Amazing Grape

Long time readers know that HolyCoast.com is your site for news and politics, but it's also your site for all the latest Virgin Mary sightings. My Texas correspondent sends me this story from the Dallas Morning News. The Virgin Mary Tour continues:

Becky Ginn was about to throw out some rotten grapes this week when she noticed a familiar image on one of them -- the Virgin Mary.

"I turned it over, and said, ‘oh that looks like the Virgin Mary,'" she said. "It was the first thing that popped into my head."

That happens to me all the time. I'm constantly finding the Virgin in my rotting fruit. It gets kind of annoying after awhile.

Ms. Ginn, 24, of Arlington bought the grapes at a nearby Tom Thumb last week. Many of the other grapes also looked rotten by Tuesday, but none of the others had the iconic image of the Virgin Mary.

A makeup artist, Ms. Ginn said she's seen in the media other images of the Holy Family portrayed in food, but she certainly never expected to discover one herself -- especially as a devout Baptist.

"It was pretty ironic," she said. "My mom and I had a pretty good laugh about it."

Since noticing the image, Ms. Ginn has stored the grape in her freezer to prevent it from rotting any further. She's been showing off pictures on her blog and to her co-workers.

Ms. Ginn said many people have been energized by the image, but some have questioned its authenticity. Ms. Ginn said she has not altered the image.

"I can Photoshop a zit off someone's face," she said. "I can't Photoshop the Virgin Mary onto a grape."

Ms. Ginn said she is thinking about trying to sell the grape on eBay, where others have sold food reincarnations of religious figures. Any profit would go to her church, Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington, she said.

She said she has no intention of trivializing the experience.

Too late.