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."
Do not confuse popular veneration with official Church sanction.
There are many things the Church rejects - or at least, doesn't accept. Even making saints has been an arduous process.
What is so terrible about people being attached to something that REPRESENTS to them, at least, something that God actually did?
If God dropped a Duesenberg in your back yard from the sky, would you be awed and be interested in keeping it or at least showing it to tell people how God had interacted with you? Or would you just discard it as "just another object"?
Fair enough ... my point was the ease of mistakenly seeing faces.
Hey, I'm interested in art. Sometimes I might see The Thinker in a cloud formation.Does that mean the director of Musee Rodin should come over here & slap a gag order on me? The RC Church is most certainly not a democracy but it's hardly a repressive dictatorship that controls members' thoughts & actions around the globe.
I don't think it's really fair to extrapolate from this that these people are seeking validation for their faith in the cookie sheet or that they're venerating it in any way either.
In fact, to 'see' that here would require an imagination at least as overactive as these folks', I dare say.
Well gee, it is a Duesenberg. And it depends on how badly the car was damaged in the fall.
"It's a face" is step one ... "Whose face is it?" is step two.
Or so it seems to me ...
Obviously a cookie sheet, isn't it a sin to eat chocolate chip cookies on the sly from the bottom?
God Bless these people of simple faith. If it brings so many hundreds together in prayer, it's a good thing. I wish I could have that childlike faith again.
Oh, my ... that site is astonishing. Amazing. Astounding. Fantastic. Startling. Stirring. Unusual. It has to be an Analog of something, but I don't know what.
What does it say about someone's faith that they need a baking sheet to be reminded of God? And you're assuming without a shred of proof that God is behind a food stain on a baking sheet. Now if you pointed to a rainbow or the intricacies of a tree I'd say God's hand is evident...a baking sheet...sorry, no.
If God dropped a Duesenberg in your back yard from the sky, would you be awed and be interested in keeping it or at least showing it to tell people how God had interacted with you? Or would you just discard it as "just another object"?
Without a doubt, that is the most bizarre question I've ever been asked on a message board. I'll let you know once a Dusenberg drops in my backyard...until then it remains just an irrational question.
You never know when someone will pop up, eh :>)
Incorruptible!
What does it say about someone's faith that even so mundane an object as a baking sheet reminds them of God? Matt. 18:2-4
Veneration CAN denote worship, but even taking veneration to mean a high degree of respect and honor...well, I submit that a baking tray is not an appropriate focus. Honestly, don't you see why people think it's nuts to give reverence to a baking tray?
It's just a doosie.
Yeah, how come they never say "MaDOHna mia, it's Sr. Mary Elephant from Parochial School!"
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