Life is uncertain in America these days. Everything has been called into question: our sons and daughters are dying in a war that we all know is wrong; the foundations of our financial system are crumbling; our leaders are corrupt and global warming threatens us with an angry planet. There is very little left to have faith in.
At times like these, perhaps it's not surprising to see the Virgin Mary make her appearance. Whether it is truly a miracle in response to the needs of a troubled people or an apparition born of hopeful imagination, desperation and vulnerability, people have been gathering for the past week under a window at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield to view an outline on the second story window of an empty office that resembles the Virgin. It has drawn hundreds every day to pray and wonder. Some are there for the spectacle of the crowd, but the majority are believers who have come to be near Her, looking for a miracle to heal their wounds. While I was there taking photographs, I met people like Lucille Mirabello, a frail woman just out of surgery, in a wheel chair, who had been brought over from nearby Weldon, Conn., and Michel Tourville, also in a wheel chair, who said that she came out of curiosity but "when I started moving closer, I saw that it was Her."
I spoke with Elizabeth Venancio, who stood clutching the wheel chair that holds her young son, Jamie, who was born with a single ventricle and is awaiting his third open heart surgery. "I am here for my son," she said, "for a piece of heaven." I took Jamie's hand and wished him well. I told his mother that two months ago, I had my second heart surgery. "He'll be fine," I say. She tells me that I am a miracle, too.
No, I am not, I think. I am merely one of the lucky ones who had adequate health care. I am not a believer in miracles. I only see an oil stain on the window. But I will not deny these believers their faith and their hopes. Maybe the Virgin is real, and maybe she will rise from her glass prison and lead her followers to the holy voting booth and an Obama victory. Now that would be a miracle I could get behind.
