One of my early preoccupations after I became a Catholic was Mary. I was taken, in particular, with Marian apparitions. I read all I could on the phenomena, trying to overcome all my negative prejudices.

While I enjoyed, and was intrigued by, the accounts from Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje, LaSalette and Garabandal, I had a problem. Based on the people involved in each story, I was coming to the conclusion that Mary only appeared to children or teen-agers. She also seemed to have a preference for the company of females. This seemed unfair to me since I was, by that time, as far from being a teenager as I was from being a female.

I wondered: Is it possible for a full-grown man to identify with — and have a relationship with — Jesus' mother?

The answer began unfolding as my wife and I started planning a trip to Mexico City. Our itinerary called, of course, for a stop at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

As I read about Mary's celebrated appearance to a man — Juan Diego — I assumed he must have been young, too. I soon learned that I was wrong. Many historians now believe that, instead of being a poor peasant, he had a successful mat-making business, owned a good deal of property and was quite well off. Such accomplishments would not be likely for a youngster. Then I read that he was a widower, his wife having died about two years before he met Our Lady on Tepeyac Hill. So how old was he?

It took a little research, but I ended up reading in three different books that Juan Diego was likely between 55 and 58 when Mary first appeared to him. I jumped for joy. At last there was an “apparition person” an older guy could identify with.

That was exciting to me. But then came the really exciting part: Juan Diego lived for 17 more years after the Marian encounters. That was much longer than the average life expectancy in 16th-century Mexico.

When Archbishop Juan de Zumarraga built a chapel to display the cloak (or tilma) upon which the Blessed Mother's likeness had been miraculously impressed when she spoke to Juan Diego, he needed a caretaker for it. What better choice than Juan Diego?

There he lived in a little room attached to the chapel, spending the days telling his stor y to visitors. They were people living under a religion that told them child sacrifice was necessar y in order to appease the gods. I can picture him explaining the differences between the Aztec religion and Christianity, telling them that God himself is the one who offers the child in order to make atonement for the people, and urging them to embrace a religion of love in place of a religion of fear. What a relief that must have been to the Indians.

And what a difference it made in the culture. In an eight-year span, 8 million people converted to the Catholic faith, and the culture of death was eventually vanquished. Even today, Mexico is one of the more pro-life countries in the world.

Learning about Juan Diego gave me the realization that anyone could get to know Mary — at any age and with tremendous results.

Dec. 9 is the feast of St. Juan Diego. Do you know where your Marian devotion is?

Bob Horning writes from Ann Arbor, Michigan.