Because of the Virgin Mary’s intercession, “I am here today because as a mother she wants the best for her children,” says Miguel Dominguez.
Coordinator of Católicos en Acción at St. Augustine Parish in Phoenix, Dominguez pondered what his life would have been like if he and his family weren’t part of the Church or saved by Christ.
“The Virgin Mary has shown me that humility, obedience and will that you need to give to the Lord.”
Católicos en Acción – a lay apostolate established to strengthen families – serves at St. Augustine, San Francisco de Asís Parish in Flagstaff, Ariz., Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa, Ariz, and Sacred Heart Parish in Prescott, Ariz. Members of Católicos en Acción from across the four parishes plan to be one of the more than 70 ministries, apostolates, parishes and other organizations participating in the 20th annual Honor Your Mother Mass and procession on Saturday, Dec. 6.
This year marks the 20 years that the Diocese of Phoenix has celebrated its diocesan patroness Our Lady of Guadalupe with an outdoor Mass and procession on Monroe Street between St. Mary’s Basilica and the Phoenix Convention Center, right by the Diocesan Pastoral Center.
Pastoral origins
The first celebration of Honor Your Mother was born in 2006 out of an effort to implement “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope,” 2003 joint pastoral letter on immigration from the U.S. and Mexican Bishops’ conferences.
“The Church must, therefore, welcome all persons regardless of race, culture, language and nation with joy, charity and hope. It must do so with special care for those who find themselves–regardless of motive–in situations of poverty, marginalization and exclusion,” the bishops wrote. “The appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego revealed the compassionate presence of God reaching out to Mary to be in solidarity with and to give hope to a suffering people. In the same spirit, we … have written this letter to give hope to suffering migrants.”
Current co-organizer Armando Ruiz sat on the committee organized to put the pastoral letter to practice in the Diocese of Phoenix. In the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Europeans and indigenous Americans both saw something they could relate to, he said.
“We looked towards Our Blessed Mother, Virgen de Guadalupe, as the model because when she appeared, she brought people together — two cultures, two languages, two different very distinct people,” said Ruiz, who is also director of the Missionaries of Mary, a public association of the faithful, and a parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena in South Phoenix. “We took that and said, ‘Let’s do something in honor of the Virgin Guadalupe as a message that brings people together.’”
The first celebration incorporated music and eucharistic adoration but processions were later added in keeping with the tradition from Mexico. As it grew through the years, organizers began inviting parishes and ethnic groups to process with an image of Mary that they may identify with, such as Our Lady of La Vang for Vietnamese Catholics.
“Our Blessed Mother is same — it’s the same one — but she just wears different dresses for a different occasion,” he said.
Honor Your Mother also returned the Diocese of Phoenix to traditions it had had in the past celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1971, then Bishop Edward A. McCarthy dedicated the diocese to her patronage in an open-air Mass attended by 7,000 with special guest homilist Fr. Humberto Almazán, an actor-turned priest.
Today, approximately two-thirds of the faithful in the Diocese of Phoenix are Hispanic, Ruiz said. That number jumps to three-quarters when considering those 18 and younger.
“There’s an immediate connection to Our Lady of Guadalupe because those of us who grew up with Our Lady in our homes, we inherited the tradition from our mothers and our grandmothers. She’s always been very close to our hearts either through the rosary or through novenas or even just having an image of Our Lady in our home somewhere,” diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry Manager Ignacio Rodriguez said. “We know that she appeared to St. Juan Diego, and that in and of itself is a beautiful miracle when it happened almost 500 years ago.”
Intercession from la Virgen
Our Lady of Fatima parishioner Gloria Ruiz refers to her baby sister Brianna as their family’s “little miracle.” Doctors had advised their mother to abort Brianna because as 40-year-old woman at the time of the pregnancy there was an 80-percent chance of the baby having significant health problems. Abortion was never on the table for the family but they commended themselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary for Brianna’s health, and she was born “100-percent healthy.” Six years later, Brianna had a brain tumor and the family again turned to Our Lady. Afterward, it tested benign.
