Where is our lady of guadalupe shrine in mexico
A Pilgrimage to Mexico and The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
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out of the blue someone said father it
will be really good if we do a
pilgrimage to Mexico one of the goals of
our diocese is to bring the two
communities together you know the
Anglophones and their Hispanics and we
thought it would be a good idea so that
we can bring the two communities
together and that's how it all begun we
had people who didn't really speak a lot
of English and people didn't speak a lot
of Spanish so this was a kind of a
unique and intense experience of church
for these folks that they could see
everybody worshiping Christ and drawing
close to Christ so often working for the
church it's easy to help others but you
tend to forget to feed your own soul and
this pilgrimage really allowed me to
take that moment for myself and for my
relationship with God and for him and I
to reconnect you can learn a lot about a
culture by reading about it but you
really don't get to know the culture
until you actually experience it
I went to this pilgrimage to learn more
about their culture and everything that
makes up a country through its people it
was the people that drew me to the
pilgrimage and I think that this one was
right on the mark
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at the beginning I had a few fears but
being there and yet seeing them the
interactions that took away my fears
right away because yes by this the
smiles the way they will talk to each
other I help each other in different
circumstances at that moment I thought
yes this would not be okay I really
appreciated the way that they organized
the trip where we started in Puebla and
had that build up so we started small
and kind of built up to the experience
of being at the Basilica of course
Puebla is like the Venice of Mexico
Puebla is just extraordinary
it was beautiful and you could really
feel the faith that those communities
had I loved being in these beautiful
churches it just made my faith deeper
the little rule that I have with
pilgrims myself as a spiritual leader is
the first thing we do when we go into
churches first we pray then we can take
pictures because we're not tourists
we're pilgrims and there is a difference
we went to st. Dominic's and had massed
in the rosary Chapel and it was
floor-to-ceiling gilded gold super
ornate hand carvings that just floored
me I had never seen anything like that
for me as a priest is is is wonderful
it's a great honor to say Mass and
different churches during the pilgrimage
and share a great aspect of our faith
with the pilgrims I think it's important
to have our faith season that we can
renew our enthusiasm and our joy and see
the beauty of the faith God wants life
wants us to flourish wants abundance
wants to see us flourish wants to see
the beauty wants to bring out the beauty
in our lives and you can see that faith
alive when you're a pilgrim with the
thousands of other pilgrims at the
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in
Mexico City
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if there is a word that ties together
our scriptures today with our
celebration here at the Basilica of Our
Lady of Guadalupe it can be summarized
in one word pilgrimage you might not
have caught the Spanish gospel today but
it's about how we are to travel he tells
us disciples that when they are to go on
a journey there to take nothing then he
names of things they are not to take no
gold no silver no copper for the money
belts no sack no second tunic no sandals
not even a walking stick what did you
bring for this pilgrimage the list of
what Jesus commands His disciples not to
take is actually a list of what a
well-planned pilgrim would take on a
pilgrimage Jesus seems to be suggesting
to disciples that when they go to preach
their to enter the homes of those they
are serving as if they were entering the
sacred space of the temple our time away
on pilgrimage ought to help us to return
to our daily life with great reverence
and great Hall we can return to our
daily routines with a freshness and an
appreciation that our desire for God our
tasks placing God at the center of our
lives is not something we do alone
no no this great place of pilgrimage
mines us that there are literally
millions of others all around the world
who desire the very same may we stand
figuratively speaking around this altar
with only one tunic trusting that the
providential God will provide the rest
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had a moment a moment of grace in this
pilgrimage I was just walking by myself
and just a moment of feeling fulfilled
feeling that what I'm doing as a priest
is the right thing that I'm doing just
feel with warmth and happiness it was
just a beautiful moment
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it takes all of us to see Christ it
takes all the languages all the cultures
all the devotional expressions to be
able to fully enter into Christ it's
about Christ God loves us so much that
he sent his mother in a form that the
people of that time could identify with
because he wanted them to know him
better that love and sacrifice that he
showed really overwhelmed me that day
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the other side of the coin in a
spiritual pilgrimage is the reward of
meeting new people and having prints and
relaxing when we went to the Palacio de
Vegas of this it was so amazing I was
actually looking forward to that trip I
had heard about the Palacio de Bellas
Artes and I loved ballet folklórico
to be able to see the dancers from the
different regions of Mexico it was just
such an amazing show
I love the bigger image because it's
also a lot of fun they see me more
spontaneous they see me more at ease
with things definitely they see me in a
different way I don't have sustained
contact with a regular set of
parishioners which is why I appreciate
as a bishop going on a pilgrimage
because I get sustained contact I missed
that
having been a pastor it was our last
night together as a large group and
everybody kind of just was relaxed and
maybe some folks had a shot of tequila
it was like the frosting on the cake the
cake was all of the other events the
frosting was coming together as a group
now feeling extremely comfortable with
each other and we just simply had a
great time
I didn't do any dancing but I was
dancing in my heart because I want
looked around the room and everyone was
enjoying themselves so yes it was very
very nice
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you know this idea about pilgrimage
it's about people walking together
towards God and he goes back from the
time that you know even though Lord
Jesus went up to Europe in a pilgrimage
seeing the Great Temple where God dwells
where God lives
so this same idea continues in our time
the inability image is the church the
people of God are walking together
towards our goal which is God no and
we're going to different places used to
reminds us of that that at the end of
the day we are on this earth wearing a
little pilgrimage one day we're gonna
see our Lord
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