The Mother of God, in her Icon of Czestochowa, will soon come to Ecuador. She travels the world from Ocean to Ocean carrying a message of defense of life and family. Maria has been visiting our Mexican brothers for more than two years, and from Mexico She jumps to Ecuador to begin Her journey through South America.
The reception will be at the new Mariscal Sucre International Airport, better known as Tababela Airport, on Friday, March 24. She will arrive by plane from Panama, to the capital of Ecuador, Quito. On the same day, the welcoming party will accompany Our Lady to the "Middle of the World", a tourist attraction visited by both foreigners and nationals. She will symbolically cross the equinoctial line, and bless the whole world with her maternal presence.
Then She will make a trip to the city of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, accompanied by Father Leon Juchniewicz, a Polish priest who has lived in the country for 30 years. He will be the custodian of the Virgin in this first period of the Ecuador visit, coordinating the pilgrimage to different parishes in his diocese.
The reception of the Icon in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord is scheduled at 6:00 p.m., where a mass of thanksgiving will be celebrated. Later a night vigil will be held to ask the Mother of God to intercede to our Heavenly Father for this beloved land, the first country in the world to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On March 25, The International Day of the preborn Child and the anniversary of the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the whole city will gather to march for life, and Mary - the Ark of the New Covenant, will accompany her people. The march will start in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, will cross several important streets of Santo Domingo, and then will reach the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, where Bp. Bertram Wick, accompanied by priests, will celebrate the Holy Eucharist.
The next parish that will host the Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa will be the Church of the Holy Guardian Angels, and then, according to the schedule She will visit both the urban and rural areas of the diocese.