(LifeSiteNews) — Joining me on this episode of The John Henry Westen Show are Catholic filmmakers Zac Brakefield and Whitney Hetzel. We discussed their upcoming docuseries Not Made by Human Hands, which commemorates the apparitions and miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on St. Juan Diego’s tilma.
I began the episode by asking the filmmakers about some of the best scientific evidence for the authenticity of the miraculous tilma.
Brakefield highlighted how when they began creating the docuseries, he knew only the basic details of the story, but working on the film has opened his eyes to all the miraculous events that have taken place.
“It’s very hard to put (all of it) into a nutshell … but, it’s amazing, I think, for me to look at the eyes of the Blessed Mother,” he said. “Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego 500 years ago, approximately, and in her apparition, in how she appears visually, in what she says, all has deep meaning and roots.”
“But what’s amazing is Our Lady, when she appeared, did not just come for that time in 1531, but still remains just as relevant to this day and for her message,” he added.
READ: Catholic documentary on Our Lady of Guadalupe to be released this December
Hetzel emphasized how some of the most compelling scientific evidence of the tilma’s authenticity, as Father Robert Spitzer explained to them, is that many ophthalmologists have studied Our Lady’s eyes on the tilma and concluded that the features could not have been painted.
“We were able to sit down with Fr. Spitzer, and he explained (that) multiple people, first in 1921, and then in 1951, and then between 1951 and 1980, over 20 ophthalmologists have studied this and have seen in (Our Lady’s) cornea,” she explained. “(They didn’t see) just a reflection, but this triple reflection, which is how we all see things, two images with the third flipped over.”
Brakefield jumped in: “Nobody could paint that. It’s medically how the human eyeball works, and that’s how it is in the Tilma.”
A bit later, I noted that apart from the miraculous image, the fact that so many were converted because of the apparition is just as miraculous.
Brakefield agreed and stressed how during Our Lady’s apparitions 500 years ago, the indigenous Mexicans were still offering human sacrifices, and the Spanish missionaries faced many obstacles converting these people.
READ: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Tender mother of the Church, patroness of the unborn
“(The missionaries) are honestly not doing very well. They are not succeeding in converting the indigenous peoples,” he said. And so it’s amazing to think that here are these two cultures and civilizations just clashing. And all it took was one apparition, one miracle, and Our Blessed Mother was able to … unify them both together.”
To hear more from Zac Brakefield and Whitney Hetzel, tune in to this episode of The John Henry Westen Show.
To learn more about Not Made by Human Hands: The Miracle of Guadalupe, click here.
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