Homily outline on option one: God talks to us through created signs

• God talks to people through different means
  • God often uses the created world to reveal his power and glory.
  • Many passages especially from the Old Testament confirm this
    • This is very true in the psalms, e.g., Ps 19:1 notes now the heavens declare the glory of God
    • In Exodus God separated the sea so that Moses and the children of Israel could escape from Pharoah (Exod 14:21-22)
  • In the New Testament
    • God used a star to bring the Magi to the newborn Christ (Luke 2:1)
    • Jesus calms the waters in a storm, revealing his power over creation (Luke 8:22-25)
    • The Book of Revelation is particularly rich in cosmic images of God and Christ and the church.

• The sciences are unlocking many of the mysteries of the cosmos
  • Astronomy shows us the immensity of the universe that continues to expand
    • The Hubble telescope has opened our eyes to many new worlds https://www.space.com/17-amazing-hubble-discoveries.html
    • it has also revealed the existence of many previously unknown stars
  • String theory contends that the cosmos can be understood as a symphony of vibrating strings as subatomic particles that continuously vibrate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6JFKgbAF4
    • physics can be understood as laws of harmony that you can write on vibrating strings
    • some even contend that the mind of God is cosmic music resonating through hyperspace
    • The Idea that the universe can be understood as musical began over 2000 years ago with the Greek philosopher Pythagoras https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_russo_what_does_the_universe_sound_like_a_musical_tour?language=en

• Through the Guadalupe’s apparition, God talks to indigenous peoples of America. https://fsspx.news/es/news-events/news/nican-mopohua-relato-original-de-las-apariciones-de-nuestra-se%C3%B1ora-de-guadalupe –
  • The description of Juan Diego’s outer garment or Tilma , reveals to the natives knew that he had received a special message from God.
  • That message was revealed through Stars, roses, and music.
  • The stars recall the passage from the Book of Revelation we read today: “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve starts” (Rev. 12, 1.)
    • The 46 starts in Juan Diego’s Tilma, coincide with the constellations appeared in 1531. https://denvercatholic.org/lady-guadalupe-numbers/
    • Thus creation itself seems to confirm this divine revelation
  • Flowers in a hilltop of Tepeyac
    • The Blessed Virgin instructed Juan Diego to go to the top of the hill where she appeared and cut all the roses blooming there
    • He doubted that was possible because it was a rocky place that had virtually no vegetation and it was December
  • Music: Juan Diego hear a beautiful music never heard before
    • Described as “different beautiful birds” singing.

• Our Lady of Guadalupe
  • is often understood through cultural lenses
    • g., her brown skin identified her with Indigenous people
    • the way her hands are place are culturally interpretated as a gesture of offering
    • the sash is a cultural image that she is with child
  • But what happens if we interpret her through cosmic lenses
    • She is not only a revelation for people of the Americas, but for the cosmos
    • She reveals God’s cosmic power and expansion through a seemingly fragile, marginalized young girl
    • She reveals that God’s cosmic power can break through in something as apparently insignificant as a flower in the snow
    • And she reveals that the music of God’s voice are the very cosmic vibrations that give all of us life
    • Mary is God’s own version of the Hubble Telescope, revealing the expansiveness of God’s universe of care for all, especially the marginalized

• Attending to God
  • God spoke through Mary at Tepeyac through specific cultural signs
  • But God also spoke to all humanity through cosmic signs
    • Stars
    • Flowers
    • Music
  • The revelation at Tepeyac is not confined those of Mexican heritage but is a gift to all humanity
    • We are still being awed by God’s cosmos and the cosmic revelations of God
  • if only we are attentive to God’s signs
    • Announcing that the presence of God is our midst
    • In the vastness of the cosmos
    • And in the fragility of a marginalized young woman or culture
    • That presence invites us also to change the face of the earth.