What Would Jesus See

Felicia Avila of Norwalk, California, was walking on the beach with her family when she picked up a shell and noticed what she says is the image of the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus. Others who have seen it agree, though more than one person claims to also see an angel in the upper right hand corner. The 17-year-old thinks it’s a “true sign from the heavens” and plans on keeping it. Add this to other sightings of Mary on the half shell.

An overgrowth of vines atop a telephone pole in Littleton, Colorado, is attracting attention because people say it looks like Jesus on the cross, complete with a crown of thorns. Hopefully the utility company won’t cut it down like the one in Lake Charles, Louisiana, did last year.

An unnamed Arizona teen was eating a bag of dried mangoes recently when he pulled out a piece that didn’t look like the others. As he gazed at it, he realized it appeared to show the Virgin Mary with her hands folded in prayer. Instead of eating it he took a photo of it. He’s saving the dehydrated fruit, though he’s not sure what he’s going to do with it.

A couple of weeks ago, Marce Suarez of Anson, Texas, decided to cut off a low-hanging branch on an old mesquite tree that kept brushing his tractor when he rode by it. He pulled out the chain saw but it wouldn’t start. He got a handsaw but it wouldn’t cut the wood. So he tied a chain around the branch, attached it to the tractor, and gunned the engine. The branch broke off and he dragged it away. When he returned he saw an image in the wood where the branch had been, an image of the Virgin Mary. He built a small shrine underneath, and now friends and strangers have started coming by and leaving plastic flowers. Suarez doesn’t know why the image is there, but he hopes it helps as much rain as plastic flowers.