Hello everyone, today, July 31, Pope John Paul II canonizes the Aztec Indian, Juan Diego "Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the singing eagle") in Mexico City before what should be the largest gathering in human history, some 12 million people, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyac in Mexico City. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the tilma of Juan Diego is among the most revered in all of Christendom and was the one thing which brought the Spanish and the Aztecs and other Indians together to form a new nation of peoples called Mexico. The ayate fibers of the tilma which are made from maguey cactus fibers should have disintegrated within 20 years of the making of Juan Diego's tilma but have lasted nearly 500 years. The tilma has survived an accidental spill of nitric acid in 1791 by workman cleaning the gold and silver frame that encases it and in 1921, on November 14, it survived a deliberate bomb blast directly underneath it without a scratch even though the hidden bomb, hidden by government operatives in a vase of flowers, severely damaged the altar during High Mass. There is a replication of what is considered the most accurate portrait of Juan Diego in the book "The Wonder of Guadelupe" by Francis Johnston (1981) which is published by TAN books and is about 450 years old. You can also read about Juan Diego on the EWTN website at http://www.ewtn.com/saints/JuanDiego/index.htm where you can also follow today's proceedings on streamed video. However, the most accurate image of Juan Diego is apparently in the eye of the beholder, herself, namely the Blessed Mother. In 1929, a professional photographer, named Alphonso Gonzales enlarged the image on the tilma of Juan Diego many times and was surprised to find in the eyes of Our Lady of Guadelupe, the image of a man which looks remarkably like the portrait of Juan Diego made several hundred years ago. You can check it out on the web at the following address: http://www.sancta.org/eyes.html. Since then, others have enlarged and studied the eyes of the Image and have found still more images of people in the eyes. It seems that all of the people in the eyes of the Blessed Mother were the ones present in the room when Juan Diego brought the roses from Tepeyac Hill to Bishop Zumarraga on that historic day in December of 1831 when the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe revealed itself and which you will see at the canonization mass later today nearly 500 years later. A number of Aztec Indians became priests and religious and spread the Gospel far and wide. Some became martyrs in Japan in 1595. Some, undoubtedly came to the Los Adayes Mission outside of Natchitoches, Louisiana, and spread the Gospel to other Indian tribes there, perhaps even to some Choctaws. In any event, the canonization of Juan Diego "Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the singing eagle") along with the beatification of two Aztec Indian martyrs the following day is a singularly important event for all Indians, I think, and should be celebrated. I hope if you all get the chance you will look in on the events of the canonization of Juan Diego and celebrate it for the important event that it is. John Craven New Orleans