Our Lady of Ocotlan

Our Lady of Ocotlan: Healing Waters, Mother’s Day Reflections, and Hope for Families

On Mother’s Day, Cristy Murray and Father Perry Kenaston introduce the “Mary’s Messages” podcast and share the story of Our Lady of Ocotlan in Tlaxcala, Mexico. They recount the 1541 apparition to Juan Bernardo during a devastating smallpox epidemic, when Mary led him to a healing spring, promised health to those who drank even a drop, and asked that the Franciscans be told her image would be found and placed in the chapel at San Lorenzo. The next day, after a grove inexplicably burned, friars cut down a blackened tree and discovered an image of Mary in the trunk, verifying Juan’s account. They note later Church recognitions, pilgrimages from Guadalupe, a Marian healing well where visitors can fill bottles, and the annual May procession. The episode also includes prayers and encouragement for women facing infertility, mentioning Saint Colette, NaPro/Creighton approaches, and pro-life convictions.

00:00 Welcome and Mothers Day
00:46 Opening Prayer and Rosary
01:52 Ocotlan Apparition Story
05:24 Burning Tree and Image
07:36 Shrine History and Popes
10:24 Visiting the Sanctuary
12:08 Healing Well and Water Tips
14:04 Getting There and Name Meaning
15:09 Mothers Day Reflections
16:34 Infertility Prayer and Saint Colette
18:59 Ethical Fertility and Pro Life
23:41 Closing Prayers and Farewell

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Transcript

Restream recording May 11, 2026 • 04:29:54 AM 0:00

Welcome to Mary's Messages, Leading Hearts to Jesus Today, the podcast where we listen to the voice of the Blessed Mother and allow her to guide us ever closer to her Son in our modern world. I'm Cristy Murray, along with Father Perry Kenaston, and each week we explore stories of faith, conversations with Catholic voices, and practical spiritual tools to help you encounter Christ more deeply. In a world longing for peace and clarity, Mary continues to speak to her children with love, hope, and a mother's gentle wisdom, especially today, it's Mother's Day. And thank you for joining us as we open our hearts to Mary's message and let her lead us into the loving embrace of Jesus. So this episode is going to be about Our Lady of Ocotlan in Tejala, Mexico. I think I said that right. So Father Perry, would you like to start us in prayer? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Heavenly Father, we come before you now and we thank you for this day, huh? This day as we celebrate Mother's Day. I'm sure in heaven, Lord, right now you're celebrating Mama Mary's, uh, special day too, and she probably was able to take a few extra winks and sleep in bed, and I'm sure God the Father and, and you were, uh, taking very special care of your, your mother. And I, and I, I know that for a fact, so. You know, she... I'm not quite sure if she got breakfast in bed, but that's- that's part of it, you know. That's just what I think. And well, I'm sure that she got some flowers. Can you just imagine that, a bouquet of roses. Mm-hmm. A spiritual bouquet of roses, which is the rosary. Yes. How fitting it would be for God the Father and you just to kneel down before Mama and say a decade of the rosaries. That would be awesome. So we, we start today with Our Lady of Ocotlan, and, uh, it's all started back in 1541, just 10 years after this particular apparition of the Blessed Mother to Juan Diego in Mexico City, during which he received the heavenly sent picture known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. Another Juan, quote, Diego was thrust into the history. His name was Bernanardo, and he lived during a time when Tlacola, once the most fa- populous and largest city in the country, was suffering an epidemic of smallpox. Estimated claim that nine out of 10 Indians died as an infection. Virgin appears to Juan to help Juan's relatives who had been stricken with the disease. In a special ci- village, Juan walked to the river, a special river to collect water th- thought to have miracle properties. After filling his water with, with, his jug with water, he made his way back to the village through a grove of trees. He abruptly stopped, halted at the sight of a beautiful woman of re- regal bearing, standing among the trees. The reassuring smile of the lady gave him the courage to draw closer. With a heavenly voice, she said to him, "May God preserve you, my son. Where are you going?" Overcome by the woman's beauty and surprised at the greeting her among the trees, Juan hesitated