By Katie Vasquez
From the way they’re dressed to their dance steps, every part of the December 12 celebration at the Co-Cathedral of St Joseph is highlighting a faith that has been passed down through the generations.
“When we dance, yes, we dance because it’s in Mexican culture, our thought, our feeling is we are dancing to our God. We are praising him. We are glorifying him,” Father Baltazar Sanchez-Alonzo, the coordinator for the ministry to Mexican immigrants, tells Currents News.
It’s all in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, an almost 500-year devotion to the blessed mother so strong both in Central America and in the Diocese of Brooklyn that Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated two Spanish Masses, one for Queen parishes and one for Brooklyn churches, on Dec. 12.
“She teaches us to go to Christ, and that Christ is in the middle of us all. He’s walking among us. And so that’s what these people are representing, we’re celebrating Jesus Christ, walking with us through the journey of life,” says Bishop Brennan.
The coordinator for Mexican immigrants, Father Sanchez-Alonzo, says this feast broke records.
“This year we went past 4,000 people – 4,000 people, divided into two Masses,” said Father Sanchez-Alonzo. “So every year has increased.”
That devotion will spread through the streets of Brooklyn and Queens.
After Mass Bishop Brennan passes along a flame to more than 50 torch runners, which they will carry on foot back to their parishes.
“Taking the torches back to their parishes, it’s a great sign of the light of Christ being brought to the neighborhoods, witnessing to our faith and devotion,” explains Bishop Brennan.
For some the trek will be longer than others, but the runners don’t mind because they have their faith and each other.
“The community is the best part because we all come together to celebrate one purpose and it’s the mother Mary,” says Melvin Balderes, a parishioner at St. Stanislaus Kostka-Transfiguration parish in Queens. “She’s our mother, and as a mother she loves us so much that she gave her only son to us.”