Showers of Blessing

My Texas Correspondent comes through with another in our Jesus and Virgin Mary World Tour news items:

A family in Splendora claims they have a holy vision inside their home, an image of Jesus created by mold in a bathroom. They say the image is giving them strength.

We've all seen the stories: a Virgin Mary sighting in a grilled cheese sandwich, in the side of a tree, or Jesus' face on a tortilla. We guess you've never seen one like this -- inside a shower.

"People say your house is blessed," said Chyanna Richards. "I see the head, the hair, a cloak."

Richards doesn't know if it's mold or mildew or what, but she knows in her heart what she sees: a likeness of Jesus, it's presence not without meaning.

"Maybe it means something. Maybe look into yourself and see if you need to change something in your life," she said.

Neighbors have heard about it, but hadn't seen it until we showed them a picture.

"Jesus. But it kinda looks like me!" said neighbor Michael Bearden.

Still Bearden believes, even if you don't.

"One of God's mysteries," he said.

The mold started a couple of months ago while Thomas George, who also lives in the house, was in prison.

"He's just watching over us to make sure nothing wrong happens or I get in trouble and go back," George said.

If it keeps him out of prison, it works for me.

Sting Ray Jesus

No, it's not a 50's hot rod song, but a reference to another appearance by the Big Man in places you wouldn't expect to see him (h/t Texas Correspondent):

It's not as famous as Grilled Cheesus or the Nun Bun, but the image a James Island woman found Friday on the back of a dead cownose ray might be one day.

"I just kind of thought it looked like a bearded homeless man," said Erica Scheldt, 24. "But when I posted pictures on Instagram, one of my friends was like, 'That's Jesus.' And I was like, 'Oh, my God. You're right.' "

Scheldt and family members have been trying since then to name her find. So far, they've come up with Ray Rey. "Rey" means king in Spanish.

Over the years, images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Mother Teresa and Buddha have been spotted on baseballs, lava lamps, cinnamon buns, beehives and grilled cheese sandwiches. Or at least they have in the eyes of some people.

Click on the Virgin Mary label below to see lots more examples like this.

Jesus of Albuquerque

I haven't had one of these stories for awhile, but we can't let a Jesus sighting go unreported:

If the proof is in the pudding, the miracle is in the tortilla.

That’s what an Albuquerque, New Mexico, man is saying after he found an image of Jesus Christ last week on a piece of the flattened bread.

David Sandoval said he saw the image of the Lord on one of his mother’s baked tortillas while preparing to eat on Ash Wednesday.

He said he couldn't believe what he was seeing and passed the tortilla bearing the face of Jesus to his mother, who was also surprised.

Mr Sandoval told KOAT-TV: 'It became even more astonishing, with it being the first day of Lent. I passed it to my mom and the same response came from her, "Oh my God"'.

I decided to give up food with deities on it for Lent.

Give Me Jesus On the Line

That's a line from an old Manhattan Transfer song, but it could also apply to this photo:

Christians and non-Christians alike are marveling at a unique vine formation in Littleton that some say resembles Jesus Christ during the crucifixion.

The vine, which has spread up a utility pole to power lines, is located on South Platte Canyon Road at West Christiansen Lane and directly across the street from a church.

A nearby resident, who says he is not religious, noticed the ‘di-vine’ formation one day and decided to take a picture and post it to Facebook.

Jesus of Wal-Mart

You know how much I love these stories:

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. -- An engaged couple in Anderson County says a shadowy image that turned up on a receipt from Walmart looks like the face of Jesus.

Jacob Simmons and his fiancee, Gentry Lee Sutherland, said they bought some pictures from Walmart on Sunday, June 12.

The following Wednesday, the couple had just come home from a church service when Simmons spotted the receipt on the floor of Sutherland's apartment. He says the receipt had changed.
"I was leaving the kitchen and I just looked on the floor, and it was like it was looking at me," Simmons said.

A dark gray mark on the receipt seems to show two eyes, a nose and a mouth in a thickly bearded face.

"Then the more you look at it, the more it looked like Jesus, and it was just shocking, breathtaking," Simmons said.

The couple said the image seemed to answer a question they had just been asked at church.

"We had a message on knowing God, abiding in him," Sutherland said. "(The preacher asked) 'If you know God, would you recognize him if you saw him?'"

I'm not sure they've got the right bearded gentlemen in that photo. To me he looks a bit more like Bluto:

Certainly not as spiritual if it happens to be Bluto.

