Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos and her dress change

 

Parishioners carry the Virgin with her change of dress during the procession at Nuestra Señora de San Juan de Los Lagos Church on Feb. 2.

David Mendez for South Texas Catholic
 

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Located in the Encinos neighborhood of Corpus Christi, Nuestra Señora de San Juan de Los Lagos, Madre de la Iglesia Parish continues the tradition of changing of the dress of the miniature image of Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos. Part of the tradition is to allow a padrino (sponsor) or family to change the Virgin’s new dress.

The tradition is a deeply rooted devotion, originating with the people of Jalisco, Mexico. It has, over the years, been carried out symbolically in preparation for Lent – to seek an interior renewal, a mixture of human and the divine and thus, learning to walk with Jesus very closely and with greater intimacy.

In the Diocese of Corpus Christi the devotion and rites observed for Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos began a few years ago with the formation of a shrine in honor of the Blessed Virgin. The shrine was later moved to Mary Mother of the Church Mission under Bishop Michael Mulvey, was elevated to a parish and renamed in 2010. 

The pastor of Nuestra Señora de San Juan de los Lagos, Father Jose Salazar, said that after arriving at his new parish and talking with parishioners, they explained to him that the tradition of changing the dress is referring to the change all Christians are called to follow. It is a “conversion, and more importantly, it is something that is not done only once in a lifetime, but every time we celebrate the sacraments in an encounter with the Lord, who continues to lead us and call us to understand each other more and to integrate ourselves in His life,” Father Salazar said. “That’s when he began to understand the reason behind the tradition.

After two years of allowing one family to buy an expensive dress ($5,000-$6,000 ) for the Virgin image and parishioners asking him when he was going to display all the dresses, he felt he had to put an end to the excess and began writing about it. “In this neighborhood, that amount of money could change someone’s life,” he said

Since the Virgin already has eight dresses his parishioners agreed that the money could be used for the parish social service account and the money could come from several people. The money could be used to care for people who need not only food but also emergency assistance – materially and spiritually.

“It breaks my heart when there are couples and young people who cannot go to a retreat or a weekend meeting because they don’t have the money. This money can be used to help a person grow spiritually, to find the Lord,” he said.

“Personally, I was ashamed, because of all the needs that are here,” he said. “It seemed wrong to raise money for temporary things, on the other hand, helping the poor to find the Lord is part of the mission of the Church. We can be a generous place from the generosity of others.”

This year the family of Miguel and Patricia Fernandez changed the dress. They come from a town of Jalisco called Jesús María in the Diocese of Nuestra Señora de San Juan de los Lagos.

The Fernandez family agreed to sponsor a ceremony of love for the Virgin, because Patricia Fernandez said, “being part of this community of Hispanic immigrants brings us closer to our own identity. Here I feel closer to God and it touches my soul. My faith was customary, a habit, but when I married my husband and I started to participate in the Mass, I learned what it’s like to be invited to a dinner and participate. Little by little I began to meet people who invited me to prayer groups, such as the one led by Gabi Pinedo from St. Philip, the Apostle Parish, which is how I carried out my consecration to the Virgin in accordance with the teachings of Louis de Montfort,” she said. “I realized that, by understanding the role of the Virgin, she took us on a direct and safe path to God our Lord.

“We have five daughters and I believe that our example as committed Christians, going to Mass, praying the rosary at home, serving, being part of the community and the devotion of my husband and myself to the Virgin Mary and to God are fundamental for their education.” 

Romelia Torres said that the ceremony of changing the dress of the Virgin always brought her hope, because so many people participated in the ceremony. “The change of the dress of the Virgin, for me is a change in the depths of my being, an internal change and a new beginning.”

When Torres came from Monterrey, Mexico with her husband and three children, she didn’t know much about Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos. “I am Catholic, but it felt foreign to me. I learned about the shrine, started going to Mass and got involved in the community. I began to feel a change in my spirit and I started to cheer up. I missed my people and then I started meeting others who felt the same as I did. I began to feel the void of missing my family lessen and began to follow the mandate of Jesus, that we love each other,” Torres said. 

At the ceremony of the dress change of the Virgin, the presence of Bishop Michael Mulvey made a difference this year: “It meant a lot,” Father Salazar said, “He is the father – the disciple, the authority of the Church for our community. He came to give us that support, dignity and strength of our tradition. His support is a sign of the presence of God – it is like remembering the blessing of our grandparents. In the Church we come to remember that authority, ‘what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’ (Matthew 18:18). The Church has that power, but it exists because we have the humility to believe in another world.

“When I began to understand the people of this parish, I began to learn and appreciate the mentality of the immigrant. I realized that the Lord is preparing the way for change. The Virgin continues to call us to a life in Christ, meditating on her ‘yes’ and unconditional responses to acceptance of change for the love of God,” Father Salazar said. “For me, the spiritual life is an encounter with all walls. One has to continue to knock down walls, walls of selfishness, ego, pride, racial prejudice, and try to understand the call to a communion with Christ. The depth of the inner change is reflected in this change of the Dress of the Virgin, through which the parish community of Our Lady of San Juan is preparing to live Lent. It is not that the Virgin does not deserve a dress, but that the dress becomes a social change and the spiritual change of service and the love this community wishes to share.”