On the eve of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day, thousands of parishioners of Our Lady of Sorrows celebrated with a street procession, a Mass in Spanish, cultural performances and countless flowers.

Mass was held outdoors because the Corona church has been closed since Jan. 4 when an early morning fire caused extensive damage.

Even though the community was deeply affected after the fire, what followed was a feeling of fraternal unity and willingness to do whatever was needed to get the parish back to its regular life. The Guadalupe festivities showed that the community’s strength and religious fervor has not wavered.

“This is a place of great faith. Where do you get crowds like this?” said Father Raymond Roden, who was appointed as pastor six months ago.

Following the 9 p.m. Mass on Dec. 11, parishioners were set to sing hymns to the Virgin from midnight to 6 a.m. About 10,000 faithful came to honor the patroness of the Americas throughout the night.

“We are spending the night in prayer and celebrating our ‘Virgen morena’ who is Mother of all,” said Carmen Benitez, a parishioner for 47 years. She processed alongside Gladys Gutierrez who led the recitation of the Rosary as parishioners walked more than 10 blocks to the Mass that was celebrated in front of the church.

Daniel Diaz, a newly ordained permanent deacon, said it is always a blessing when the community expresses its love for Mary.

“How important is the feast of our Mother Guadalupe for the entire Americas!” Diaz said.

Since the 1990s, the parish has welcomed a large Mexican community. The two other largest groups are Ecuadoreans and Dominicans.

After shouting “Viva La Virgen de Guadalupe!” and “Viva Jesucristo!” at the end of the homily, parishioners watched the youth of the parish performing a cultural dance dressed in ancestral Meso-American garb.

“We see how the Virgin fosters this unity throughout the year and especially today, so they feel identified, united and welcomed under the mantle of the Holy Virgin with the commitment to be better persons, citizens, parents, better Catholics,” said Father Pedro Sanchez, who came from Puebla, Mexico, to concelebrate the Mass.

Father Sanchez, who has been coming to the Guadalupe feast in Corona for 12 years, said Our Lady of Sorrows “is a community in permanent mission.”

“It is always a pleasure to see in this parish a community that is alive, evangelized and evangelizing,” he said.

This evangelizing spirit permeates parish life and helps to engage others and to “get the community going,” something that has been fostered since the time of retired pastor Msgr. Thomas Healy, said Diaz.

There are no reservations when it is time to serve the parish.

“We give ourselves to (the parish),” Diaz said, “ We might not be the richest parish in the diocese, but we have a large community, a united community.”

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When a fire occurred in January, Diaz and the rest of the community were in shock. The blaze, which reportedly was electrical, burned through the choir loft and roof of the church.

“It was like watching your house burn,” said Luis Morales, who has lived in the parish his entire life and is part of the Guadalupe committee.

But like other parishioners, Morales thinks it was a miracle people were not injured since the fire happened shortly before 600 parishioners showed up for Mass.

“After that fire all the groups have become more united than they were ever before,” Morales said. “God is on our side and the church is just the physical structure, it’s not the spiritual structure – as long as that stays intact, that is all we need.”

The church still offers 12 Masses every weekend, nine of which are in Spanish. Ever since the fire closed the 100-year-old structure, Mass has been celebrated in the school auditorium, with a tent erected outside for the overflow crowd. Around 8,000 parishioners come on any given weekend, with the numbers increasing to 20,000 during Holy Week, Father Roden said.

He described the community as “newly arrived immigrants” who are sometimes frightened and hopeful and often poor. For those parishioners, Our Lady of Sorrows is home, a place to feel welcomed. “This is a safe place where people can come and be accepted and pray, ” he said.

The parish needs more space to accommodate all the activities.

“Last night we had seven choirs. One of the choirs was practicing in the laundry room downstairs,” Father Roden said. “Every inch is taken.”

The rebuilding process is going “slowly but surely,” Father Roden said, adding that repairs might be completed by June. Parishioners are still collecting funds to pay for the repairs.

“We are all doing our part to fulfill our commitment,” Benitez said.

At the end of the Guadalupe Mass, Father Roden said the church’s reconstruction is a “visible prayer.”

“It is the Lord who is building this house of the Virgin Mary here in Corona,” he said. “Thank you for all the support, all the prayers.”