LIMA — Toledo Catholic Diocese Bishop Daniel Thomas led Mass at St. Gerard Catholic Church in Lima on Saturday. Most of the service was spoken in Spanish.
This Mass was part of the diocese’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration.
“It goes all the way back to something that happened in 1531 in Mexico. Because of the brutality of the Conquistadors it was a tough sell to the native Indians there to buy into Christianity. Supposedly, that all changed around 1531 with the Native American by the name of Juan Diego. Supposedly the Virgin Mary appeared to him and told him that she wanted a church built and so he had to convince the local bishop that these apparitions of Mary were real,” said the Rev. Mike Houston of St. Gerard Catholic Church.
But the bishop wasn’t convinced and wanted a sign.
“He [Juan Diego] brought roses from a place that where roses could never grow in the winter time. He had them in his tilma. The way the story goes when he opened his tilma to show the bishop the roses , the image of Mary was on the tilma,” the Rev. Houston said.
“They used that image to evangelize the Indians. When the Indians saw that, right away they believed it,” he said.
So why is this event still relevant today?
“One of the things is, she is so much a part of identity of the people of Latin America and Mexico. She’s a special patroness for people who are poor and downtrodden and Hispanic Americans, Latin Americans and people from Mexico and Guatemala and some of these other countries.
”There’s an awful lot of poverty in Central and South America and these people are coming here. There’s a lot of suffering and so she gives them a message of hope because a mother is somebody who watches out for her children. So when children are scared and they feel abandoned and they feel lonely and unsure of themselves and confused, they always go right to their mother. For Hispanic Americans, Our Lady of Guadalupe is their mother and she’s very real to them,” he said.
This was the first time Bishop Daniel Thomas came to St. Gerard Catholic Church for the celebration.
“That really means a lot to the people. It shows them that their bishop is really in-tune to what’s important to them,” he said.
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