The Basilica of Guadalupe is the Marian shrine most visited in the world. About twenty million pilgrims per year are visiting the shrine in Mexico City. This happens because in the shrine there is the original “tilma” which reflected the image of St. Mary of Guadalupe, when from 9 to 12 of December, 1531, she appeared to the native St. Juan Diego From this place, our Lady of Guadalupe manifested herself as a tender and compassionate Mother of all mankind. Her message is eminently maternal. She is presented as it is, the Mother of Life, so that many people from all parts of the country, even the world, come and visit her; they are attracted by love they have for the mother of God, who is venerated by many families. Therefore we met in the family that special environment where Christian faith is transmitted and witnessed by grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren. Men and women come to the “Virgen Morena” all the families together, to express their love, fervour and faith by all the means in all the ways. Guadalupe Basilica is for México what St. Peter’s Basilica is in Rome.
The maternal image in itself is a message of inculturation. And the Mesoamerican peoples were able to transmit the memory of their history from generation to generation through poems and songs, transcribed by means of images and symbols on “amate” paper or on animal skins constituting the so-called codices. Some experts agree that the Virgin of Guadalupe wanted to show herself to the ancient indigenous peoples by a dress full of symbols (as a codex) that the inhabitants of these Mexican lands could easily understand. In our updated today’s vision, we need to know the basic meanings of the symbols in the indigenous cultures and expressed in the Guadalupana image, so that we may deeply understand the message contained in that image.

The following elements help us to understand the meaning for the local culture of the message spread by the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe: a) the stature of the Virgin in her “tilma” is 143 centimeters long and reproduces a young woman who approximately is 18-20 years old; b) her face is brown having an attitude for a deep prayer; c) her hands are arranged together in a gesture of prayer and meditation; d) her hairs are let down, and among the Aztecs that was a sign of a glorified woman with a child in her womb; e) her pregnancy was established by the shape of her increased abdomen corresponding to a pregnancy almost in its final stage. Right in the belly of the “Virgen Morena”, so wonderful is framed the Nahuatl flower having four petals, expressing the God's presence, the heart of space according to the ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Keeping the "Nahui Ollin" (the Nahuatl flower) in her womb, the Virgin of Guadalupe confirms to the natives that she is the mother of the True God, Jesus Christ she brings to the New World which the conquerors discovered and were beginning to evangelize.
It is also meaningful the time of the Guadalupe Virgin apparitions, as the Indians were par excellence religious people and attentive to the word of God, who was sending them many messages in heaven and on earth, The apparition of the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the “tilma of Juan Diego was on Tuesday, December, 12, 1531. The winter solstice took place in the morning of that same day, which meant in the pre-Hispanic cultures: the dying sun was coming back to have force, so that the new Sun was born and life was starting again. The Indians believed the winter solstice was the most important day in their religious calendar, it was the day when the sun beats darkness and rises up as a winner. Therefore it was not a coincidence that precisely on that day the Virgin of Guadalupe showed his Son Jesus to the indigenous peoples, so that they could understand the true God who she brought in her womb and the evangelical message carried out by conquerors.
In her mantle there are all the brightest stars of the main constellations visible in that early morning of December 12, 1531. The constellations are completely reproduced and the stars are grouped as they really were, as dazzling witnesses of the great miracle which happened.
The Guadalupana brings a Christ-centric message which indigenous people could immediately understand. For that reason she became the first and most important evangelizer of the Americas.
Today she follows her evangelization by the presence of St. Joseph Marello’s spiritual children who received also the evangelical message Maria brought to these lands and since 1951 they contributed to the evangelization in Mexican lands. The Oblates went to the land of the "Virgin of Guadalupe receiving the invitation of the Apostolic Delegate for Mexico and the Bishop of Tulancingo. There were at that time not many priests attending to the people who lost their spiritual guides. Thus new horizons were open to the Oblates of St. Joseph in a new vineyard blessed by God. Many missionaries Oblates practiced their ministry especially among the Indians Otomíes in the Mezquital Valley. Today the Oblates are mostly Mexicans and follow their ministry of evangelization and human, social and Christian educations according to the same spirit of our first intrepid missionaries. They visited Her in her shrine and experienced that maternal love St. Mary expressed for these lands and committed theirselves in the same way.