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Women portraying Virgin seek to strengthen faith
By Ambria Hammel, The Catholic Sun
December 20, 2007
For the past two years, a new tradition has called Catholics to gather at the Diocesan Pastoral Center to honor the mother they share in faith.
For some, the celebration continues all year long.
A few women who helped portray Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Honor Your Mother celebration Dec. 9 hold a special place in their hearts for the Virgin Mary.
“She’s our mother — a mother never denies anything to her kids,” said Lety Garcia, a parishioner at Immaculate Heart of Mary.
She coordinated one of the floats in the Honor Your Mother procession featuring a modern interpretation of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Garcia recently experienced Mary’s continued willingness to say yes after her dad was in a serious accident. It left him with several broken ribs and unable to walk or talk. She prayed to Mary for his healing.
It worked. He walked beside her unassisted during the procession to the Diocesan Pastoral Center.
A few days later on Dec. 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the two trekked to Mexico to thank the Blessed Mother for her intercession. That’s where she appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531.
Procession of faith
For hundreds of years, many have shown a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Ana Rios, a parishioner at Immaculate Heart of Mary, is one of them.
“There’s no words — she’s very special,” Rios said. “I have always had a lot of faith in Our Lady of Guadalupe.”
Rios hopes that her portrayal of the Virgin during the Honor Your Mother procession helped to strengthen the faith others have for the Mother of God.
Rios wore a red dress and a long green veil with gold stars during the procession. The clothing mirrored the indigenous garb Mary wore when she appeared in Mexico more than 475 years ago.
A ‘means to God’
Maribel de Santiago, a Ss. Simon and Jude parishioner, put on similar clothing for another float that portrayed the Marian apparition.
“She’s my culture, my religion, my mother,” de Santiago said. “She’s my everything to me. She’s my means to God.”
De Santiago has an altar in her home dedicated to the Blessed Mother.
“Any problems or anything, she’s the first one I go to,” de Santiago said.
She hopes Catholics who saw the procession came to a deeper understanding of their faith. She especially hopes that the event served as an opportunity for children to begin to draw nearer to the Mother of God.
Incarnate Word Father Humberto Villa, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, echoed those sentiments during his homily given at the Mass following the procession. He reminded Catholics to look at Mary as a part of their faith.
He identified her virtues of humility, faith, obedience, sense of prayer, self-denial, ardent love and heavenly wisdom.
“A true devotion to Our Lady is holy. It leads us to avoid sin and to imitate the virtues of Mary,” Fr. Villa said. It “doesn’t pull us away from Christ. Actually, it brings us closer to God.”
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