Phenomenology of Prayer Response 1

One chapter that caught my eye in the book, largely for its many pictures in the middle was the chapter on Mexican Pilgrimages. Since I learned of her in my Modern Mexican Art class last semester, I have been fascinated by the Virgin de Guadalupe. The story goes that Madonna showed herself to a mere peasant, Juan Diego, who was working in the fields, but after this peasant came forth with his account of the Virgin’s apparition, the bishop did not believe him. Following this, the virgin appeared to him again three more times and then the people began to realize that the peasant may have been telling the truth. The virgin miraculously cured Juan Diego’s uncle of his sickness, proving to the people of what would later become Mexico City that the young man was telling the truth the whole time. To me this little story is reminiscent of tales that would be told time and time again to teach our children to have good morals and to remind them of biblical events. I was raised a Christian but my family went to a traditional Methodist church so we didn’t learn very accepting or diverse ideas of Christianity. When I was twelve, I stopped attending church with my family and have yet to join another church. I feel that stories like this from religions around the world should be taught to children alongside the ones we hear regularly. I wish it wasn’t until college that I learned about Christianity around the world and I think that should definitely be part of the learning process if religion is to be instilled in a young brain.