From Tepeyac to Nazareth

Dear Lady, Our Lady, Our Mother,
please hear our cries as we, your children, 
appeal for your intercession and place our hope 
in your son, Jesus the Christ.

In Nazareth of Galilee,
your lived experience was notably marked
as a person targeted for domination 
by Roman oppression.

A daughter of Abraham, you knew well 
the daily indignities of being deemed insignificant 
by Rome and the cold expressions 
of indifference toward your humanity.

You and your people witnessed
their extreme cruelty and injustice 
as they hung countless people to die 
on a cross including your beloved son.

Fifteen hundred years later,
Spain and other nations journeyed west
to colonize other peoples and lands
by importing their own oppressive systems.

The indigenous peoples suffered exploitation 
as foreign crowns enriched themselves
with no regard or respect for this land, 
her people or other ways of being.

From Tepeyac Hill in Mexico,
your brown skin speaks volumes 
as it affirms the dignity of Juan Diego 
and the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

After five centuries of colonization,
your words continue to ring true for us, 
your children, as they did for Juan Diego, 
“Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”

Mother, you appeared to and chose 
this man in a brown body like yours
to carry your message,
to carry your roses,
to carry your image. 

Our Mother, pray that we too 
may have the courage of Juan Diego
to carry your message,
to carry your roses,
to carry your image.