The six members of Mariachi America, a Twin Cities group who were part of the Our Lady of Guadalupe observance, with Patricia Valencia, who was visiting family members in Waseca this past weekend, in a traditional Mexican dress.
Mariachi Church Service celebrates 1531 miracles
Wed, 01/01/2025 - 9:02pm
Father Gregory Leif, who officiated at the well-attended Dec. 7 service at Sacred Heart Church celebrating the Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, added one “miracle,” to the two well-known events which occurred long ago in Mexico.
An indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, encountered skepticism in 1531 when he told a local priest a glowing pregnant peasant woman had spoken to him and requested that a shrine be built on a specific hill, the one where she appeared.
When Diego returned to the hill knowing he would not be listened to without proof, the woman appeared again. She instructed him to climb to the top of the hill, where he found flowers blooming, even though it was December. The flowers were bundled into his traditional cloak, known as a “tilma,” which was woven from cactus fibers and other natural materials.
Diego took the cloak holding the flowers to the priest. When he poured them out, the priest recognized them as Castilian roses–which do not grow in Mexico. Furthermore, an image of the woman now appeared in the fabric of the tilma.
To the miracles of the roses and the imprinted tilma, Father Leif added one more: the priests of the church listened to a member of the Aztec people. Citing recent apologies issued to indigenous peoples by Pope Francis in Canada in 2023 and President Biden in Arizona in 2024, he said an important lesson from the events is that people should “listen to God, one another, and the earth.” He offered recent hurricanes and extreme weather as examples of messages humans should take note of.
“If we do not listen, that will get worse,” he said of natural disasters and human indifference to the suffering of others..
“Let’s have an end to the need for apologies,” he suggested, saying change has to begin as a transformation within people’s minds and hearts.
A defining element of the Dec. 7 church service were the contributions of Mariachi America, a six-member group out of St. Paul who played and sang many liturgical elements of the service, and then stayed as entertainment during a social event afterward.
Following the service, about 150 people made their way to the church social hall, where Waseca’s El Molino restaurant provided a meal. All free-will donations received were donated to the church to support similar future events.