Bishop Teodoro Gomez Rivera of the Diocese of Choluteca, Honduras, served as principal celebrant and homilist during the annual Spanish Mass in honor of the patroness of Honduras, Our Lady of Suyapa, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“The Episcopal Conference of Honduras asked me to deliver a cordial greeting from them, and they also told me to tell you to be assured of their prayers,” Bishop Gomez said early in his homily during the Sunday, February 9 Mass. “With joy and with pleasure, we celebrate this sacrament of faith, this sacrament of salvation.”     

The Mass, attended by hundreds of people, was organized by the New York archdiocesan Our Lady of Suyapa Committee. The concelebrants were Father Diego Jimenez and Father Andres Galeano. The entrance procession featured an image of Our Lady of Suyapa.        

Life of continuous thanksgiving 

Bishop Gomez went on to speak of the importance of Mary’s role in the life of the Church, saying that, in that gathering of the Mass, it was a time to celebrate “our Mother, Mary most holy and most pure – and for us Hondurans, [under the title] the Virgin of Suyapa, as a good Mother, as a Eucharistic Mother who made her life a continuous thanksgiving…This is why, in this Holy Mass, we give thanks to God for the wonders that have been realized throughout the history of salvation.” 

He added that the faithful also give thanks “for the wonders realized in our Mother who is conserved without the stain of sin – Mary, Mother of the Son of God, our Savior, who is the center of this Eucharistic occasion that we are celebrating.” 

In citing the day’s first reading from Isaiah, the bishop spoke of how God has chosen “His collaborators to carry out His plan of love, His plan of salvation.” Bishop Gomez noted that in both the Old and New Testaments, the Lord “took the initiative to call His witnesses, to call His apostles.” The bishop noted other occasions of calls from the Lord in the day’s readings, calls to people chosen to be “instruments of the works which the Father entrusted on them.” Today, he said, the faithful are reminded that they must “continue the works of the apostles.”  

Noting “these moments of difficulty” in present times, Bishop Gomez prayed “for the intercession of our Holy Mother Mary, so that we are consoled, so that we can be missionary disciples of Christ.”  

Our Lady of Suyapa 

It is said that the story of Our Lady of Suyapa started in February 1747, when a local peasant, Alejandro Colindres, was on his way back to the village of Suyapa after a day of gathering corn. When evening fell, Alejandro decided to stay overnight near a ravine about halfway to Suyapa. While lying on the ground, he felt a hard object, possibly a stone, under him and tossed it away.

After lying down again, he discovered that the object had returned. He placed it in his bag and realized in the morning that the object was a small carved image of Our Lady, with her hands joined in prayer.    

The image of Our Lady of Suyapa is carved in cedar wood, possibly done as a devotional item by an unknown amateur artist. The first shrine of Our Lady of Suyapa was blessed in 1780, and the first notable, attested miracle occurred in 1796.    

Our Lady of Suyapa was declared patroness of Honduras in 1925 by Pope Pius XI; her feast day is February 3. The statue is currently located in the Basilica de Suyapa in Suyapa, a suburb of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.