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To: Pastors and Hispanic/Latino ministers
From: William Cardona, Assistant Director of Hispanic and Latino Cultures, Office of Intercultural Ministries
(Spanish)
Dear Parish Community,
One of the oldest known published novenas in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe appears in a publication from 1688 by a Jesuit priest, Fr. Francisco de Florencia, in a history of the apparitions titled La Estrella del Norte de México (The Star of Northern Mexico). Traditionally, the novena begins on December 3 and ends on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12. In the U.S. as in Mexico and many other Latin American countries, these days at the beginning of Advent become an occasion to prepare for this unique celebration of Our Blessed Mother with great devotion.
As Office of Intercultural Ministries of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, we delight in sharing with you this devotional booklet prepared by OCP (Oregon Catholic Press), which has been sent to the 67 parishes and missions with Masses in Spanish. It includes a selection of songs from the Marian and Guadalupan repertoire. This will be a very useful resource to celebrate this time of the year with the family, at home or in the parish, for all the members of your parish. The fact that these prayers and reflections are bilingual (Spanish and English) will be a great blessing to help unite parishes and share this important devotion of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The format for each day of the novena includes its own introduction, suggestion for scripture reading, excerpt from the Nican Mopohua (“Thus it is said” the traditional account of the apparitions to St. Juan Diego), prayer, reflection, intercessions and conclusion. It will be simple to adapt according to the circumstances and experience of any family or community. You can easily include a rosary or other prayers customary in some communities.
It is our desire that this collection of prayers, reflections and songs help you to deepen your devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and at the same time assist in your efforts of evangelization and accompaniment of the people of God through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization in the Americas.
Lucia Luzondo | William Cardona |
Director Intercultural Ministries | Assistant Director of Hispanic and Latino Cultures |
lluzondo@archatl.com | wcardona@archatl.com |