Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

GUADALUPANA  Bishop Serratelli censes a likeness of Our Lady of Guadalupe as he presides at the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Parsippany Dec. 11.

PARSIPPANY  During the vigil of Dec. 11 to Dec. 12, Mass was celebrated throughout the Diocese. The feast marks the appearance of Blessed Mother to St. Juan Diego in Mexico. Many parishes also hosted novenas to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe before the feast day.

Bishop Serratelli presided at the feast day celebration at St. Peter the Apostle Parish here Dec. 11, which included a multicultural rosary, procession and multi-language Mass. More than 1,000 people attended despite the inclement weather that night, showing their strong devotion to the Blessed Mother.

Father Yojaneider Garcia, parochial vicar at St. Peter’s, who helped coordinate the Mass and the celebration, said, “Everybody worked so hard to make this beautiful celebration possible — not only the Hispanic community, but also all the groups and ministries at St. Peter’s. If you look around our parish, it’s the United Nations. We are many countries, many languages, and many personalities; however, we are one body, one family in Christ.”

According to Father Garcia, an important theme for this year’s celebration was peace. The congregation was asked to wear white clothing to represent peace and 1,000 white roses were offered to the Blessed Mother representing prayer petitions and prayers from the families.

Msgr. Herbert Tillyer, pastor, said, “Our parish is blessed with a diverse community embracing several cultures. This is how we compliment each other. It is a special blessing for our parish family. We have many countries, languages and backgrounds here, and we all come together as one with the same purpose: We are all seeking Jesus. In 1999, St. John Paul II declared our Blessed Mother Mary as the ‘Patroness of the Americas’ under her title, “Our Lady of Guadalupe.” And so every year we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe as one Catholic community, reinforcing and celebrating our diversity and honoring Mary as our Queen of Peace in this year’s Mass.”