Easter baskets blessed at Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Baskets holding ingredients for Easter dinners were blessed after more than 100 pilgrims to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe said the Rosary in a processional with the Rev. Jesus Puentes on Saturday in Des Plaines.

Bread was the most common food item in the 50 or so baskets that visitors placed on the steps leading to the altar. After blessing the baskets in Spanish, Puentes sprinkled holy water on the baskets and on those attending the blessing.

Prior to the blessing, a statue of the Virgin Mary, resting on a platform, was carried around the plaza in a processional as the rosary was said. Our Lady of Guadalupe volunteer Leticia Zavala of Chicago Ridge said the processional and rosary recital is something that takes place at noon every Saturday, and people from throughout the area and from out of state who have made a pilgrimage to the shrine participate.

The blessing of the Easter baskets was added to the weekly processional because it was Holy Saturday, she said.

“Today, we continued to tradition of praying the rosary, and then he did the blessing of the baskets,” Zavala said. “People tend to come with their baskets with the food they are going to cook for Easter, and Father blesses all the ingredients.”