December 12th is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Mexican Church, especially, celebrates an event that happened 475 years ago, when an Indian named Juan Diego (Cuauhtlatoatzin was his birth name) was visited four times by the Mother of God, who was dressed as an Indian princess. Juan Diego belonged to the recently conquered (“annihilated” would be more exact) Aztec nation, and the message of the Mother of the Christ was of consolation and solidarity. The Blessed Mother asked that the church build a church on a hillside outside of Mexico City, so that those who were living in misery might have a place to go and raise up their laments to heaven. (Image courtesy of the Divine)
The parish remembers this day with an early morning procession. We started out at 3:30AM, some 150 people, amongst them a great number of young people. We carry our own image of la Guadalupana, and walk about five miles to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. We are accompanied by matachines, Indian dancers, who brought incense and their own special prayers to the moment.
In the evening, the youth group offered a presentation of the apparitions—and the faithful lifted up their particular lamentations to this Woman of God. (Photos by Michael Seifert)
December 12th is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The 
In the evening, the youth group offered a presentation of the apparitions—and the faithful lifted up their particular lamentations to this Woman of God. (Photos by Michael Seifert) 
