Personal Narrative: The Virgin Guadalupe

We always hear people saying, “You never really understand what someone’s life is like until you walk in their shoes.” I have been told this numerous times from a variety of people in my life. However, I never truly made sense of what they were saying until recently when I attended a Mass that was dedicated to the feast of the Virgin Guadalupe. Because this is a celebration of the Mexican Catholic community, the entire Mass was proclaimed in Spanish. I found this to be an interesting and eye-opening experience for me. When we arrived at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, we were surrounded by countless people who spoke Spanish as their first language. For the first time in my life, I understood what it feels like to be a minority. I felt awkward and uncomfortable and anxious that I did not belong to this group of people. Even though I have some knowledge of Spanish, I was nervous to use it because I was afraid of being judged for my imperfect grammar skills. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I

It told the story of the Virgin Guadalupe through singing and acting. The children singing were extremely talented and it was very enjoyable to watch. It was interesting because my own church does something similar at Christmas Eve Mass every year where the children act out the nativity story of Jesus’s birth. I also took notice of how the church was decorated for this special occasion. There was a beautiful shrine where a large painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe was placed in the center. Surrounding the painting were dozens of colorful roses. Behind the shrine, there were pieces of red, white, and green cloth to symbolize the Mexican flag. Lights were hung above the pews and there were balloons of red, white, and green as well. Seeing these decorations really helped me understand how important of a celebration this is for the Mexican Catholic