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Bilingual Mass celebrated downtown December 9, 2002 |
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Hundreds of people gathered Sunday night
for a Mass honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe in a downtown Oklahoma City
cathedral.
The Mass, part of several days of celebration that culminates Thursday with a pre-dawn procession to local Catholic churches, commemorates the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to an Indian convert in 1531. Dancers dressed in red suits trimmed with gold chimes and sequined images of Christ and the Virgin of Guadalupe bobbed to staccato drumbeats outside the church before the Mass. The dancing honors the indigenous traditions of Mexico transformed by Catholic Spanish missionaries, said Sister Elsa Margaret of the Carmelite Missionaries of St. Teresa. "This is the gift she gave us," she said. "The gift to evangelization and integrating native people with the Spanish." Sister Elsa has been organizing Masses for the Virgin of Guadalupe for nearly 12 years and has watched them evolve. What was once a Mass in honor of a Catholic saint has now become an exchange of culture and understanding within the Oklahoma City archdiocese. "It brings us together," Sister Elsa said. "This is one of the easiest feast days to get people to come out and support their communities." The bilingual service, officiated by the Rev. Eusebius Beltran, the archbishop of the Oklahoma City diocese, mixed Oklahoma City's growing Hispanic Catholic population with Anglo and Vietnamese Catholics. Beltran urged the congregation to be united and stand behind its priests. "It's been a hard year for us," Beltran said. "We need to have faith and pray for our priests." Father Roberto Quant, an Oklahoma City priest from Nicaragua, reminded parishioners of the faith of Juan Diego, the Indian convert who saw the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. "We need to be like Juan Diego," Quant said. "We need to open our hearts and pray." The Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Americas, has long been associated with Mexico and its people. Her image is that of a woman with light brown skin, a cloak and an outstretched hand. However, in recent years the Vatican has pushed to make it symbol for all Catholics, rather than an emblem of Mexican pride. "You notice that we don't say 'Viva Mexico' anymore," Sister Elsa said. "The Virgin is the mother of all children of God, not just Mexicans." The image of the Virgin was first seen by Juan Diego on Dec. 9, 1531. The Virgin told him to tell the Spanish bishop to build a cathedral on the spot where she was revealed. When Juan Diego relayed the message, the bishop doubted him and asked for proof. Three days later, the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego and told him to gather roses that had miraculously bloomed in December. He gathered the roses in his poncho. When Diego opened his poncho to give the roses to the bishop, the flowers poured out and the image of the Virgin was left inside his cloak. That image hangs in the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City. Each year, thousands make the pilgrimage to the church on Dec. 12 to pay homage. © The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and its
subsidiary, NewsOK.com. |