There is no shortage of miracles in the world today, accordding to the more devout Catholics, and proof of this has recently been asserted in the form of a staute, an icon, of the Virgin mary which sits outside on the grounds of a Southern California Cathedral. The statue was first reported to have been crying real tears. By the time the following day came around, those tears turned into tears of blood. Naturally, the faithful have begun flocking to the grounds of the church, in hopes of a miracle, perhaps in hopes of a healing, or simply to experience union with the divine.
I will offer no rational scientific explanation for the manifestation, nor will I suggest that the thing might actually be a fraud. For the time being, I will take the reported miracle at face value. Perhaps this actually is a manfestation of the Virgin Mary, that she is crying real tears of blood, as a sign to this generation.
But what exactly is Mary crying about? Is she crying because-
*The pedophile Priest scandal has gone largely unresolved, though it has cost the Church enormous sums in regards to not ony it's material wealth, but more importanty in terms of it's much vaunted moral authority.
*Catholic Church attendance is down, and so is the reservoir of Priests and Seminarians, which grows less and less as the years go by, all of which in turn threatens the income of the Church.
*A great many among the Catholic Church hierarchy would like to see a return to the days when the Church had a great deal of influence, some would even suggest control, over states and their governments. This of course insured then, and would do so now, a degree of corruption unbecomming a spiritual organization.
*To this end the Church is manipulating the fears and prejudices of it's lay members in order to influence and even outright determine the outcome of elections in democratic nations, such as for example here in the U.S.
*The Church is encouraging massive illegal immigration from Mexico and other Latin American nations to the United States, of what it perceives would be a large majority Catholic population, which they intend to use as a base from which to expand and extend their power, influence, and eventual control over U.S. politics.
*Last but not least, perhaps Mary is more distraught than ever that, in this day and age when scientific advancement offers unparrallelled hopes in finding previousy unimagined cures for diseases that have over the years caused intense pain, and sufferring, and massive death and grief, that same church that claims to revere her and worship her son would stand in the way of embryonic stem cell research. That they would do so out of the unreasonable claim that this is the destruction of human life, when in fact these cells would be destroyed anyway, in fact would either be incinerated or unceremoniuously dumped in he garbage, perhaps to be eaten by rats, if they are otherwise not used for something.
*Or, perhaps it could all be sumed up by saying, quite frankly, that the Church has become an anachronism, that it has in fact done what it has for the most of it's history always done-stood in the way of scientific and cultural and political and social advancement out of a vain attempt to maintain control over the masses through fear, intimidation, and superstition.
If Mary really is crying I damned well can't say that I blame her.