before he was able to reply, "I am drinking water from the river to my sis- to my sick ones who are dying." Not only did they drink it, but they were-- he was taking it to them to heal them. "Come with me," the lady said. "I will give you water to cure the disease. I will cure not only your family, but all who drink it. My heart is ready to help those who are ill, for I cannot bear to see their misfortune." Anxious to obtain miracle waters that would cure his relatives, Juan followed the lady with happy anticipation. When they came to a depression in the ground, the lady indicated a spring of fresh water. In her soft, almost musical voice, she told Juan, "Take as much of this water as you wish, and know that those who are touched by the even the smallest drop will obtain not mir- not merely relief from their illness, but perfect health." Juan emptied his jug of the water and filled it with the clear water of the spring. Wanting to express his gratitude, he turned to the mother, to the lady, and who entrusted him with a message for the Franciscans at the monastery. Tell the religious for me that in this place they will f- find my m- image. It will not only manifest my perfections, but through I shall generously bestow favors and kindness. When they find the image, they are to place in the, in the chapel at San Lorenzo." And the story goes on, and it says, "Before returning to the place they-" noticed a glow in the distance, and when they arrived, the grove of trees was afire. The largest tree in the grove, and this one, one alone, was burning along its entire length. Since nothing could be done, they left, but planned on returning after Holy Mass. The next morning with some of his parishioners, they set out and found a puzzling situation. The fire had destroyed only the lower branches. The fire, like I said, had destroyed only the lower branches. The tallest one, which had burned entire length, was indeed blackened. Why the dry spa- summer heat had not destroyed the other trees is a similar manner remained a mystery. One of the friars had formerly brought an ax with him and was instructed by the abbot to chop it down at the trunk of the tree. A Mexican writer of the time left this report, "A new marvel met their eyes. In the trunk of the fallen tree was an image of the, the Mother of God, representing the mystery of her Immaculate Conception, which can be seen today in the temple lovingly erected by the children. In this manner, the tale of Juan was fully verified in the presence of the many witnesses. They agreed that the apparition of the Virgin Mary to her servant, Juan, was a happy reality on the day she shown him the miracle water and sent him to advise the religious where they would find the sacred mystery." Do you see what that happened? Just like the Juan of, uh, Guadalupe. Mm-hmm. She did this thing again. And, you know, it says here, "From the earliest days, the statue called Nuestra Senora of Ocotlan, which means Our Lady of the Burning Octave. It is now sim- simply called Our Lady of Ocotlan. Ocotlan mean beginning of Our Lady, is also always dressed in costly vestments and wears a splendor crown, which is surrounded by a halo of stars. The crown represents Our Lady pontifical coronation in the year 1906. Among The persons of distinction who visited this shr- statue was the Archbishop Rubble Juan D. Mendoza, who visited in 1644, and the arch- another archbishop honored in 1670. Additionally, the Shrine of Our Lady was re-recognized by Pope Clement XII, who authorized a feast day of Our Lady of Auckland, and Benedict XIV, who raised the shrine to the status of a basilica and granted indulgence and apostolic indults to the faithful who venerated the i- image. Other popes also recognized the image, including Pius VI, Pius X, and Pius XII. Um, as far as directions go to this place, most of it is tied into when, when you do a pilgrimage to Guadalupe, they tie this one together, and the only thing that I noticed was that there's no trains. So I'm not quite sure how the-- how people get around, but trains are... trains don't, don't exist in, in reference to that. So that's a short and brief history of Our Lady of Auckland. Mm-hmm. I, uh... You know, if you wanna have a-- if you wanna go there, just contact your travel agency and take a, a... hook up to the Guadalupe trial, tri- trips. And like I said, like I said, they, uh, they'll probably be able to hook you up to another, uh, one of the right-- which goes right straight to Our Lady of Auckland. I wonder how