Leroy and I enjoyed traveling to Mexico City with pilgrims from All Saints University Parish in Turlock. My primary goal was to see The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and witness the tilma Juan Diego wore when he saw The Virgin Mary.
Ever since I first heard the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I knew I wanted to see it in person. It wasn’t long after our pilgrimage to Poland, Prague and Germany when we read about this trip, traveling with our home parish. I was all in the moment I read about it. And, as usual, Leroy was indulgent and readily agreed. He knew what it meant to me.
We saw many beautiful churches and historical sites. We climbed a Teotihuacan pyramid built in the 1st Century AD. We visited The Zocalo, the central plaza in Mexico City, adjacent to the Metropolitan Cathedral and National Palace. But nothing compared to the experience of being in “La Villa,” which is the square that contains the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and several other churches built on the sites specific to Mary’s apparition to Juan Diego in 1531.
The most memorable part of the trip (besides seeing the tilma) will be the people we encountered along the way. I was struck by the faith of the thousands of pilgrims praying in and around the shrine. But mostly, I enjoyed getting to know some of our fellow parishioners. We have seen each other at Mass for several years. But now we know names and stories, and we have become friends. It was also a privilege to travel alongside Deacon Eric and Fr. Tom and get to know them better.
Unfortunately, a memorable part of the trip will be the things that went wrong. We didn’t have the best tour company or tour guide. We found ourselves at odds with the tour guide’s political views, making it difficult to interact with him. After a while, I found it difficult to tolerate his sense of humor. Whenever he took the microphone, he’d say, “Bueno. Bueno. Bueno,” which became a ritual. Even now, typing the words, I am tensing up.
After we came home, Leroy and I both struggled with our health. We both experienced a bit of gastrointestinal upset, but I also suffered from a respiratory illness that ultimately turned into pneumonia. Our five-day trip took almost two weeks to recover from.
All in all, I’d do it again. I might have done it differently, but I completed the goal and found friendship. Every pilgrimage requires a bit of sacrifice, and this one met the criteria.
