Oakcrest Celebrates Our Lady of Guadalupe

In the morning a Mass was celebrated in Spanish in Our Lady’s honor. Later that afternoon, the entire school convened in Walsh Hall for a festive celebration, which included performances by a live mariachi band. 

The band kicked off festivities by playing "Las Mananitas,” followed by students from different grades carrying flowers. Students then read the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe aloud and the school prayed a decade of the Rosary together. The mariachi followed with more Marian songs, and all participants ended the day by enjoying Mexican candy. 

 

The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe dates back to the 16th century, when Mary appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec convert to Christianity, in 1531 in Mexico. She asked that he tell the local bishop to build a shrine to her on Tepeyac Hill, the spot where she appeared. As a sign for the bishop, she imprinted her image on Juan Diego’s tilma, which still exists and is venerated to this day. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit the shrine each year. 

St. Josemaria, the Founder of Opus Dei, had a great devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and made a pilgrimage to her shrine in Mexico City in 1970 “to pray for her intercession for the good of the world, the Church, and that little portion of the Church which is Opus Dei.”  The last image he saw before his death on June 26, 1975 was a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.