by Rigorous Intuition » Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:42 am
<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Believers flock to 'crying' Virgin Mary</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>November 28, 2005 (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) - Carrying rosary beads and cameras, 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.<br><br>It was first noticed more than a week ago, when a priest at the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church spotted a stain on the statue's face and wiped it away. Before Mass on Nov. 20, people again noticed a reddish substance near the eyes of the white concrete statue outside the small church, said Ky Truong, 56, a parishioner.<br><br>Since then, Truong said he has been at the church day and night, so emotional he can't even work. He believes the tears are a sign. <br><br>"There's a big event in the future earthquake, flood, a disease," Truong said. "We're very sad."<br><br>On Saturday, tables in front of the fenced-in statue were jammed with potted plants, bouquets of roses and candles. Some people prayed silently, while others sang hymns and hugged their children. An elderly woman in a wheelchair wept near the front of the crowd.<br><br>A red trail could be seen from the side of the statue's left eye to about halfway down the robe of concrete.<br><br>"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.<br><br>Thousands of such incidents are reported around the world each year, though many turn out to be hoaxes or natural phenomena.<br><br>The Diocese of Sacramento has so far not commented on the statue, and the two priests affiliated with the church did not return a telephone message Saturday.<br><br>The Rev. James Murphy, deacon of the diocese's mother church, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, said church leaders are always skeptical at first.<br><br>"For people individually seeing things through the eyes of faith, something like this can be meaningful. As for whether it is supernatural or a miracle, normally these incidences are not. Miracles are possible, of course," Murphy said. "The bishop is just waiting and seeing what happens. They will be moving very slowly."<br><br>But seeing the statue in person left no doubt for Martin Operario, 60, who drove about 100 miles from Hayward. He took photos to show to family and friends.<br><br>"I don't know how to express what I'm feeling," Operario said. "Since religion is the mother of believing, then I believe."<br><br>Nuns Anna Bui and Rosa Hoang, members of the Salesian Sisters of San Francisco, also made the trek Saturday. Whether the weeping statue is declared a miracle or not, they said, it is already doing good by awakening people to the faith and reminding them to pray.<br><br>"It's a call for us to change ourselves, to love one another," Hoang said. <br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=bizarre&id=3673926">abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=bizarre&id=3673926</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>