‘It’s a miracle’

Laura Cisneros noticed something different when she and her family sat down for the Sunday noon Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.

“I turned to my husband and asked him, ‘Does the Virgin Mary have tears?’” she said.

Her husband initially thought it was a reflection of the light, but later in the Mass he could see the statue crying. By the time he took communion and walked by the statue, he was convinced “a miracle was taking place.”

During the past 20-plus hours, church parishioners, area Catholics and non-Catholics and people from as far as El Paso and San Antonio, have flocked to the Hobbs church to witness what some believe to be a miracle.

According to the believers, the statue of the Virgin Mary in Our Lady of Guadalupe has been weeping for the better part of two days. Judy Ronquillo, who works in the parish, said the church has not closed since the news broke.

“We couldn’t,” Ronquillo said Monday afternoon. “There were so many people here and so many more were coming that we felt like we couldn’t close it. So, we haven’t closed.”

No one knows when the statue began crying. The church’s earlier Masses at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., were held in the church sanctuary. The noon Mass is held in the church’s larger auxiliary building, which gives more room for parishioners.

The church’s pastor, Father Jose “Pepe” Segura, said he didn’t notice the statue crying during Mass because the statue is in front of the altar and faces the audience.

“After Mass, I was outside the front door greeting people and someone told me ‘Father, come quick, the Virgin Mary is crying,’” Father Pepe said. “I walked inside and got closer and I asked ‘who got her wet?’ and they said, ‘No Father, she’s crying!’”

Father Pepe said people wiped the Virgin Mary’s face twice and the tears still appeared.

“That’s when I saw that she really was crying,” Father Pepe said. “I think it’s a reminder for all of us to get closer to God and to stop being violent and unite us. We need to be independent of the creed for our race, for our language and remember there is something more superior.”

Ronquillo said Father Pepe grabbed a napkin and wiped an area on the floor in front of the statue where the tears formed.

“It’s not a water-like substance,” Ronquillo said. “It’s more oily and it smells like roses.”

In conversations with the Diocese of Las Cruces, the governing body for all Catholic churches in southern New Mexico, Bishop Oscar Cantú said an investigation team will be dispatched. When contacted Monday afternoon, Deacon Jim Winder of the diocese said an investigation has already begun.

“We are looking into it and have started an investigation,” Winder said. “We do try to take a healthy skepticism to things like this. The church is presented with all kinds of ‘miracles,’ so we don’t accept it at face value. We will investigate to rule out any chances of man-made causes or natural causes. We don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”

And if their investigations conclude that what took place is a miracle?

“If something is from God, you can’t stop the goodness it brings,” Winder said. “Us taking a close, careful approach to this does not take away the actions of God. If it is a blessing from God, there is nothing that we can do to stop this. The truth will be born out.”

Luis Huerta doesn’t need an investigation to believe it was a miracle. He was one of the parishioners who stood before the statue as it cried following the Mass. He said he wiped her face and her chin and noticed the statue still crying.

“I believe this is a miracle,” Huerta said. “It does change me. How can I not feel something when I saw this and experienced this?”

Cisneros said the incident has made her faith in God stronger.

“I think for a lot of people it’s going to make their faith stronger, but I think people are coming because they are curious,” she said.

Either way, Ronquillo and the church staff will keep its doors open to anyone who wants to witness and pray.

“I am going through something really strong right now where I need prayers and such,” Ronquillo said. “When I saw this, everything went away. This is a miracle, there is nothing more. We know there is a God. In the past, when I see this, I see this on TV. We don’t see it in Hobbs, New Mexico. Not until now. I believe it’s a miracle.”