This week's INSIDER comes from President and CEO of CatholicVote, Kelsey Reinhardt.
Friend,
"Am I not here, I who am your mother?"
— Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego
Earlier this year, I was invited to speak at CPAC Mexico, which soon became a speaking engagement at Cumbre Viva Mexico.
My husband and I used the occasion to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. It wasn't our last visit, but it easily will be the most significant. This time, I carried with me the mission of CatholicVote—and I came to place it, our mission and all of you under her mantle.
In 1531, Our Lady appeared to a humble Nahuatl-speaking convert, Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac.
What followed was the largest peaceful mass conversion in history. Over 30 million indigenous people embraced the Catholic faith in less than a decade. Our Lady's tender, maternal image spoke to their hearts in a way that no one else ever could.
The Shrine today is unlike anywhere I've ever been. It was an ordinary Friday, a weekday, and yet 15,000 people were gathered for Mass—pilgrims from one diocese among many making an annual visit.
Nearby shops brim with life, selling food and wares to feed the great crowds she draws. And the basilica's doors remain open, so from any angle of the plaza, her gaze is visible. As the priest said in the homily: hers is a gaze that never sleeps, eyes that never close, mothering us at every moment.
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