Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Ottawa (Agenzia Fides) - On the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Catholic Aboriginal Council for Reconciliation issued a message for the 5th National Day of Prayer for Aboriginal Peoples, in which it recalls the importance of the event in Guadalupe which led (1531 - 1541), to nine million conversions among the Aboriginal peoples of Mexico
The message recalls the words of John Paul II when he canonised Saint Juan Diego on 31 July 2002: "The Guadalupe Event, as the Mexican Episcopate has pointed out, "meant the beginning of evangelisation with a vitality that surpassed all expectations. Christ's message, through his Mother, took up the central elements of the indigenous culture, purified them and gave them the definitive sense of salvation" (14 May 2002, No. 8). Consequently Guadalupe and Juan Diego have a deep ecclesial and missionary meaning and are a model of perfectly inculturated evangelization. In accepting the Christian message without forgoing his indigenous identity, Juan Diego discovered the profound truth of the new humanity, in which all are called to be children of God. ”.
The Message also recalls Pope John Paul II's meeting with Aboriginal peoples in Canada on 10 September 1984, “Your encounter with the Gospel has not only enriched you, it has enriched the Church…the Gospel does not destroy what is best in you. On the contrary, it enriches as it were from within the spiritual qualities and gifts that are distinctive of your culture. In addition your Amerindian and Inuit traditions permit the development of new ways of expressing the message of salvation and they help us better understand to what point Jesus is the Saviour and how universal his salvation is”.
The Message of the Catholic Aboriginal Council for Reconciliation concludes with a call to work together to promote reconciliation in order to be brothers and sisters in the Lord. " Each one of us is being called by Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, to be her ambassadors to welcome Jesus in our lives. On this fifth anniversary of the National Day of Prayer for Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, we will unite in prayer and spiritual solidarity as we celebrate in various ways the evangelization of our past. We are once again reminded that on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on December 12, 2007, she is our Mother of the Americas. She wants us to follow her Son, Jesus. ".
The Catholic Aboriginal Council for Reconciliation was established by the Catholic Bishops of Canada 1998 to foster more unity between Aboriginal and non Aboriginal Catholics. In 2002 December 12 was chosen at the national annual Day of Prayer for Aboriginal Peoples. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 11/12/2007; righe 30, parole 416)
