November 27, 2005

Crying Virgins Strike Again

Just like the recent episode in Chicago, people looking for meaning and reassurance in pieces of toast and water stains on walls have turned their pious eyes to Sacramento, California, where (from the AP):
"the faithful have been coming in a steady stream to a church on the outskirts of Sacramento for a glimpse of what some are calling a miracle: A statue of the Virgin Mary they say has begun crying a substance that looks like blood.
"There's a big event in the future — earthquake, flood, a disease," Ky Truong said. "We're very sad."

"I think that it's incredible. It's a miracle. Why is she doing it? Is it something bothering her?" asked Maria Vasquez, 35, who drove with her parents and three children from Stockton, about 50 miles south of Sacramento.
I don't want to slag the Virgin. She was probably a pretty alright babe. I went to a school founded by some nice Franciscan ladies who were in inspired by the Virgin. I, myself, live a life that might, by some definitions, resemble that of a cloistered virgin (although one with high speed internet access, and more occupational freedoms).

But if she doesn't stop popping up on pancakes in Kansas City, tortillas in Mexico, and banks in Florida, I'm going to have to start taking her vistations a little less seriously. She's spreading herself too thin, and people don't know whether to simply visit, weep, and pray, or actually do something useful with their faith anymore.