Posted on 09/28/2004 9:44:25 AM PDT by EUPHORIC
Flocks of the faithful are flocking to the Eagle Pass Police Department to see a mysterious statue of Christ. Police say the statue of Jesus just came floating down the Rio Grande. The statue is now in the department's evidence room.
"There's a reason for it to be here," Officer Henry Cardona said of the statue. "People come, pray and kneel down."
Border Patrol agents noticed the life-size fiberglass statue of Jesus Christ in late August stuck on a sandbar in the middle of the Rio Grande. Then on August 31, Border Patrol turned it over to the Eagle Pass Police Department because the statue may have been stolen.
Many in the border town's Catholic community have made the trip to see the crucified Christ lacking the cross propped against two doors in the entryway of the evidence room. About 200 pilgrims a week are now coming to the police department to see the mysterious statue.
"We're allowing people to do this," Cardona said.
And that is where the mystery beings. No one seems to know where the statue came from.
"If it was found in the river, and it doesn't look like it was very bruised," Eagle Pass resident Carmen Hernandez said.
Because no one has come forward to claim it and because of its mysterious discovery in the river, the Catholic faithful have embraced the statue as a religious message from God.
Police have examined the statue for clues.
"Other than scratches, it's in fairly good condition," evidence technician Cesar Torres said.
"He's telling us he's alive and he is here with us," Veronica de la Pena, 32, told the San Antonio Express-News. "He's trying to tell us that there is hope."
Eagle Pass Police Chief Juan A. Castaneda said newspapers across the border in the Mexican town of Piedras Negras are calling it the Christ for the undocumented.
"Faith has led them to believe that this is a sign," Castaneda said.
Border Patrol agents recovered the statue late last month from the Rio Grande. When agents first saw that statue from the air, they thought it was a body and launched a rescue attempt.
It was brought to the police department, where it is being kept for 90 days as found property so its owner can reclaim it.
The statue's following has grown so much that two Catholic churches in the community, Our Lady of Refuge and Saint Joseph's, have requested to keep it after the 90-day waiting period.
And at least one Catholic wants to take it home to his Maverick County ranch to share with his prayer group, which often swells to more than 100 people.
With no leads on where the statue might have come from, the Eagle Pass City Council has begun to consider what to do with it after it's released as surplus property.
The city manager said the department will not sell it, as it traditionally does with unclaimed items. He said the police will donate it to the community.
Police say if no one claims the Christ, they will have a drawing to give it away. No matter where it came from, police and people in Eagle Pass say they have been blessed by the statue's presence.
The statue of Christ will remain on display at the Eagle Pass Police Department at least through the week.
Jesus was an illegal immigrant?
Since fiberglass is not exactly a naturally occurring material it is a pretty safe bet someone put it there.
It's a bloomin' miracle, I tell you!
Yes, a sign that fiberglass floats.
When I bought my farm, I was clearing out the hayloft to inspect the flooring for decay. I discovered three Virgin Mary statues, each beheaded. I epoxied the heads back on and put them in my garden, next to the bird bath. I told nobody because I didn't want all the latinos getting worked up.
Well it looks like John Ashcroft finally caught one illegal.
(I'm now searching on EBAY for a big fiberglass Buddha.)
Ha!
If this had happened 2000 years ago on the Youghiogheny River in West Virginia, rest assured, we would now be kneeling in prayer before a Maytag washing machine...
It's a well known fact that the ancient Pueblo Indians invented Bondo.
Fiberglass is much lighter, more colorful, and would provide more utility than the traditional mediums (rock, wood) that God has previously worked with. When He gets into the bass boat business, stand back!
All I want to know is whether or not he helped the group of illegals using this as a floatee, make it to our shores. Surely this is what occurred.
Well, of course. That's the only possible explanation for an unclaimed floating statue of Jesus.
I'm sure quite a few are named Jesus, along with Jose, Jaime and Josefina.
Yankee visiting San Antonio, asks directions to, "Mission San Jo-Say."
Native San Antonian explains that locally J's are pronouned as H's and, therefore it is, "Mission San Jose" (Ho-say).
San Antonian says, "you must be from up North. How long or you visiting?
The visitor replies, "Oh Hune or Huly."
BUSH/CHENEY in 2004
Jesus is telling Mexicans to go home and stay there.
I'm sure this Pre-Colombian fiberglass.
well didnt they flee to egypt...
Actually I remember my mother doing that when we got REA electricity. We got rid of the gasoline motor washing machine and brought home the new Maytag.
BUSH/CHENEY IN 2004
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