DETROIT — Christians today should be faithful to the message St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin received nearly 500 years ago from Our Lady of Guadalupe, Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Cepeda said this week.

The Blessed Virgin’s message was one of love — of faith, hope and charity, he said. “God is love, and in the message we have received from this simple Indian, as she told St. Juan Diego, ‘I want to bring you the Living God,’” the bishop told the congregation gathered at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament for the combined archdiocesan celebration of the feasts of both the Virgin of Guadalupe and the man to whom she appeared in 1531.

The feast of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548) was also widely celebrated on his actual feast day, Dec. 9, and the Dec. 12 feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in many parishes of the archdiocese, especially those with a substantial Hispanic membership.

“All of us are called to love this message of the new evangelization so that we can truly proclaim it to the world,” Bishop Cepeda said.

The bishop spoke mainly in Spanish, but also repeated a portion of his homily in English.

He concluded that portion of his homily with: “We ask the intercession of St. Juan Diego, that we may be able to proclaim the Good News.”

It was the testimony of St. Juan Diego about the apparition and message of the Blessed Virgin — along with the proof he brought back in the form of her image miraculously imprinted on his tilma, or mantle, that was the most significant factor in the conversion of the native Mexican population to Christianity.

On his second visit to the Blessed Virgin, St. Juan Diego asked her for some proof he could show his skeptical bishop, and she instructed him to gather the flowers he would find in the area and return.

He placed the flowers in his mantle, but when he opened it for the bishop, the flowers had been replaced by her miraculous image. The original cloak hangs in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City today.

The devotion to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) spread quickly, and it remains strong today. A visit to a major Hispanic church, such as Holy Redeemer in southwest Detroit, early on the morning of her feast day will find it packed with people starting their day by serenading her. Many return later in the day for Mass.

The recognition of the sainthood of Juan Diego was a more recent matter. Blessed Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1990 and canonized him in 2002.

A relic of St. Juan Diego (a small piece of the mantle) visited Detroit in late 2003.