“Now she’s healthy again. She’s 15 years old now, and I fully believe 100-percent that because we put all of our faith in Virgin Mary in our prayers, Brianna is our miracle baby,” she said. “We’ve seen it personally in our family that we need to keep going, we need to keep praying and we need to keep showing our thanks.”
Armando Ruiz credits Our Lady of Guadalupe with helping him discern a new direction in his life following a career in politics. With a group of other Arizona state officials, Armando, who was serving in the State Senate at the time and running for the U.S. Congress, visited Mexico City. He’d decided to go to Mass on a Friday evening at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Even though the basilica was normally crowded, that evening, he was able to contemplate the image by himself.
“I just got a chance to be there by myself and just started praying and just had this experience,” he said. “From that experience was made the decision God was calling me to a different path in my life that wasn’t the political path, even though I loved it and I loved public service but it’s not what God was asking for me in my life, so I walked away from all of it.”
Public witness
Gloria Ruiz considers Honor Your Mother to be the biggest event for Arizona. She has been dancing with Danza la Rosa Guadalupe for 18 years since she was 6.
“The downtown event is something that we prepare for meticulously because we feel like we get to show all of Arizona what our heritage is, what we can do, who we honor, how we love Virgin Mary, and it’s something that it makes us feel proud to be able to show the people in Arizona,” she said.
During the annual procession, Monica Jimenez from St. Anne Parish in Gilbert brings her Peruvian heritage with Baile folklorico. She felt that her first time participating in 2008 was a dream come true to be able to dance publicly for Our Lady and for Jesus.
“My heart filled joy and with more faith and devotion,” Jimenez said. “We prepare ourselves every year to present something beautiful to the Virgen because for me this this is the way I show devotion to her and to Jesus through the Virgin of Guadalupe.”
Organizers are anticipating 8,000-10,000 participants this year. In addition to the Mass followed by the procession, there will also be music and food trucks.
“I don’t know if there’s anything else that goes through downtown Phoenix like the Honor Your Mother procession,” said Armando Ruiz.
Universal devotion
Although Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in Mexico, her devotion is widespread. St. John Paul II referred to her as the “Empress of the Americas,” while the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Conference, or CELAM in Spanish, declared her the patroness of all Latin America.
“Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe isn’t just for Mexico, it’s universal,” Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, OFM, of Trujillo, Peru, said. “The story of the Virgen de Guadalupe is magnificent, very tender and very close to ordinary people. This is because she comes to us as a mother.”
The archbishop is the immediate past president of CELAM and the current president of the Peruvian bishops’ conference. He will be the guest homilist for the Dec. 6 celebration.
“The fundamental theme is to encourage the faithful to never lose their devotion to Mary. She is the Virgin, the mother of God, the mother of the Church and the mother of the faithful to all of us,” he said. “My objective is simply to show the magnificence of Marian devotion and Mary’s importance to the life of the Church.”
Fr. Andrew McNair, pastor of the historically Black St. Josephine Bakhita Mission Parish, has had a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe since he was in seminary. As a convert, he was unfamiliar with the story but a classmate gave him a prayer card and suggested he entrust his vocation to her.
“This just kind of opened the door to learn more about her, and then learn about the apparitions to Juan Diego, and how basically she evangelized the American continent, telling Juan Diego, ‘Am I not your mother?’” he said. “Her motherly presence can really get us through these challenging and difficult times. A lot of people are facing a lot of difficulties right now, and Our Lady is certainly a great comfort to all of us.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance helps to bridge cultures. That’s why his parish has an altar to her in its narthex and they honor her feast day with a celebration every year.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe, just in her appearance in her attire, the inculturation of the message of the Gospel in her reminds all of us that all of us has a place at the table in the Church and that means everybody is welcome, everybody is loved regardless of your background,” Fr. McNair said. “I think she has a great appeal to all cultures, precisely for that reason.”