The Jesus and Mary Inanimate Object Tour Makes a Local Stop

I don't know how I missed this story from last week, but it appears the Son of God has made a local stop (from the OC Register):

How much would you pay for an old, wooden chair that you can't even sit in? Resident Lou Balducci is hoping at least $25,000.

Balducci has listed an old patio rocking chair, purchased at HomeGoods some 10 years ago, on eBay with a starting bid price of $25,000. But this isn't just any old rocking chair; it's one that bears the image of what Balducci believes to be Jesus Christ.

Balducci first noticed the anomaly in February as he and his wife were preparing to throw away a pair of rocking chairs that had sat in their backyard for years. The chairs' wood was rotting and their supports were broken. White paint flaked off anytime the chair was moved or touched.
His wife had thrown away the chairs' rain-soaked cushions a few days before. Balducci stood outside on the back patio, smoking a cigar and staring at the pair of barren, unusable chairs when something caught his eye. In a paint-chipped, rotting knot of wood near the base of one chair's backrest, Balducci saw the face of Jesus as he knows him to be.

Balducci is not "super religious," he said, though the experience has led him not to doubt the existence of God. But he said he knows there are others out there who might be able to appreciate more than he does what some have come to call "the Jesus chair." Additionally, he said he was hesitant to give it to any of his children, who all have young children of their own.

I'll bet he heard angels singing when he thought he could get some sucker to pay $25 grand for that chair. Sadly, no one bid on it. I'm guessing that chipped paint Jesus images just don't go for what they used to. It's part of Obama's recession - there's just not as much desire for Messiahs as there once was.

For previous stops on the Jesus and Mary Tour, click on the "Virgin Mary" label below.

Lord Jesus Christ Hit by Car

I frequently report on Virgin Mary or her Son's sightings in tortillas, chocolate fountains, ice cream stains...etc (click on the label below), but rarely get to report on a sighting in the flesh:

The victim might have forgiven the woman who ran him down in a Massachusetts crosswalk, but police haven't.

Police say a Pittsfield woman has been cited for running down a man named Lord Jesus Christ as he crossed a street in Northampton on Tuesday.

The 50-year-old man is from Belchertown. Officers checked his ID and discovered that, indeed, his legal name is Lord Jesus Christ. He was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor facial injuries and later released, according to the local paper, The Republican.

I would think a lot would be expected of you with that name.

Virgin Mary Tour Hits Arizona

As you can imagine this time of year is particularly busy for the Virgin Mary, and I've just received word that her tour has hit Glendale, AZ:

A pancake is bringing peace to one West Valley woman.

Bianca Lopez said she was looking for something quick and easy to cook for her family the day before Thanksgiving.

She came across "Batter Blaster" pancake mix in a spray can and figured that was perfect.

When Bianca made her last pancake of the day, she saw something unique.

She said she recognized it instantly, the Virgin Mary right there on her pancake.

Lopez said seeing the image has brought her peace and comfort.

"I think it's God's way of telling us that the holidays aren't just about presents, it's about more spending time with your family and friends and telling us to not forget about him, that he's always there watching over us and taking care of us," said Lopez.

Lopez could not bring herself to eat the pancake, so for now, and the foreseeable future, she is keeping it safe in her freezer.

Perhaps one day her pancake will be filled with the Holy Syrup.

Where the Virgin Mary Gets Her Mail

While heading to a concert last night I came upon an amazing sight - the location where the Virgin Mary gets her mail:

With all the trouble in Jerusalem I gets it's not unexpected that they'd move to the suburbs.

Today's Virgin Mary Video

In my never ending quest to bring you the latest personal appearances by the Virgin Mary, I give you this:

The Virgin Mary Window

The Virgin Mary makes a personal appearance in Massachusetts:

A Massachusetts hospital is trying to figure out what to do with a window in which some Catholics claim to see an image of the Virgin Mary.

Hundreds of faithful gathered last October to view the second-story office window at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, about 80 miles west of Boston. They wept and prayed.

The Catholic hospital removed the window after the crush of visitors caused traffic problems. It's storing the window at a secret location.

Hospital spokesman Mark Fulco tells The Republican newspaper of Springfield he's waiting for a report from experts to determine if the window is worthy of veneration.

Engineers say the image appeared when a failed rubber seal allowed mineral deposits between panes of glass.

But hospital officials say that doesn't explain why the deposits resemble the Virgin Mary.

Why, it was a miracle, of course.

Latest Stops on the Holy Family Tour

One of my promises to you, my loyal readers, is to keep you informed of personal appearances by the Virgin Mary or Jesus. Here's today's tour schedule:

• The Virgin Mary will be appearing in a griddle in Calexico, CA
• Jesus will be appearing in the fabric of a lounge chair in nearby Irvine, CA

The tour must be on a Western swing.