close they are to each other. It's about 80 miles. Eighty. That's not very, that's not very far. No, uh, it definitely isn't. Yeah. Now, if I do this correctly, if I go like this. So what happened is, so the, the tree was burning, and then one of the friars started using his ax, and an image of Our Lady appeared. Yeah. It, uh... About 80 miles outside of Mexico City lies one of the most beautiful sanctuaries in the country. The apparition of Auckland began in February 27, 1541, when Our La- when Our Lady appeared to Juan. This was during a time of trials and everything. In response to this immense suffering, our Blessed Mother did exactly what I just read about. Our Lady showed Juan a spring of water and gave him specific instructions, um- And then there was a statue that made right there. And it says right here, the six popes were right there. Uh, it gives the dates and everything else like that. Uh, the room itself is, is an architectural masterpiece with wonderful s- frescoes covering the entire walls. On the third Sunday of May, known as the Feast of Tobia, the statue is taken from the Basilica and processed through the town. Uh-huh. Stopping, stopping at s- several places along the way to celebrate the Mass. The bishop and several priests accompany this beautiful procession, and it is time for a great celebration. The streets are lined with flowers along the path, and the statue is proceeded, processed through the town, stopping along the way at various places to celebrate Mass. At 3:00 in the afternoon, the statue is returned to the Basilica for the high Mass before putting it back in its place behind the altar. At the conclusion of the Mass, a shower of flowers flows from the top of the Basilica onto the altar as the statue is replaced for another year. There's a small gift shop at the Basilica. The Marian Healing Well is out in Oct- Auckland. Walk out to the Basilica and down the fairly steep sidewalk, and you'll come to the Healing Well. It is one of the only few Marian Healing Wells in the world. Here is the place that our Marian, Marian Healing Well is in the world. And that's what Our Lady said. Walk to yourse- there, and it goes. The water is cool and tastes great, and we have never suffered any ill effects. Talk about a miracle. Wow. The- So there's still water until now, so f- like, if we go there, we can still get water? Yeah, it's similar to what Lourdes and Fatima have got, you know. Yeah. It's, it's that same... It's the same idea, the well and everything else. Mm-hmm. It's the same well that she- Healing waters. Yeah. Yeah. The interior of the small building houses the well-known, is well-known and shown along the ar- on a local artist. You can fill water bottles from the well to take with you. As always, when visiting any shrine where you plan to take water home, we recommend you bring your own water bottles, as the souvenir type bottles are great to take home, but are not always well made. There's a slight hint there, it looks like. And o- and often leak. Well, there you go, see. Um, really would look bad if you've got it in a suitcase there and- Wow got all wet, of course. Well, like in Lourdes, you can buy those little, um, containers, right? I think it was like two ounces or one ounce little ones. Yeah. Yeah. Legal wise for the aircraft. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So you have to- You have to be careful of the aircraft, you know? Yeah. So you have to really like bring little bottles. You can't bring like a big jug and it's hard to. Yeah. Well, no, you just bring a firetruck. That'd be a good idea. Yeah. Getting there. Auckland is about 60 miles from Mexico City, and included in most organized pilgrimages to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. Oh, okay. If you are tra- if you are traveling independently, there is bus service from both Mexico City and Puebla. There are no trains. Well, and that's highlighted, so that's kind of a hint. Yeah. So Father, another, um, uh, inf- like more information is, so before they called the statue Nuestra Senora de Ocotlan. So it means Lady of the Burning Ocot, so. Mm-hmm. And it's, um, Ocotlan being, um, a word for place of the pine tree. Mm-hmm. Well, I, yeah, I hope so. I mean, that's what it's translated out to be. You know, when I first read this I thought, I thought it said Auckland. I said- No what if we wanted something, what are we doing something about Phil- Philippines for? But then I had to study it really close on how it was spelled. Ocot- Ocotlan. Yeah