The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is followed immediately by the commemoration of Our Lady of Guadalupe's first apparition to St. Juan Diego nearly 500 years ago. This event and the spread of Catholicism in what is today Mexico reminds us of the power of the Faith to overcome the darkness of idolatry and the barbarism of religious practices that disregard the sanctity of life while resisting God's desire for mankind's salvation.