Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration was a long time in preparation but it was worth it, as the evening of celebration was the best Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration I have ever been at.
Here is how it started.
1st – Fr. Ariel Lustan, our pastor, decided it was time to put something on one empty wall in the sanctuary of St. Anthony of Padua Church. So he commissioned our newly ordained priest, Fr. Alan Valencia, to purchase a replica of Our Lady of Guadalupe that is in the Shrine in Mexico. Money was donated for the picture and off Fr. Alan went to Mexico to place the order. On December 4th, he drove a u-haul truck to Nogales, Arizona to stay overnight at his mother’s house. The next day he went across the border to get our beautiful picture of Our Lady.
When he arrived back, I was just leaving our Divine Mercy Chapel where Fr. Ariel arranged for a presentation on praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
I saw Fr. Alan pull out the large box with Our Lady in. So with a butcher knife in his hand, he and Fr. Ariel unveiled the beautiful replica. Here is the process:
The next part of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration was the class Mass for first grade in their classroom for their patron saint-Juan Diego which was on Wednesday. The first graders practiced reading the Epistle for the day and I went into their classroom several times to teach them four Mass songs. I was able to find simple ones for them to memorize. Their favorite was ” We Are the Church” with actions which they will do at our Sunday Mass since Fr. Ariel was so impressed with them.
Fr.Ariel is holding a statue of Juan Diego 
as the students tell him all they know about Juan Diego which was alot.
We continue with our school celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe…….
Ms. Rodriguez’s 3rd grade class loves to do plays so they did the play for our feast. Here it is – by now you know the story told here in pictures.
Friday night began the parish celebration with a mile long walking procession. We had horses to lead our way.
Then it was to our parish center to enjoy a delicious meal, listen to a mariachi band and watch our 3rd grade students perform for the parish their little play once again. They were very impressed with the much larger Tepeyac Hill.
What a beautiful addition to your church. And what a blessing the students were in the sharing the story of the Lady.
It is indeed, a beautiful picture and a wonderful addition to St. Anthony’s Church. There are so many wonderful things to learn about and share in a multi-ethnic community such as St. Anthony’s.