Jesus & the Virgin Mary

It happens all the time...Jesus and Mary taking star turns in the most unlikely of places. The Virgin Mary appeared on a grilled cheese sandwich in England and then that seven-year old sandwich sold on Ebay for some ridiculous amount of money... thousands of dollars. More impressive than this exceedingly glamorous, Hollywoodie Mary on the bread is the fact that this woman kept it for seven whole years. Where do you keep something like that? I want details. Now there's a damp patch on somebody's ceiling in Galveston, TX and the faithful are flocking from miles around. Apparently it's Jesus Christ. He's in this woman's bedroom and she's inviting the faithful to just walk on in and say hey to Jesus.

Now if you want to read about some really good miracles like a weeping Madonna made out of fiberglass, a Road-Stain Jesus or even a stigmata man, you have to read Carl Hiassen. This man knows Florida and he knows there are some great holy appearances down there. There are no such miracles to be had in Malibu or Greenwich. It's just a fact...you have to travel for a good miracle.

I have some good friends who now live in Apalachicola, FL. They used to be really religious. No, I mean REALLY religious, not just go-to-church on Sunday religious. He was a Trappist Monk and she was a NUN, and not just one of those half-nuns that you see today wearing what look like cheap, K-mart suits. No, she wore a whole habit (think Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music) and after she and her husband married they chose to have a quite different relationship with God. They opted to not baptize their kids and on one of their visits to my friend's elderly mother, their younger child really showed just how little he knew about it all. He was lying in bed and his grandmother was reading him a bedtime story. Little Ben then looked up at the wall behind the bed and said to his grandmother, "Who IS that guy?" It was Jesus, on the cross. A pleasant bit of sweet dreams art for any young child to look at...just before going to sleep. C'mon, what is that all about?

Since I'm on a Jesus theme, when my granddaughter started her pre-school she sort of learned about praying before lunch. They routinely sing the spiritual, "Amen" before eating. It's an easy one since it goes something like this..."Aaaaamen, Aaaaaamen, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmen, Amen, Amen." Lottie would reverently fold her hands and then rock them forward and back while she sang at the top of her lungs...in Starbucks, at home, at our place...anywhere food or drink was served. She no longer feels compelled to sing the Amen song, but it was fun while it lasted.