To all the Pilgrims of the 2022 Guadalupe Pilgrimage,
Welcome home and thank you for having answered the call from Our Mother, the ever Virgin Maria de Guadalupe, to come to her Basilica to spend time with her in prayer, and to serve her poor, the sick, and the elderly.
The majority of you came for the first time and perhaps may even have been a bit hesitant not really knowing what to expect. However, I know for a fact that in the end, each of you experienced, at minimum, one memorable moment in time that could have only happened during this pilgrimage. I am grateful to each and every one of you for your giving spirit which was expressed uniquely toward all you met.
I am extremely grateful to my good friend and Pilgrimage Chaplain, Bishop Larry Silva, for the inspirational liturgies, for having led us in the praying of our daily rosary, for his singing of all ten verses of La Guadalupana and most importantly, for his kind and warm presence which always reminded us why we were part of this unique pilgrimage.
Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to our dear friends of the Mexican Association of the Order of Malta. With a warm embrace and friendly smile they always welcome us, old timers and newcomers, working together as family which is what we have become to each other over the years.
I pray that each of you has returned home with a deeper love of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Mother, the Empress of the Americas. I would ask you to keep each other in prayer in the hope that each of us will hear her call again next year. Share your experience with a friend. Perhaps they too will hear her call and join the 2023 Guadalupe Pilgrimage from October 11 -16.
Thank you and may God bless you one and all.
Que viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!