Mexico City, Mexico, Dec 12, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The Bishops’ Conference of Mexico commended “the joys and hopes, fears and anxieties of the Mexican people” to Our Lady of Guadalupe on the 475th anniversary of the apparitions to St. Juan Diego.
In a statement, the bishops noted that through the apparitions Mary “expressed her message of love for our people, and with her gestures, words and blessed image, she pointed the way to Christ, the center of our Catholic faith.”
“As Mexicans we renew our joy in knowing that ‘the Mother of the true God…[who is] the creator of all, the Master of the heavens, the Master of the earth,’ desired to remain with us, in ‘a little house’ in which she awaits us, cares for us and comforts us with her words,” the bishops said.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, they continued, “brought together two peoples with opposite cultures that seemed set on destroying each other,” thus bringing about “the birth of our country with a rich variety of cultures united by the bond of the faith.”
“The Guadalupe event signified the beginning of the evangelization with a vitality that exceeded all expectations,” the bishops stated. “The message of Christ through his Mother took the central elements of the indigenous culture and religiosity, purified them and gave them their true meaning of salvation in Jesus Christ.”
The bishops stressed that the “noble task of building a better Mexico” demands the collaboration of all, and they prayed to Our Lady of Guadalupe to intercede “so that all those who live in this land might love each other and accept each other as children of the same Father.”