As millions of people found a way to catch the solar eclipse yesterday — some driving hundreds of miles, with others hosting parties in their back yards — many Catholics found incredible meaning in this rare event taking place on a transferred feast day, the Solemnity of the Annunciation. 

Some reflected on the physical finding the metaphysical; others expounded on light penetrating darkness. Thousands took to social media to draw parallels with the darkness of Good Friday still fresh on hearts and minds and the eclipse NASA has recorded taking place in the year A.D. 33 — and also the amazing celestial ties to the life of St. John Paul II and the map of eclipses that marked major moments in the life of the Polish pope. 

Here are some of the 9 of the best takes we found on social media to mark the collective marveling-at-the-miraculous moments captured yesterday and the beauty of our one true God. 

 

1. Writer and professor Abigail Favale at the McGrath Institute of the University of Notre Dame eloquently reflected on the Annunciation and “that moment when, at her assent, the divine and human touch, becoming one.” 

2. Radio host and producer Matt Swaim quoted Venerable Fulton Sheen discussing the brilliance of the sun and Son as related to Mother Mary. 

 

3. Jesuit Father Jacob Boddicker captured awe-inspiring moments of the eclipse above a statue of the Blessed Mother in the Midwest. 

 

4. Father Brian O’Brien took the opportunity to remind his followers of another extraordinary moment that eclipses happenings in the sky. 

5. Chicago Catholic-school students reveled in the moments of the eclipse and tested their knowledge on campus on the Solmenity of the Annunciation. 

 

6. The eclipse was documented outside of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, in Stillwater, Oklahoma, drawing upon all the things that exist in the world that can bring us closer to “his created beauty.”

 7. Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle took the opportunity to offer praise in awe of such moments when we consider the celestial beauty. 

8. St. John the Baptist Catholic school in Longmont, Colorado, brought children out to view the eclipse, pointing to that “singular moment in Nazareth.”

 

9. Margaret Gardini at St. Eugene Catholic School in the Bronx, New York, marked what the eclipse meant for her and the ways students took in the brillance. 

And just as NASA engineers reminded those moonlighting as scientists yesterday, the heavens always offer beauty any day of the week--don't forget to look up--and say a prayer for all the wonder the skies offer us!