), the sudden stimulation can seem out of place from the rest of the liturgical year. Not only that, but the tissue-paper decorations, colorful lights, and bright themes can make the festivities seem gaudy or childish. 

Yet the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a unique celebration that, in its very nature, demands a childlike response.

Childish or Childlike?

As Catholics, we are called to be responsible adults in this world, to “put on the armor of Christ,” to grow “to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Yet, paradoxically, Christ also warns us that, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

What does it mean to become like a child? 

Being childish is different from being childlike. To be childish is to take on the negative aspects of childhood: to be immature, undisciplined, demanding, or needlessly contrary. On the other hand, to be childlike is to take on the positive aspects of childhood: to be innocent, trusting, and full of wonder and hope in the future.

According to G.K. Chesterton, it is sin that turns us old, that takes away our innocence, trust, wonder, and hope. It is sin that takes away our delight in the little things. In Orthodoxy, Chesterton writes:

“It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. . . . It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we” (p. 39).

To be childlike is to be like God, to grow into “the measure and stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). The older we grow in our spiritual lives, the more childlike our dependence on our heavenly Father and heavenly Mother.

Am I Not Here Who Am Your Mother?

Saint Thérèse, champion of the Little Way, said of Mary, “She is more mother than queen.” In the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, those words ring true.

In other Marian apparitions, the Blessed Mother has special directives for her children. In Fatima, Mary asked her children to pray and perform acts of reparation. In Lourdes, she also asked for penance and prayers. Our Lady of Guadalupe comes with a directive to build a church—and most of all, a message of love.

She comes wearing the bright garb of the indigenous people with a black sash about her waist. She is pregnant with the Son of God, and speaks the words of a mother to Juan Diego, a simple and childlike man:

Listen and understand, littlest of my sons, let nothing frighten you, nothing trouble you; let nothing disturb your countenance or your heart. Do not fear that disease or any other illness or affliction. Am I not here, your Mother? Are you not under My shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy and your health? Are you not in the hollow of My mantle, in the crossing of My arms?"

The love and the tenderness with which she speaks shows that not only are we children of God, we are also children of Mary. As Our Lady of Guadalupe, she invites her children to come to her with the trust and love of a child. There is nowhere safer for a child than in their mother’s arms—la Guadalupana says that we are all there already. 

For Our Mother

For Our Lady of Guadalupe, then, who appeared pregnant with God’s Son, we are celebrating Mary as our Mother. When children celebrate their mothers, enthusiasm and love inspire them to sing loudly, to draw mountains of bright pictures, and to pick the yard bare of all its little flowers. Why should we not do the same for our Mother on her feast?

After the apparitions of our Lady on Tepeyac Hill, around nine million people converted to Catholicism. Nine million people came to the faith because of the message of love and the image Mary drew for us on Juan Diego’s tilma.

She is our mother, our protection and care, our life and health. We are in the folds of her mantle, the embrace of her arms. And so the Church celebrates with all the enthusiasm, noise, and color that are the best parts of childhood. We pile mountains of roses at her feet, stay up till midnight to begin her feast, and shower her with love in return.

On this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, take a moment to remember that you are a beloved daughter of Mary, and do something childlike to honor her today.