Hillary's Virgin Mary Sighting

I haven't done any Virgin Mary sighting stories for awhile. Maybe the economic slowdown has caused her to cut back on her traveling.

Anyway, Hillary Clinton had a sighting of the Virgin Mary in Mexico City, but it didn't go as well as she might have hoped:

During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary’s eyes of those present in the room when the tilma was opened and the image’s lack of decay.

Mrs. Clinton was received on Thursday at 8:15 a.m. by the rector of the Basilica, Msgr. Diego Monroy.

Msgr. Monroy took Mrs. Clinton to the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had been previously lowered from its usual altar for the occasion.

After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked “who painted it?” to which Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”

State Department employees are supposed to prep the Secretary of State before they go visit important places. Somebody goofed.

The Virgin Mary Revealed

It's a busy time of the year for the VM. The other day she appeared on a patient's MRI, and today she's on the cover of Playboy Mexico:

Playboy has got into the Christmas spirit — by putting the Virgin Mary nude on its Mexican cover.

The controversial magazine's latest festive offering was released Thursday.

The December issue features model Maria Florencia Onori posing as the Virgin wearing nothing but an angelic white cloth.

The release was timed for the day before Mexico's traditional Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a celebration of an apparition of the Virgin in the town.

Its headline reads in Spanish: "We adore you, Mary."

As Barack Obama would say: "That's not the Virgin Mary I knew."

The Virgin of the MRI

My Texas Correspondent sends me the story of the latest stop on the Virgin Mary World Tour:

FORT PIERCE — A 42-year-old woman without insurance and mounting medical bills plans to sell an MRI scan of her brain in which the image of the Virgin Mary seems to appear.

Pamela Latrimore has been sick for years with cancer, arthritis and a series of serious ailments she blames on a childhood in Jacksonville, Ark., a place that has been investigated by the U.S. government for possible dioxin exposure. Dioxin is a toxic chemical linked to a variety illnesses including cancer and liver problems.

In 2002, Latrimore had an MRI of her brain done and the results were stashed in her thick pile of medical records. Her sister-in-law looked at the sheet recently and pointed out what appeared to be the image of the Virgin Mary.

Having seen where other supposed images of Mary or other religious icons were sold for thousands of dollars, Latrimore plans to post the MRI scan on eBay, the online auction site. She hopes to earn enough money to pay off some of the medical bills she and her contractor husband cannot afford.

This is a big time of the year for the VM - I'm surprised she has time for this.

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.

Holy Potato Salad!

I love these kinds of stories where people find the Virgin Mary, God, the name of Allah, or some other religious icon in some unexpected place.

Religious images seem to have appeared over the years in everything from a sliced potato to 400-year-old granite, and some lucky finds from around the world have sold for thousands of dollars on eBay and reportedly delivered divine messages.

One of the latest "discoveries" is a piece of beef at a restaurant in Nigeria that seems to depict the name of the Prophet Muhammad and has diners flocking to see it from miles around.

This so-called "Allah Meat" has inspired scholarly debate in Nigeria and returned these unlikely phenomena to the spotlight.

The following is a list of the top 10 improbable relics — which may or may not be worth their weight in gold.

1. Virgin Mary on Rye

When Diana Duyser of Hollywood, Fla., sat down for breakfast one morning, she made what she calls a “miracle” discovery in her sandwich.

“When I took a bite out of it, I saw a face looking up at me — it was Virgin Mary starring back at me. I was in total shock," she told BBC News four years ago.

Whether or not it was an authentic sighting, Duyser was certain that the untraditional relic, stored in a glass case with cotton balls, brought her good fortune including $70,000 she won at a nearby casino.

In 2004, Duyser cashed in and sold her discovery on eBay to an internet casino for an astounding $28,000.

2. Nun Bun

Known as the “Nun Bun,” a divine pastry resembling the late Mother Teresa brought Bong Java Coffee shop in Nashville, Tenn., more than its share of tourists. The coffee shop began selling T-shirts, mugs and prayer cards featuring the iconic dessert’s image.

The famous cinnamon treat, discovered in 1996, was preserved in a glass case until it was stolen on Christmas Day in 2005.

3. Holy Cow

The miracle meal, which Islamic scholars agree depicts the Arabic word for God and the name of the prophet Muhammad, was discovered at a restaurant in northern Nigeria. Following the sighting, owners searched the kitchen and found three more identical cuts featuring the names.

