Our Lady of Guadalupe image at the Shrine.

Catholics across the world will be celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe today. The patroness of the Americas, she is honored by many cultures with wonderful celebrations of dance, music, and flowers. Her shrine in Mexico City is one of the most visited Catholic shrines, averaging 20 million visitors a year.

Have you ever wanted to go there? Fr. Mike McCue, OSFS, made a pilgrimage last summer to honor Mary and celebrate what happened there in 1531. Fr. Mike sought out Mexico and this sacred place to discover peace and inspiration in the presence of the Virgin Mary. Below enjoy excerpts from Fr. Mike’s story about his experience there:

The Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine complex includes a huge plaza - several football fields in size. Across the acres are seven chapels of various sizes, from various eras. There is a huge catechetical center, a garden with flowing water, a way of the cross, and a bell tower.

Shrine for the feast day at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Camden, NJ.

Fellow Camden pilgrim, Bro. Rick Phillip, OFM, praying with people at the hilltop shrine.

The centerpiece is the modern basilica built to accommodate more than 10,000 people. Its huge doors, twenty feet high, bring the plaza’s sunlight and cool breezes into the church and allow thousands more in the plaza to participate in liturgies and gatherings. This 1979 building vastly differed in style from the typical churches of the city that feature towers, domes, and baroque decoration. The building's half-circle shape enables people to view the original image of Mary from all directions.

There is no person featured in art more than the Blessed Mother and the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe is among the most familiar and widespread. We noticed in Mexico City that the image is found in every church and chapel, in food stalls, shops, bus stations, houses, busy street corners, taxis, parks, clothing— painting, mosaic, fabric, paper, tile, parchment, plastic, jewelry, tattoos. It is also popular throughout the Catholic world, no doubt, because of its beauty and because the story of its origin connects with the power of the overall Christian message.

As the story has been handed on to us, Mary appeared to a local Nahua man, a devout new Catholic, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. She looked like the people there and spoke their language, Nahuatl. This communicated unmistakably that the God of Christianity was not a possession of the Europeans arriving on the wave of conquest. But God is the Creator and Redeemer of all. And, Mary always shines God’s light into our world. This image imprinted on Juan Diego’s cape is a sign and reminder that reflects the light of the incarnation, helping people encounter the Living God. Powerful.

Given how familiar and widespread the image is, I wondered if there would be anything special about the actual picture on the actual tilma cloak of St. Juan Diego from 1568. It has been exposed for devotion for 400 years, survived a bombing in 1921, and generations of people have prayed before it. Despite seeing replicas of the image countless times, I felt particularly moved to be near the picture on the actual cloak.

One high point of my pilgrimage took place on the hilltop of Tepeyac, the spot where the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Juan Diego. It rises high above the rest of the sanctuary and, standing there one could see all of Mexico City and the mountains in the distance. The days we were there the sky was full of dramatic beauty. In one direction you could see rain falling miles away. In another direction was pure blue sky. All around were every configuration of clouds and light.

While standing there I prayed with the Blessed Mother, using the words of the Magnificat with other pilgrims, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…”

As in the time of the conquest of the New World, now, and always, God is on the side of the lowly, powerless, the hungry. Travel, heroes of our faith, sacred places, and companions on the journey can remind us of the way God orders the world and what God values. He uses every means possible to help us know this truth and live this way.