This past week, our parish celebrated our Patronal Feast, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What “Patronal Feast” means is that this feast, already so important on its merits, takes on an added significance for us because it is the namesake of our parish. 

This past week, the Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This feast celebrates the apparition of our Lady to Saint Juan Diego. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has since gone on to become one of the most famous images of Mary as well as one of the most unique. The image itself contains some of the deepest symbolism of any such images. Let’s take a look at some of this symbolism.

Earlier this week, we celebrated the Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. This may seem like an odd title for Mary: how can she be mother of an organization? The first thing that this title calls us to remember is that the Church is more than a mere organization. The Church is not some non-governmental organization or charity group; the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. Just as the human body is compiled of many individual cells united together by a single soul, so too the Church is compiled of many individual persons united together by the one Holy Spirit and united to Jesus Christ her Head. What is it that Mary gave birth to? Jesus. Therefore, Mary is the mother of the Church Universal. 

The meaning of this occasion is to show Mary’s faith in the message she has received: she goes to Elizabeth, not to confirm what the angel has said, but because she already believes it and knows that Elizabeth (being pregnant at an older age) will need help.