A visit to our mother
Monday, August 12, 2013
*Victor Martell
Luckily I have travelled to Costa Rica many times during the month of August, and I have had the opportunity to witness the many demonstrations of faith and veneration given to our mother, the Virgin Mary, under her title of Our Lady of the Angels (also known locally as La Negrita).
I will not narrate the history of her apparition in Costa Rica since it is available in the many books recalling the different apparitions of the Virgin Mary, and also on the Internet. I would like to write first about the famous festivities that are held long before her feast day, August 2. Since the middle of July, people start coming to Cartago, where her basilica is located. Cartago is about 16 miles from San Jose, the capital. Even so, a few devotees come from as far as Guanacaste, about 138 miles away. They also come from many other towns, near and far, and even from outside the country.
A great number of participants spend many hours, and even days, walking, regardless of rain or cold or any other form of inclement weather, just to reach the basilica's doors. Upon getting there, they kneel and move toward the main altar where "La Negrita" is displayed. They do so filled with religious fervor, without any ostentation, or strange practices, in the most complete silence; a silence which is only marked by the effort their faces reveal while trying to reach the altar, and by their eyes filled with tears.
My journalist's indiscretion caused me to ask of some of them: Why the effort? They answered this way:
A very elderly woman: "I came to give thanks to our Lady because she interceded with God to give me one more year of life to spend with my children."
From a young woman with a girl in her arms: "I found out that, under the basilica, a spring runs 365 days a year. The spring water has been channeled and several faucets installed for access. They say the water is blessed. I was blind and I put it on my eyes and now I can see.”
A father with his months-old daughter in his arms: "My daughter was born dead, and now look at how she laughs. All because of the intercession of "La Negrita.”
In the same way you can see thousands of believers who come not to adore the virgin but to ask for her intercession; because they know that her Son never says no to his mother and she will ask Him for your favor. The number of participants is about one and half to two million every year; many of them are not Catholics, but they are nevertheless believers in "La Negrita.”
As a life-long practicing Catholic, I have always been very cautious in talking about miracles, although I have to confess that I am also a devotee of the Virgin Mary in all her different titles.
When I found that that my wife had cancer, as soon as I left the oncologist's office I put everything in the hands of Mary; and I must confess that it was "La Negrita" whom I had in mind. Today, a few months have passed, and I also have to give thanks, because that same oncologist told me: "It's gone..." The cancer is in remission; and when I asked him: "And... just like that?” He simply raised his hand up and looked at me without saying any words.
We all are her children. This does not mean that all we ask for is given to us. Sometimes, we ask for things that we think would be good for us, but in the long term are harmful. It is good to remember that we go to the Child in the arms of his mother — and I am sure that He would never say no, if it is for our own good.