Since the discovery, thousands of tourists have flocked to the restaurant to get a glimpse of what Islamic scholars declare as a sign that Islam is mankind’s only true religion.

4. Potato-Salad Jesus

Pastor Renee Brewster of Marion County, Fla., was making potato salad for a weekly church meeting when her 10-year-old granddaughter noticed an image of Jesus on the cross etched into a sliced potato.

5. Cooking-Pan Jesus

The Jacksonville, Fla., seller of a piece of cookware is looking to make $500 on a sacred baking pan which appears to be stained with the image of Jesus. The seller claims to have found the iconic pan on the winter solstice in 2005.

6. Fish-Stick Jesus

Fred Whan of Ontario, Canada, flipped his fish stick to discover what he believes to be an image of Jesus on the fry. He has since stored the holy filet carefully in his freezer.

7. Fish-Bone Jesus

In 2005, an Oklahoma couple decided after 10 years of blessings to part ways with a fish bone they say represents an image of Jesus. The couple hopes that the skeleton, which had a starting bid on eBay of $29.95, will bring good luck to its new owner.

8. Granite Jesus

Auctioned on eBay, one bizarre 400-year-old stone purportedly bears the image of Jesus pinned to the cross.

9. Miraculous Melon

Discovered 12 years ago in Senegal just before the month of Ramadan, the watermelon appears to depict the name of Allah and the word "Hamdulillah," meaning "Praise be to God."

10. Virgin Mary in a Tree

Visitors placed candles at the foot of a tree in Dallas which appears to represent the Virgin Mary in a section of missing bark.

Why are Muslims happy about the "Allah meat" when in England Burger King had to scrap their ice cream advertisement because on Muslim was going to declare holy war on the place because the swirl in their advertisement had a passing resemblance to the Arabic word for God?

That's a fickle bunch.

Maybe They Should Work Someplace Else

Muslims on a Mission (Tortillas, that is):

A group of Muslim workers allege they were fired by a New Brighton tortilla factory for refusing to wear uniforms that they say were immodest by Islamic standards.

Six Somali women claim they were ordered by a manager to wear pants and shirts to work instead of their traditional Islamic clothing of loose-fitting skirts and scarves, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil liberties group that is representing the women.

The women have filed a religious discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"For these women, wearing tight-fitting pants is like being naked," said Valerie Shirley, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota chapter of CAIR. "It's simply not an option."

Then the simple answer is that they need to find a job that does not have a uniform requirement. Nobody has a right to work at a specific place according to their own requirements. If they don't like the dress code, they'll have to go somewhere else. It's not the job of companies to change their policies just to satisfy some nutty religious belief.

You know what would really mess them up? If the Virgin Mary appeared in one of their tortillas (as she is sometimes known to do).

It's Okay for Catholics to Believe in Aliens

The Catholic Church, many of whose adherents believe the Virgin Mary has appeared in tortillas, grilled cheese sandwiches and underground walkways in Chicago, are also now free to believe in space aliens:

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures.

The interview was headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother." Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom.

After you've seen the mother of God in a grilled cheese sandwich, how hard could it be to believe in aliens?

The Virgin Mary Gets Some Props From the Catholic Church

It's only taken about 300 years, but the Catholic Church has decided to recognize certain apparitions of the Virgin Mary:

PARIS (May 4) - A Roman Catholic bishop said Sunday that the church has officially recognized that the Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl in the French Alps.

Speaking at Mass in remarks broadcast nationally on France-2 television, Monsignor Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri said he recognized the "supernatural origin" of the apparitions to 17-year-old Benoite Rencurel from 1664 to 1718.

The bishop, in an interview on France-Info radio, said the decision meant the church "has committed itself in an official way to say to pilgrims 'you can come here in total confidence.'" The recognition process involved a panel of experts including two theologians and an investigating judge, he said.

Officials at Notre-Dame-du-Laus church say that after four months of daily apparitions starting in May 1664, the Virgin Mary asked Rencurel to build a church and a house to receive priests.

The sanctuary, which was founded by Rencurel, today welcomes some 120,000 pilgrims a year - at times providing healing oils based on a method that the Virgin Mary was said to pass on to the shepherd girl, the officials said.

The recognition Sunday makes Laus an official pilgrimage site for the church - on a par with Lourdes, a site where Roman Catholic tradition holds that the Virgin Mary appeared before 14-year-old girl Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

Thousands of people who have since prayed and bathed at a spring in Lourdes said they have been healed.

No word yet on whether they'll recognize the Virgin Mary toasted cheese sandwich.

Frankly, when Catholics get all caught up in icons and weird apparitions the Church starts heading down a road toward idolatry.