Ocotlan. Yeah. Latia, Yeah. So, but that's our, that's our story. You know what? It's, and it's good that it's on Mother's Day, you know, because we- Mm-hmm Mama's Day was, was good today. I mean, oh, she... Most mothers, hopefully most mothers were able to sleep in, and the husband and the w- and the husband and the, and the kids would let her sleep a little bit, and, uh, take care of her, you know, and bring out the ostrich fans and the hammock. And feed them some grapes, you know, and then- Some grapes. And take them to mass. Then after mass then you have, then you have a pancake breakfast at the knights, as we did. Yeah. And then- That's what we did this morning. Yeah. Well, you know, at the same time, I asked Leo, I said, "What about the flowers?" And he said, "I have no idea." And I said... He said, "Maybe the knights did it." I said, "Well, I..." See, I knew that ahead of time, just to check him out. But- Mm he said, "Yeah." So, uh, yeah, Kevin, they, they gave out the flowers at, to each of the, each of the women there. Now, that's kinda what I did when I was pastor. Mm-hmm. Different places. I ordered the flowers and everything else, and I... Oh. Yeah, talk about melt, melting hearts. Yeah. That boy's, that guy's not so bad after all, even though he's not a pastor. Sometimes he's okay Yeah. I do. If, Father, if we can, um, actually also say a special prayer to, um, women who are going through difficulties becoming- Sure um- Yeah, if you've got the v- if you got the prayer, go ahead. I don't. I was gonna ask you to do that. I just wanted to include them in the prayers. Just because they haven't been, they haven't born children yet, doesn't mean we cannot call them mothers because, you know- Right God has special plans for them. They can be mothers in a different way. And, um, yeah. Well, it's like- I know that was a- It's like guys- difficult situation well, it's just like, it's just like priests, we, we can be fathers in different ways, you know. There's a song out there. Mm-hmm. Father Abraham has many children. Oh. Well, I don't know how many bapti- babies I've baptized, you know, but each one of them, you know, is, well, you're kinda like a spiritual father to them. Mm-hmm. And as for women, too, you know, they have... I, I don't, is there a, is there a saint out there that's for, for women that are young teens? Um, so Saint Colette is the patron saint of, um, women becoming mothers because her story was she was born to aged parents. Mm-hmm. Um, 'cause I know when we were going through difficulties, someone sent me, um, a novena of Saint Colette. Okay. With a medallion. And it was interesting, so I got that, and then like a week later... It was a very short amount of time. I started praying the novena, and then, and I got pregnant. So then, and then I lost the medallion that I was wearing, and I was so disappointed that, oh, I lost the medallion. I want another child. But, um, but so then I, I, um, I realized that, well, maybe someone else needs the medallion. Did you find another medallion, though? I didn't, but what I did, I made copies of the novena, and every- Right woman that I met from then on, I would give them a copy of it. Mm-hmm. And then I, they all have children now. How hard is that to put on the podcast, do you think? Um, we can, I can just find a novena, and then we can talk about it. Or you mean, like, for the email? Well, yeah, you know, a- anyway. Yeah Whatever's good, you know. Mm-hmm. Screenshot or however they, however you guys do that stuff. You know, just, uh, you know, maybe that sparks an interest or maybe- Yeah you know. It, it- Yeah, we can include it it all fits into the, the abortion thing. Yeah. And I wanted to, like, say also, it's shameless plug here. That's why the work that we're doing in the Creighton and NaPro world- Yeah to help women get pregnant naturally and ethically- Yeah 'cause we work with restorative reproductive medicine, um, really in the most God-centered way, and all the methods are based on Catholic teachings. So if- Anyone who's listening who are, you know, having difficulties, find a, create a napro, um, medical consultant and get some help. We'll be happy to help you. Yeah, and that's, uh, my friends, that's, that's all part of what we're doing here, is, uh, bringing awareness to the different part, different things in the world that are, that are against all this. We just ask you for your continued prayers and, you know, uh, you know, and just, uh, read our broadcast and, uh, and just help us celebrate, uh, the