You Have A Marvelous Virgin
Hit the Reset Button, Ma

By Lord Lunch with help from the Catholic News Agency.
On her visit to Mexico last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a surprise early morning visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, bearing a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people.”

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexico's most popular religious and cultural symbol, and the Basilica is the second most visited Catholic shrine in the world. (Pope John Paul II visited four times.)

On a hill near Mexico City in 1531, a peasant named Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl surrounded by light. The Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary.

Miracles of the Image
When Juan Diego told his story to the Spanish bishop, an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared on the back of his simple peasant’s cloak.

The image has maintained its integrity for 500 years, though replicas made with similar materials normally disintegrate after about 15 years. In 1791, an ammonia spill made a considerable hole in the cloak, but the image reportedly mended itself within two weeks with no external help. In 1921, an anarchist hid a bomb in an offering of flowers placed next to the image. The bomb's explosion destroyed the shrine, but the image was undamaged.

Photographers and ophthalmologists have reported images reflected in the eyes of the Virgin. A Nobel Prize winning chemist concluded that the tint on the fabric is not from any known mineral, vegetable, or animal source. An infrared study of the image found portions of the face, hands, robe, and mantle appear to have been painted in one step, with no sketches or corrections, and no apparent brush strokes.

Mrs. Clinton’s Reaction to the Image
When Mrs. Clinton arrived at the Basilica, she was greeted by the rector, Msgr. Diego Monroy.

After respectfully viewing the image of the Virgin for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked the rector “Who painted it?”

Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”

As she left the Basilica, Mrs. Clinton told a crowd of Mexicans gathered outside, “You have a marvelous virgin!”

Feds spending millions on Kennedy legacy in Mass.

Lord Lunch gags on his morning muffin.

More than one out of every five dollars of the $126 million Massachusetts is receiving in earmarks from a $410 billion federal spending package is going to help preserve the legacy of the Kennedys.

The bill includes $5.8 million for the planning and design of a building to house a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate.

The bill also includes $22 million to expand facilities at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum and $5 million more for the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a park system in downtown Boston named after Kennedy's mother.

The $22 million JFK library earmark was sponsored by fellow Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry, who is also a top sponsor for the money for the Kennedy Senate Institute. Kerry defended the project, saying, "This shovel-ready project will also bring much-needed jobs to the area."

Local officials are seeking up to $100 million to build the institute, which will focus on the Senate in general and Kennedy's more than four decades of service to the body.

Tentative plans called for a replica of the Senate chamber itself, as well as programs to train new senators.

"These funds will create jobs that are desperately needed, and will provide lasting benefits for all our citizens long into the future," Kennedy said in statement accompanying a list of earmarks.

Feds spending millions on Kennedy legacy in Mass.