Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appears at a railroad crossing on Houston’s Kirby Street

I first saw that delivery truck in 2003 or 2004 while teaching at the University of Houston. I was driving down Kirby Street when I stopped at a railway crossing to let a train pass. Waiting in my car, I watched the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe rise above the traffic ahead of me. I was shocked and immediately thought that I had had the good fortune of seeing an apparition of Mary, who appears from time to time in places such as Fatima, Lourdes and the small Irish village of Knock.

Looking closely, I realized that the image of la virgen morena The rolling steel doors on the back of the truck were painted on. After the train passed, I caught hold of the mysterious vehicle. I turned around and saw two common men sitting in the cab of the truck. I didn’t see anything that explained why the Virgin of Guadalupe was painted on the cargo door of the truck.

I could not get this trivial incident out of my mind, and I mentioned it to a Catholic friend of mine, John Burke. John said the truck belonged to Casa Juan Diego, a Catholic Worker homeless shelter and food pantry near Kirby Street in West Houston.

At the time, I had a terrible job at the University of Houston and was looking for ways to escape the vicious campus politics. I volunteered to help haul food from the Houston Food Pantry to Casa Maria, a food delivery site located in one of the barrios of southwest Houston, Casa Juan Diego. Every Thursday morning, I joined a group of volunteers who traveled to Casa Juan Diego’s food delivery truck to help load and unload four tons of donated food to Casa Maria. Occasionally we would stop at a Mexican food wholesaler, picking up several hundred pounds of rice and pinto beans.

This volunteer work was a blessing for me. I was doing some useful work for at least a few hours every week. As a result of my vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Kirby Street, I was introduced to the Catholic Worker movement and the writings of its founder, Dorothy Day. I also learned about the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy, which make up the mission statement of the Catholic Worker movement.

Perhaps most importantly, I got to know Mark and Louise Zwick, who founded Casa Juan Diego and have dedicated their lives to helping the poor, especially undocumented Latin American immigrants who want a welcoming and Live in the haven of liberal metropolitan Houston. Someday, Dorothy Day will be canonized by the Catholic Church, and I believe Mark and Lewis will be canonized as well.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Workers of Houston replaced the stolen cargo box. Soon, they will paint a new image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the back door of Casa Juan Diego’s venerable food delivery truck, invoking the protection of the Little Brown Virgin, the Patronus of the Americas.

Listen and understand, my youngest son, do not let anything frighten or afflict or disturb your heart … Am I not here, I, who is your mother? Aren’t you under my shadow?