Mexico tours highlight ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe’

Mexico specialist Moreno Travel is promoting the “miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe”with its organized pilgrimage tours to Mexico. “On our trips, meet local people, experience Mexican culture, and learn about the Patroness of the Americas,”the tour operator says. In 1531 a “Lady from Heaven”appeared to Juan Diego, a humble Native American at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City. The apparition identified herself “as the ever virgin Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth.”She made a request for a church to be built on the site and Juan Diego submitted her wish to the local bishop. The site is best known for its tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth that should have deteriorated over the next 20 years, but which shows no sign of decay 479 years later, and defies scientific explanations. It’s said to reflect in the apparition’s eyes what was in front of her in 1531. Twenty-five popes have officially honoured Our Lady of Guadalupe and John Paul II visited her Sanctuary four times. Yearly, up to 20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica, making it Christianity’s most visited sanctuary. Moreno Travel offers a number of tours that showcase Mexican culture. (http://www.morena.ca)