位于美国加州首府萨克拉曼多市郊的一座教堂里出现了一个“奇迹”：圣母玛利亚雕像“流泪”了！据说看上去像血一样的东西从雕像的眼中流出。信徒们手拿玫瑰花环和照相机，纷至沓来，观看这一所谓的“奇迹”。

    一个多星期以前，越南天主教烈士教堂的一位牧师最早发现圣母玛利亚雕像的脸上出现污点并将它抹去。据一位56岁的名叫Ky Truong 的教区居民介绍，在11月20日举行弥撒之前，人们发现这座白色混凝土雕像的眼睛附近又出现了淡红色的东西。

    Truong说，从那时起，他就开始日夜守护在教堂里，他为此而难过，甚至不能正常工作。他觉得“眼泪”是一种征兆。

    “这预示着将会发生诸如地震、洪水、疾病等灾难。我们都很难过。”Truong说。

    周六，被栅栏围起的雕像前的桌子上摆满了盆栽、玫瑰花束和蜡烛。有些人在默默地祈祷，有些人则唱起圣歌，拥抱自己的孩子。人群前面一位坐着轮椅的老年妇女甚至哭了起来。

    从雕像的左眼至长袍前胸可以看到一道清晰的红色印迹。

    “太不可思议了！简直是个奇迹！她为什么会流泪呢？难道是什么事情烦扰了她？”35岁的玛丽亚·瓦斯奎兹深感不解，她带着她的父母和三个孩子从萨克拉曼以南约50英里的斯多克顿开车赶来。

    每年世界各地有成千上万这样的事情发生，很多事件最后的真相或是恶作剧，或是自然现象。萨克拉曼多主教教区至今没有对“雕像事件”发表任何评论，而且两位和教堂有关的牧师周六也都没有回电话。

    主教教区的天主教大教堂执事詹姆斯·墨菲说，教堂的负责人一开始都对此持怀疑态度。

    “对于有信仰的人们来说，这样的事情一定是‘意味'着什么的。至于圣母玛利亚流泪是超自然现象还是个奇迹，答案通常都是否定的。当然，奇迹还是有可能发生。大主教正拭目以待，”墨非说。

    Carrying rosary beads and cameras, the faithful have been coming in a steady stream to a church on the outskirts of Sacramento for a glimpse of what some are calling a miracle: A statue of the Virgin Mary they say has begun crying a substance that looks like blood.

    It was first noticed more than a week ago, when a priest at the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church spotted a stain on the statue's face and wiped it away. Before Mass on Nov. 20, people again noticed a reddish substance near the eyes of the white concrete statue, said Ky Truong, 56, a parishioner.

    Since then, Truong said he has been at the church day and night, so emotional he can't even work. He believes the tears are a sign.

    "There's a big event in the future - earthquake, flood, a disease," Truong said. "We're very sad."

    On Saturday, tables in front of the fenced-in statue were jammed with potted plants, bouquets of roses and candles. Some people prayed silently, while others sang hymns and hugged their children. An elderly woman in a wheelchair wept near the front of the crowd.

    A red trail could be seen from the side of the statue's left eye to about halfway down the robe of concrete.

    "I think that it's incredible. It's a miracle. Why is she doing it? Is it something bothering her?" asked Maria Vasquez, 35, who drove with her parents and three children from Stockton, about 50 miles south of Sacramento.

    Thousands of such incidents are reported around the world each year, though many turn out to be hoaxes or natural phenomena.

    The Diocese of Sacramento has so far not commented on the statue, and the two priests affiliated with the church did not return a telephone message Saturday.

    James Murphy, deacon of the diocese's mother church, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, said church leaders are always skeptical at first.

    "For people individually seeing things through the eyes of faith, something like this can be meaningful. As for whether it is supernatural or a miracle, normally these incidences are not. Miracles are possible, of course," Murphy said. "The bishop is just waiting and seeing what happens. "