December 16, 2025 // Diocese

A Joyful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

Bishop Rhoades greets people as they exit the church following Mass at St. Michael Church in Plymouth on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Nearly 500 years ago, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to an Indigenous peasant who was walking to Mass in Tepeyac, Mexico – on the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. Dressed as an Aztec princess, Our Lady spoke to St. Juan Diego, a 57-year-old widower, in his native language. She told him to have the local bishop build a chapel on the site of the apparition.

But the bishop didn’t believe Juan Diego, and so Mary appeared to him once again and told him to gather flowers – roses, specifically, which didn’t grow in the winter, even in Mexico. Juan Diego collected the flowers in his cloak and presented them to the bishop. When he opened his cloak, the roses fell to the ground, and an image of Mary appeared on the inside of his tilma. The bishop fell to his knees, and a shrine was indeed built.

The story of Mary’s appearance to Juan Diego in December of 1531 sparked what has been reported as the largest mass conversion in history, and the Church continues to reap its benefits, as today, nearly 80 percent of the population of Mexico is Catholic, and those waves of faith have spread throughout Latin America.

At St. Michael Catholic Church in Plymouth, hundreds of the faithful – largely multiple generations of Hispanic families – gathered to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day of December 12.

Bishop Rhoades celebrated Mass in Spanish and was joined by the parish’s priests – Father Fernando Jimenez, the community’s pastor, and Father Jose Arroyo, its parochial vicar.

In his homily, Bishop Rhoades drew from the first reading, comparing the pregnant woman in the Book of Revelation with Our Lady of Guadalupe – both dressed in the sun, with the moon beneath their feet, wearing the crown of stars (in Revelation), and the stars on the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, both pregnant, with the woman in Revelation giving birth to Jesus, and Our Lady of Guadalupe giving birth to the Church in America. 

“What I love most (about our Lady of Guadalupe) is her face,” Bishop Rhoades said at Mass. “It is tender and calm, sweet and serene. The Mother of the true God appeared with a mestizo face, and she spoke the language of the Aztec people. Her humble and compassionate gaze gave Juan Diego and all the recently conquered people true hope and comfort. Maria gave them a sense of their dignity as beloved children of God. Her presence and words dispelled the darkness of superstition and fear. Our Lady of Guadalupe was the messenger of God – a messenger of the Gospel of her Son, who teaches the people that the true God is a God of love and mercy.”

Bishop Rhoades continued, saying: “Our Lady has blessed all of America (Central, South, and North America) with her presence on this continent. She still blesses us with her presence and her love.”

Father Jimenez told Today’s Catholic that Bishop Rhoades’ homily “focused on how Mary is a symbol of love that conquers evil, and I think that was very powerful, especially in these times in the world. But it seems like a lot of people have forgotten the essence of humanity, which is love. We were created in the image of God, and God is love. So, Mary, the woman in the Book of Revelation, is the sign of that love that comforts us.”

The Hispanic community at St. Michael in Plymouth packed the pews to honor Mary, as they placed dozens of vases of flowers beneath a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a statue near the altar that was adorned with flowers surrounding her.

“Their devotion to Mary is very genuine,” Father Arroyo told Today’s Catholic. “The community here in Plymouth is diverse. We have a large Mexican community, but the majority of Hispanics here are actually Honduran. It’s beautiful how Our Lady unites us all.”

Both Father Arroyo and Father Jimenez said it was uplifting for the community to have Bishop Rhoades come and celebrate the Mass – and preach his homily – in their native language of Spanish.

“As he pointed out in his homily, when Mary came to the natives of these lands, she spoke in their mother tongue,” Father Jimenez said. “It was a way to communicate with them. So, for us, having our bishop come and speak in the language that we grew up with is also very important. You know, you may understand the message, but when it is in your language, it touches your heart.”

Asked why the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is so celebrated at St. Michael, especially among the Hispanic community, Father Jimenez said that gathering to venerate the Blessed Mother and worship her Son reminds them of being in their native countries.

“One of the most common comments that I hear from our community is that with these feast days, especially Marian feast days, is that they feel at home,” Father Jimenez said. “And even though we may not be in the place that we were born, when we come to celebrate Christ and His mother, it feels like home.”