La Danza Azteca Asuncion from St. Anthony Parish in Davenport perform before Mass celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec. 12 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. The diocesan-wide event also included a mariachi group and music from a Chicago duo.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — “What an immense blessing it is to celebrate our Mother, the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe today! What a special day this is,” said Bishop Dennis Walsh as he opened his homily Dec. 12 at Sacred Heart Cathedral. A festive diocesan-wide Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration brought color, dance and music in addition to Mass, which was presided over by Bishop Walsh and concelebrated by Father Rudolph Juarez and Father Jason Crossen.
The evening opened with music by Coro Shekinah out of Chicago. The duo also led music throughout Mass. Following their performance, La Danza Azteca Asuncion dance troupe from St. Anthony Parish in Davenport lined the aisles dressed in authentic native attire. The group also danced following Mass. A conch shell was blown to start those portions of the event.
Mariachi Los Aguilares of Des Moines performed mariachi music before Mass, at the closing and at the reception.
“The Word of God gives us the key to understanding what happened at Tepeyac almost 500 years ago,” said the bishop.
Bishop Walsh preached in Spanish, providing an English translation to The Catholic Messenger. He noted that Mary appeared on a barren hill at Tepeyac and chose a humble messenger, St. Juan Diego. “She did not wait for people to convert or be perfect. She came and brought us her son, Jesus Christ.”
The bishop broke down the meaning of Mary’s visit, calling it a “secret code that speaks of unity and human dignity.”
Mary’s face and skin were that of a mestizo, (someone who has a mix of European Spanish and Indigenous American ancestry). Bishop Walsh explained that Our Lady appeared in Mexico as the Mother of a new people. She came to tell the Spaniards that the Indigenous people were their children and noted for the Indigenous that they did not need to renounce their culture to love God. She is a bridge, the bishop asserted. Her black belt is, for the Aztecs, a symbol that a woman is pregnant. She tells us, “I carry Christ, the Sun of Justice, in my womb.” The message of her visit is a message of life. That Christ is the center, above all else, according to Bishop Walsh.
“Brothers and sisters, we are living in difficult times in this country,” he said. “There is much division. There is fear and pain in many families because of the situation of migration and discrimination. But Guadalupe, with her mantle of stars and her serene face, cries out to us with a powerful message of fraternal unity.”
“She teaches us that there are no strangers to God. She reminds us that a person’s dignity does not depend on their legal status, their language or their country of origin. We all are her children.”
As we come to end the Jubilee Year in the Church, “It has been a time of grace that called us to conversion and to renew our hope,” Bishop Walsh said. “Fear, sadness and uncertainty are like the thorns of Tepeyac.”
Jessica Martinez blows into a conch shell to start a dance following the diocesan-wide Mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec. 12 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. She is a member of La Danza Azteca Asuncion.
“But Guadalupe’s message is the winter rose that blooms in the midst of difficulties,” he continued. “She said to Juan Diego, ‘Do not let your heart be troubled, nor grieve. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy? What do you have to fear?’”
Bishop Walsh said the takeaway was hope in humility, hope in intercession and “in the face of our own ‘epidemics’ of fear and polarization, she gives us the certainty that her son can heal and unite.”
In closing he said “May the Virgin Guadalupe give us the grace to take away our fear, to embrace unity and to live as her true children, bringing the light of Christ to every corner of this nation.”
Jessica Martinez of Sacred Heart Cathedral joined the dance troupe two years ago. During the performance after Mass, she blew a conch shell. Blowing the shell is a call to start, she noted.
The evening “was beautiful and it was so nice to honor Our Lady,” said Martinez.
Manuel Toquinto of St. Anthony Parish said, “This Mass is the biggest celebration for Hispanics, especially Mexicans.” A member of the planning committee, he was excited to see a number of people at the Mass, including those who traveled from outside the Quad Cities. “This has been a day of blessings,” he reflected after Mass.
