Jesús Cabrera took a bus with 49 other parishioners from St. John Vianney Parish in Sedona, Ariz., to participate in this year’s Honor Your Mother Celebration Dec. 7. Cabrera’s group joined thousands of others at the event, which included a Mass, celebrated by Bishop John Dolan and Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares, and a procession through downtown Phoenix that showcased music and colorful costumes representing cultures from Latin America, Asia and Africa.
“For us, this represents our faith in our mother, the Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cabrera said in Spanish. “We’re very devoted to her because she’s our mother, the Mother of God.”
The 19th annual celebration in Downtown Phoenix, held on the street between St. Mary’s Basilica and the Phoenix Convention Center, brings together parishioners from throughout the Diocese of Phoenix to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, diocesan patroness, the Saturday before her Dec. 12 feast day.
This year’s Honor Your Mother event had extra significance, coming on the cusp of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope set to launch Christmas Eve, as well as in the first year of Bishop Dolan’s seven-year pastoral plan for evangelization leading to the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531.
“Today, Guadalupe is giving us our identity, the identity of being one Church, one family, one community,” diocesan Vicar for Human Dignity Fr. Andres Arango said in his homily.
“That identity should be expressed and put into action in our activities, providing life for others, defending life, promoting all the values that are important for us.”
The Blessed Mother serves as an example of communion, mission and faithfulness, Fr. Arango said. When Mary says, “May it be done to me according to your word,” she is expressing full confidence in God’s plan.
Carrying forth the mission of Christ means to be people of love, Fr. Arango added. Love Himself inspires us to show that love to all those around us, he said, noting that God saw that Mary’s heart was full of love.
“To be Guadalupano means that we’ve got to respect the person that is suffering — those migrants that sometimes are discriminated, those who are sick, those who don’t have a place,” Fr. Arango, who also serves as pastor of St. Wiliam Parish in Cashion, Ariz., said. “To be Guadalupano means that we’ve got to pray to love the person that is in prison. To be Guadalupano means that we are not indifferent when something is going wrong.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance brought the Native and European cultures together as one family, Fr. Arango said. This is why she’s considered the patroness of the Americas.
“She was breaking all the barriers, all the boundaries, in order to say, ‘We’ve got to be one family.” It was the opportunity for reconciliation. It was the opportunity to create a new style of life,” Fr. Arango said. “Today, she is inviting all of us to be the people of God, and to be Guadalupanos means to be in commitment for the Lord, not only to promote what we like but to be always in one spirit, the Spirit of Jesus.
“She is always giving us protection,” he added. “Under her mantle, there is nothing to be afraid.”
Angel Le attended Honor Your Mother for the first time with a group of other students from Grand Canyon University’s Holy Spirit Newman Center. Le grew up attending Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in Phoenix and found a connection between Our Lady of La Vang — Our Lady’s apparition in Vietnam — and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“It truly is to Jesus through Mary where she’s always reeling us in, pulling us into her Son Jesus,” Le said. “With Our Lady of La Vang and Our Lady of Guadalupe, then she’s this perfect model of modesty, this perfect model of obedience, and through that, she’s able to pull in so many souls.”
Jorge López sang “La Guadalupana” — the traditional song for the feast day — as he walked in procession with his Banda La Llegadora de Alejo López. The banda was named for his late brother, who would bring them to the procession every year. Participating helps the singer grow in his own devotion.
“I feel at ease in my heart and soul,” López, a parishioner at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Phoenix, said in Spanish. “I’m Catholic in my heart, and I love to sing to la Virgencita.”
Diocesan Office of Respect Life Ministries Manager Marina Salvador-Velazquez said that as patroness of the unborn, Our Lady of Guadalupe also reminds us of each other’s intrinsic human dignity.
“She’s there for us, especially for those that have lost a child, for those that have chosen to not have a child and they’re struggling with that. She is our consolation. She’s there interceding for us,” she said.
“This is a great opportunity for us as Catholics to honor the mother of life,” Salvador-Velazquez added. “When Mary gave her fiat, and she said, ‘Let it be done according to your will,’ she showed us the virtues of faith, hope and charity.”