messages that mama has, uh, given to us and everything else like that. But- Yeah you know- There, there's a way to, you know, if, if you're having difficulties, um, getting pregnant, your, like, the first place that you can go to is, is church. You can find resources there. And of course, you know, prayers are always part of, part of the whole thing. And then, um... I forgot what I was gonna say. Um, yes. And then if you're being told that your only option is, you know, all this technology where you get bombarded with hormones and pay a large amount of money that's unethical, there is another way. Well, you know, God created us to, uh, reproduce. Mm-hmm. And, um, that's all, that's all part of what you kinda sign up for when, uh, when you get married. Uh, it says right in the beginning questions, questionnaire and everything else, it says, "Do you promise being, you know, bringing, you know, life to, in your marriage?" And you sign off on that and says, "Okay." Mm-hmm. Well, then we'll do our best. God just has to do His best. And sometimes it, you know, it doesn't... And it, it works in time sometimes. Mm-hmm. So- Yeah but you just have to, as Cristy said, you have to take it to the... And there's people at your... Well, Cristy is one of them. Cris- You, you just have to contact someone like, like her and sit down and have a nice chat with her, uh, 'cause we're trying to bring all this awareness to the state of Alaska. So it's just not here in Anchorage, it's, it's the entire state- Mm-hmm that really needs a lot of help. Yeah. I think I'm being polite, but I think that's okay. But we have a, we have a, a tendency here- Well, we kinda have a throwaway c- culture, but we won't go into that. But not here, but it's Mother's Day. Yeah. And I'm sure, I'm sure mama, my mother is up there, you know, with my three sisters that I've never met, but I will... I'll meet them when I return home- Mm-hmm to heaven, you know? And they'll say, "Perry." "Yeah, who are you?" "Well, I'm one of your little sisters." Hmm, okay. Well, it's nice meeting you." We got a whole eternity to get together. Yeah. My brother says, "Oh my God. I got, I got... You're gonna, we're gonna be together all eternity, Perry?" And I say, "That's right." "You better get used to it." Yeah. "Okay. I guess I will be." Yeah, it's definitely, it's, it is a miracle to get pregnant. It is a gift from God, and sometimes us humans forget that really important detail, or not forget, or just don't wanna accept that. It's an excess, it's a bother. That's- That's what... I'm sorry, but that's the... In some, in some places, especially if you're a young k- people just married, and you have a career to worry about, and the wife gets pregnant, "Huh, we can't have this because it's gonna interfere with our career progress." Hmm. But that's a, that's some, some of these guys think that way. Mm. And I... People, that's a gift from God. It is. You better take care of it. Yep. It is not a clump of cells. It's a human being, a gift from God. It's a miracle. Yep. Yeah, that's, that's for sure. So let's close this one, and then- Yeah we'll... Let me close this. So we'll, let's say our closing prayer. Okay. You got one? We'll close our, we'll say our closing prayer for this episode. Yeah. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Well, in honor of our, our day and everything else, let's just say a Hail Mary. Full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now at the hour of our death. Amen. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. So the Lord be with you. And with your spirit. May Almighty God bless us, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Thank you for joining us. Oh. Thank you for joining us today on Mary's Message, Leading Hearts to Jesus Today. If this conversation brought you closer to Jesus, I invite you to subscribe, leave us a five-star review, and share this episode with someone who needs a little hope. And every time you do, you help Mary's Message reach more hearts. For links, resources, and ways to stay connected, be sure to check the show notes below. And if you'd like to go deeper, we now have a newsletter just for you. Head to our subscription landing page in the show notes to join our community and receive reflections, resources, Marian inspiration delivered straight to your inbox. And you get a chance to ask Father Perry questions or spiritual direction. And until next time, may Mary's message echo in your heart and lead you ever closer to the loving embrace of Christ.