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Posted on 09/08/2007 10:45:07 AM PDT by Alex Murphy

LAREDO, Texas

The Rev. Jose Maria Weyne had an unusual question for his congregation to open a recent morning Mass.

“Who saw something out of the ordinary here?” he asked the group of about 70 faithful, pointing to the altar at the Laredo Medical Center chapel.

Thirty people raised their hands, saying they could see the image of Jesus Christ.

And how many thought the image they saw was a mere reflection, a trick of the light?

No one.

After the Mass, dozens lined up at the altar, hoping to distinguish the image in the consecrated host displayed in a gold monstrance. Their reports varied - some claimed that they saw Jesus in black and white, others said they saw a baby Jesus and some insisted that Jesus appeared wearing a crown of thorns.

“I’ve got chills. It makes me very emotional,” said Laura Hovel, a high-school teacher. “He appeared here because there are so many people who need help.”

The purported image has attracted hundreds to the hospital’s small chapel in recent days and prompted an investigation by the local bishop. It’s the latest in a long list of popular sightings reported nationwide.

Among them are a mournful face of Jesus seen on a tortilla, a grilled-cheese sandwich said to bear an image of the Virgin Mary and a backyard tree that many believe resembles a crucified Jesus.

For some, seeing is believing, religion experts say.

“It is our brain’s ability to see patterns in randomness,” said Joe Nickell, a senior research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry who has spent many years investigating similar claims. “It’s just like you can see all kinds of pictures in the clouds.”

Although the human brain is predisposed to recognize faces in such unexpected media as stains, clouds and rust, typically it is Catholics who report seeing holy apparitions because the Catholic church “puts so much emphasis on images,” he said.

And thousands flock to such sightings, looking for a miracle.

“It’s the brain’s natural way coupled with the religious impulses,” Nickell said. “And it’s just a power of suggestion once you point it out to someone else.”

Father John Leies, a professor of theology at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

“Believers or not believers, be open-minded about it,” Leies said.

Such an apparition could “be a manifestation of God,” he said, but while people who witness it say that their faith is strengthened, the church historically has been cautious.

In 2,000 years, the church has recognized just a handful of visions, including the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico in 1531.

“The bishop’s position is that if it’s a work of God, we cannot stop it,” said Leies, who has visited several sites of claimed holy apparitions, including Medjugorje, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where since 1981 residents have been reporting seeing the Virgin Mary.

“And if it’s not authentic, it dies soon,” Leies added.

Bennett McBride, a spokesman for the Diocese of Laredo, said that Bishop James Tamayo is not going to make any statements until the investigation is finished.

“Anytime there is a situation like this, they want to make sure they don’t mislead people,” McBride said.

As part of the investigation, Father Weyne has started distributing pieces of paper during the morning Mass, asking people to write down their experiences.

“I cannot doubt (testimonies) of so many,” said Weyne, who has not seen the image himself.

Elva Guardiola, a Wal-Mart sales clerk who has been coming to the hospital chapel for years, has seen it. But she said she doesn’t need any special signs to believe.

“I always knew that Jesus always has been and will be with us,” she said.

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