Our Mission

We, The ‘communio’ of St. Joseph, are a multi-cultural Parish whose center of life is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Love! We are the Eucharistic Community of St. Joseph. As Disciples of Christ, brothers and sisters, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are called to worship God, Our Father; we are called to serve one another in charity, to grow in faith, hope, and love; to welcome visitors, and to further the presence of God in the world!

Virgen de Guadalupe by Antonio de Torres, circa 1720, Mexico

Our Lady of Guadalupe first appeared on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico to Cuauhtlatohuac, baptized Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower, living in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a Mass in honor of Our Lady when he heard beautiful music and saw a glowing cloud. Suddenly, before him stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess.. She spoke to him in his own language and asked that Juan build her a shrine in that same spot. Juan Diego visited Juan de Zumárraga, Archbishop of the area, but Zumárraga dismissed him in disbelief and asked for proof. Juan Diego's uncle was seriously ill, so he didn't return to the hill, but Our Lady found him, promised his uncle would recover, and told him to climb to the top of the hill and pick the flowers there to present to the Archbishop. It was winter and nothing should have been in bloom, but Juan Diego found an abundance of flowers of a type he had never seen before. The Virgin bundled the flowers into Juan's cloak, known as a tilma. When Juan Diego presented the tilma of exotic flowers to Zumárraga, the flowers fell out and the Archbishop fell to his knees. The flowers were Castilian roses, not found in Mexico at the time, and on the tilma was the image of Mary exactly as she had appeared on the hill of Tepeyac.

The story is best known from a manuscript written in the Aztec’s native Nahuatl, by the scholar Antonio Valeriano, sometime after 1556. The tilma has been preserved since that date, showing the familiar image of the Virgin Mary with her head bowed and hands together in prayer, and can be viewed at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, just a short distance from Tepeyac Hill.  (Excerpts from OurLadyd of Guadalupe stories from Vatican News and Franciscan Media).