Homily for Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 12, 2008

For almost 20 years St. Mary Church has had a sister relationship with five very poor settlements in the eastern mountains of El Salvador. There are no roads or electricity in their area. In those early years of our relationship we could not visit them because they were in a war zone where bombings and massacres were taking place.
Once the Peace Accords were introduced in 1992, we began to make annual delegations to visit our five sister communities. In each settlement we offer a day-long medical clinic, visit their shut-ins, and collaborate with their small schools. At the end of each day everyone gathers for Mass. The very close friendship we have had with our brothers and sisters in the mountains has been a great blessing for our parish.

There was something different about our delegation in the summer of 1999. We were bringing a special gift to the community of Guachipilin where the people had built a new church. In 1979 they had completed the construction of a new church, but the following year it was completely destroyed by two 500-pound bombs dropped by U.S. bombers. The loss of their Church of St. Francis was a real tragedy to the people. Several times we had been taken to visit the ruins of the church so that we could join them in grieving for their loss.
In spite of their great poverty, they were determined to build a new church. They made adobe blocks by hand out of clay and straw and built a simple building that we blest in 1998. That following year we brought them a gift for their new church that delighted them. It was a four-foot statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Guachipilin was the last of the five settlements that we visited that year. When the people in the other settlements realized that we were carrying the statue in a box, they insisted that it be taken out and prominently displayed at each of the Masses. For them, it was not a statue that was visiting their communities, it was the Mother of God. After the Masses people crowded around the statue to look at it more closely. Many knelt on the dirt floor to pray. Before they left, many reached out to reverently touch or kiss the statue’s feet.
About a mile down the footpath as we approached Guachipilin, the whole community had come out to meet us. They took the statue out of the box and carried it in procession into their settlement. Their band, named El Conjunto Guadalupeño, played music as we all walked in a happy celebration of the arrival of the Mother of God into their small community.
At the welcoming ceremony, our delegation was seated to one side, while Our Lady of Guadalupe was positioned at the center. They were welcoming us, but more importantly they were welcoming her.

That delegation was especially different than the others because someone very special was traveling with us. The Mother of God was not just visiting the people. She was coming to stay with them.
The statue is still on the altar of their simple church. Mary looks pleased as her beloved children gather around her. As I say the Mass, she is looking over my shoulder.
I observed how much the people love Our Lady of Guadalupe. They know that she is the Mother of all people. She has a special affection for the poor. After twelve years of a terrible war that had killed many members of their families, destroyed their homes and scattered them to other places, these suffering people had returned to rebuild their lives. When at last their Mother came to live with them, they knew that they were home at last.