Posted on 02/27/2007 10:29:55 AM PST by Gamecock
HOUSTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A metal baking sheet from a Houston elementary school has become an object of veneration for hundreds of Catholics who see an image of the Virgin Mary.
The pan bearing what many believe is a miraculous religions image is now on display in the yard of Sylvia Calderon, a member of the PTA at Pugh Elementary School, the Houston Chronicle reported. Calderon gave the baking sheet a home after officials at the school said they could not accommodate the crowds who wanted to see it.
Guadalupe Rodriguez, a cafeteria worker at the school, discovered the image on Ash Wednesday as she cleaned off baking trays. She showed it to other workers who agreed that they saw the Virgin.
By Thursday, word of the find had gotten around and visitors started arriving at the cafeteria in droves. The pan was moved to Calderon's house.
School officials also believe it is a miracle, even though they can't accommodate it.
"I think someone was watching over us," said Lyda Guerrero, Pugh's principal. "I think someone is watching over this community and this school district and this school."
Are you sure that nobody sees Marx, Hitler, Stalin, etc. in clouds, overhead imagery, etc? Maybe, since those folks are almost universally reviled, nobody makes much of it.
Ya know, some call Catholics "cookie worshippers."
That passage talks about a childlike faith, not a reverence for baking trays. If my child began to revere a baking tray I would correct them and make sure their focus is on Jesus. Why wouldn't you?
So true. When I was younger it was so wonderful going to church and praying. I mean it is today too, but it is different.
Don't knock it if you never tried it.
If someone's faith so permeates his life that even a smudge on a baking tray reminds him of that which is holy ... I, for one, am not going to slam his childlike faith. Jesus expressly advised against such a slam.
Me? I don't really see it ... probably wouldn't at all if it weren't pointed out. But I have a lot more respect for childlike faith than pseudo-sophisticated mockery.
YMMV.
Out.
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.
God’s Grandeur
THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
I see His Blood upon the Rose
By Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887–1916)
I SEE his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice—and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.
All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.
The "image" on it is a smudge.
just as standing in front of mt rushmore isnt venerating the mountain, but what the four faces represent.
I wouldn't venerate what the 4 faces represent nor the mountain...but in either case you are comparing a random smudge with an intentionally created piece of art. We shouldn't venerate art either...our religious affections should be to God. I really don't want to go round and round on this topic. I'd bet any amount of money that such topics have been debated ad naseum on this board (although I haven't participated or looked for them). I do ask a favor...can you reassure me that you at least understand why people might see revering a baking sheet or a smudge on a baking sheet as strange? I'm not asking for you to agree, just confirm that you can glimpse why some find it odd or questionable.
Very nice poem.
Maybe the baking sheet was cold...
I'm pretty sure I saw Ringo Starr at a bus stop in Gillete, Wyoming once.
Don't you see what you're saying? You say "MAY have allowed"....or maybe not!...even by your own admission. We know God created rainbows, clouds and trees. If we want to look for reminders of His presence then why not look at things that are real reminders of His presence?
For a moment consider...if this is just a smudge, then doesn't it seem irrational to make it the focus of anything? Do we really need an accidental smudge to be brought closer to Christ?...and if so, what does that say about us?
Ping
I don't see a face or a figure anywhere in that photo.
It looks like some kind of wart.
I would think RCs would hate this kind of bizarre disrespect.
Hah!!! Have you any idea what that's a photo of, and the turmoil aroused by an earlier photo of the same object?
IMO all photos of supernatural phenomenon are bogus, regardless of what some poor fool insists he sees. They're as phony as Jim Cameron's boxes.
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