In New Mexico in 1978, the face of Jesus arose in a tortilla. "I was just rolling out my husband's burrito when she noticed that the skillet burns on one of her tortillas resembled the face of Jesus.”
She excitedly showed it to her husband and neighbors, who all agreed that the face etched on the tortilla truly bore a resemblance to Jesus. The woman went to her priest to have the tortilla blessed. She testified that the tortilla had changed her life, and her husband agreed that she had become more peaceful, happy, and submissive since the tortilla had arrived. The priest was a bit reluctant, not being accustomed to blessing tortillas. But he agreed to do it. The woman took the tortilla home, put it in a glass case with piles of cotton to make it look like it was floating on clouds, built a special altar for it, and opened the little shrine to visitors.
Within a few months, more than 8,000 people came to the "Shrine of Jesus the Tortilla." All of them agreed that the face in the burn marks on the tortilla was the face of Jesus, except for one reporter, who said he thought it looked like former heavyweight boxing champion, Leon Spinks.
An auto-parts store in Progresso, Texas, attracted crowds when an oil stain on its floor resembled the Virgin Mary. Another virgin appeared in 1998 in Colma, California, in hardened sap on a pine trunk. At a Nashville coffee shop named Bongo Java, a cinnamon bun came out of the oven looking like Mother Teresa -- the papers called it the "nun bun." In 1996 in England, the name of Allah appeared in a halved eggplant. [And] several cities [in Sri Lanka] claim to own a tooth from the jaw of the Buddha. A taxonomist who saw one of them said it belonged to a crocodile.
Thomas Merton wrote, "Suddenly there comes a point when religion becomes laughable. Then you decide that, nevertheless, you are religious."
For many, embracing a Higher Power as they see it is a source of comfort and peace. Could it also be true for you?
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