It
is no wonder, then, that Mary is always reaching out to communicate
to people. That’s the framework for understanding her apparitions
and visitations. Again, to quote that document from the Second
Vatican Council: “The Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church
under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”
Her role, and her names, are similar to that and those of the
Holy Spirit. In fact, in many ways, Mary is for the devout Catholic
what the Holy Spirit is for the devout Protestant. The difference
is that no one ever claimed to see the Holy Spirit standing in
front of them.
Some
of Mary’s visits are in the most unusual places. Clearwater,
Florida, for instance, was the site in 1996 of an image of the
Virgin Mary which has drawn millions of people ever since. Mary
appeared to be superimposed on the surface of some windows on
an office building. A shrine was eventually erected at the foot
of the building on Highway 19 and a crucifix was situated beneath
the windows.
Kyle
Maskell, a troubled youth, was convicted of hurling steel balls
with a sling-shot through the top layer of windows, effectively
decapitating the image of Mary. The boy was first put into a foster
home, and then jailed for ten days in 2004, after a judge ordered
him to pay $2,300 for the damage and court costs, as well as serve
two years probation after his release. Millions of people came
to see the image of Mary in that glass before its destruction
and now, Shepherds of Christ Ministries (who began leasing the
building in 1998 in order to safeguard the windows) says that
an image of Christ is once again clearly visible in some remaining
glass.
This
past April, a highway underpass in Chicago, Illinois was the site
of another visit from the Virgin Mary. Just as Pope John Paul
II was dying in Rome, a salt stain appeared on the Fullerton Avenue
underpass of the Kennedy Expressway that very closely resembled
the head of the Virgin of Guadalupe holding John Paul, supporting
him in his frailty.
A
spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Chicago, according to the
Associated Press and CNN, said at the time: “These things
don’t happen every day. Sometimes people ask us to look
into it. Most of the time they don’t. [The meaning] depends
on the individual who sees it. To them, it’s real. To them,
it reaffirms their faith.” A large shrine soon gathered
around the image, including an artist’s rendering of the
image in oils, candles, and flowers left by the hundred, perhaps
thousands, who prayed there. On April 25, 2005, according to the
Chicago Tribune, even Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George
said of the shrine: “If it's helpful in reminding people
of the Virgin Mary's care for us and love for us, that’s
wonderful.”
Two
and a half weeks later, a 37 year-old homeless man, Victor Gonzalez,
was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for painting over
the salt stain with black shoe polish the words “Big Lie.”
At first, city workers painted over the image, in order to remove
the offending graffiti, but by the next day, a number of the faithful
had carefully removed the city’s brown paint, as well as
the black graffiti, leaving only the original salt stain looking
largely as it had appeared before the criminal incident.
All
of these experiences of Mary prompt the obvious question: Why
does she provoke such strong feelings in people? What is it about
Mary that is so compelling? Many other communities in the United
States have experienced visitations from the Virgin in recent
years as well, including Cincinnati, Ohio and Tickfaw, Louisiana
(fifty miles north of New Orleans). The Roman Catholic Church
hierarchy is hesitant to officially approve or sanction any of
these new visitation sites of the Virgin. But the Catholic faithful,
and others, don’t seem to mind. It is one more example of
the separation between private devotion and ecclesiastical authority,
common in every religious tradition around the world.
