Our Lady of Guadalupe & National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples
- December 12, 2023
- Message from Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
On 12 December, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, the Church in Canada celebrates the National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. This year, we take a moment to recall the Holy Father’s Penitential Pilgrimage to Canada in July 2022, and in particular his words of prayer offered at Lac Ste. Anne:
“Lord, as the people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee were not afraid to cry out to you with their needs, so we come to you, Lord … with whatever pain we bear within us. We bring to you our weariness and our struggles, the wounds of the violence suffered by Indigenous brothers and sisters. In this blessed place, where harmony and peace reign, we present to you the disharmony of our experiences, the terrible effects of colonization, the indelible pain of so many families, grandparents and children. Lord, help us to be healed of our wounds. We know, Lord, that this requires effort, care and concrete actions on our part; but we also know that we cannot do this alone. We rely on you and on the intercession of your mother and your grandmother. Yes, Lord, we entrust ourselves to the intercession of your mother and your grandmother, because mothers and grandmothers help to heal the wounds of our hearts.”