A Woman Clothed With The Sun

I have been reading A Woman Clothed With The Sun examining eight Marian apparitions- and John Delaney (the author), mentions some of the common characteristics that each of the visionaries share in common. One that stuck out was that they all had little schooling.  They all had very little formal education – if any - and all received a message of inspiration, hope and prayer.  The first two seers are Juan Diego and Catherine Laboure.  Though both saints had very different upbringings: Juan Diego a poor, indigenous peasant and Catherine a middle-class woman; both through circumstance remained uneducated.  This characteristic is of great importance, Delaney, claims that because these persons had not been tainted with the philosophies of the time these two saints were able to accept the will of God more naturally: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.”  Jesus makes many positive references to followers who believe without need for tangible evidence and He uses the meek, plebeian to perform His works.  Most of His friends were humble, ostracize people – He himself chose the life of a commoner…  In this day and age of technology and information it’s so great to hear that God doesn’t care about status.  

The other day I was at a red light and there was this man on a bike wearing a gardeners uniform covered in dirt and looking as if he had been working in the fields all day.  He saw a homeless man on the street corner and stopped his bike, pulled out his wallet and gave the homeless man a few dollars.  They shared a few words then he then climbed back on his bike and headed home.  I see this man on his bike driving to and from work almost every day- always covered in soot and I can’t help but smile: “they all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had to live on.”  Every day heroes are all around us.

God doesn’t create crap, I think it’s important to remember that.  Each of us are equally special to Him and needed for the kingdom.  We are all here on a mission from God and called to become more like Him.  Individually we are significant.  God didn’t come to pick people with high IQ’s and successful in worldly terms.  Juan Diego and Catherine knew God intimately and when His Mother came to them they had the humility to believe and obey.  Both saints were average people that could have been forgotten in history – yet God saw in their ordinary beings something extraordinary.  He sees the same in each of us.  So when you are feeling quite low, remember that God loves the broken, the weak, the despised…  He loves you as unremarkable as you might be and craves to shower you in His healing love.