What does Holy Mother Church give us halfway through Advent? The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of America. What a gift!
Do you know the story?
On December 9, 1531 which was then the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, Mary appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico City and asked him to take a message to the bishop to build her a shrine there. The bishop asked for sign. In response, Mary gathered roses and arranged them in Juan Diego's tilma and told him to take them to the bishop.
When Juan Diego opened it before the bishops, the roses fell to the floor revealing the miraculous image imprinted there by heaven's power.
What a gift and reminder Mary's feast is in the middle of Advent. She calls us in this holy season to prayer and penance. "Am I not here?" Mary asks us and "Am I not your mother?"
