He didn’t intend to meet the Mother of God.
He was just on his way to Mass. It was a long walk and a chilly day in early December. He might have been humming a song or reviewing the previous week’s catechism lesson.
He was a nobody. For one thing, he was poor. For another, he was Aztec.
Why did Mary choose Juan Diego? She, Queen of Heaven, certainly had connections that far outweighed him, and she could have saved some time by appearing directly to the bishop.
What was the purpose of spending a week when it could have been done in a day with a different messenger?
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a lesson in humility and hope. She appeared to the lowest of the low, a peasant Aztec Indian with nothing in his favor except his complete trust in God. She must have known it wouldn’t be a quick outcome with Juan as her man.
Not only did she appear to an Indian, but she appeared as a mestiza, a mixed-blood. In her very appearance, from the color of her skin to the way she was dressed, Mary spoke of hope for the abused and battered Aztecs.
She appeared humble, bearing a message of hope.
“Am I not your Mother?” she asked Juan when she caught him trying to avoid her in his efforts to save his uncle. He had been rejected by the bishop and was facing the death of his dear relative.
She continues to ask the question, though centuries have passed. She holds it forth to the weak and the despairing, the poor and the downtrodden, the busy and the frantic.
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