Earlier this month, people in Milton began to notice that the mildew and condensation on a broken third-floor window of Milton Hospital resembled the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM). She was robed and seemed to be bowing her head in contemplation. Within a week crowds of up to 25,000 were coming to the hospital’s parking lot to view, and pray to, the mother of God. What are we to make of this?

Well, consider that, historically, the BVM appears only when she has a message for the world. In the year 352, she made one of her earliest appearances in Rome, where she materialized to several people and told them to build a church in her honor for the conversion of the city’s people. In Walsingham, England, she appeared to Lady Richeldis de Faverches in 1061 to dedicate the country to the Roman Catholic Church for all time. (This didn’t actually work.) In 1215, she appeared to Simon Stock on Mount Carmel and gave him the brown scapular (two pieces of brown woolen cloth, usually embroidered with an outline of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and tied together by string and worn over the shoulders). This is still worn by many people today. And of course her appearances at Fatima and Lourdes early in the last century are world renowned. In both of those visitations she warned of impending war, and she was right on the money.

Obviously, the BVM has a message for us today. The trick is in deciphering it. Fortunately, her appearance in Milton is easy to interpret. The BVM chose to appear at a hospital because she is speaking about matters of physical health. No doubt she is unhappy with the rancorous debates about Medicare and prescription drugs taking place in Congress. She may also be speaking to the horrific problem of AIDS in Africa, which has been exacerbated by the failure of the US government and pharmaceutical companies to do anything about it. There can be little debate on the meaning of this apparition, because let’s face it — if she wanted to give her blessing to the ongoing occupation of Iraq, she would have manifested herself at the Pentagon. If she wanted to support war profiteering, she would have made an appearance at the headquarters of Halliburton. And if she wanted to support the Bush administration, she would have appeared at Kennebunkport. The BVM doesn’t make a lot of the personal appearances, so when she does, it’s a good idea to pay attention.