LUBBOCK, Texas -- Between 10,000 and 15,000 pilgrims cried, pointed to the sky and screamed 'see her, see her' Monday night at a mass celebrated outside a Catholic church where three congregants said they received messages from the Virgin Mary.
The mass celebrated outside St. John Neumann Catholic Church, held on the annual feast of the Assumption of Mary, had to be interrupted at least three times as thousands of celebrants began crying and screaming that they saw images of Mary and Jesus Christ in early evening West Texas sky.
'At first I couldn't see anything, but I prayed a Hail Mary,' said Bertha Curley of Alexandria, Va., who said she they saw a veil lift from the sky to reveal a rose color, the figure of Jesus Christ and three rings she said stood for the Holy Trinity.
'I can't say I saw Mary, but we're quite pleased,' Curley said. 'She put on a good show.'
As the clouds moved across the sky, members of the audience screamed, 'See her, see her.'
'I saw the pathway to heaven,' yelled another man.
Several people said their rosaries turned to gold in the twilight. When the light faded, however, they returned to their silver coloring.
The gathering at St. John Neumann, the smallest of Lubbock's six Roman Catholic churches, was a response to more than two dozen 'messages' three church members said they have received from the Virgin Mary during Monday and Wednesday prayer meetings since February.
The three parishioners said Mary told them that physically and spiritually afflicted should be at church Monday, and in one message said, 'Look for miracles and healings.'
At least two people got up from wheelchairs in the audience, one to cries of 'She walks, she walks.' Both, however, said they had always been able to walk but were confined to wheelchairs because of other ailments.
'I just feel wonderful,' said Edna Smith, who had been in a wheelchair because of hip surgery. 'I don't think like I need this thing at all. I know I saw (Mary), I know I saw. It's so wonderful.'
One woman was treated by paramedics after she began screaming.
Monsignor Joseph James, pastor of the Lubbock church, said before the mass he expected Monday's miracles to touch the spirit more so than the body.
'What's important is what people take home,' he said. 'They could see 1,000 miracles and go to hell.'
During the mass, which was said at a makeshift altar atop the church office building, James reminded the crowd of one of the Virgin's messages:
'I am not preparing you for the Feast of the Assumption,' the message said. 'I am preparing you for eternity. Do not anticipate a message, for I will be with you.'
The church grounds and parking lot were filled all day with pilgrims who said the rosary at services held every two hours. By late afternoon, the crowd covered the church grounds and parking lot and spilled out onto streets, covering an area about the size of a football field.
Inside the church during the afternoon, each aisle was jammed by lines of people going to the front to be anointed with holy water or to pray with faith healers.
Some of the worshipers had slept on the lawn of the church Sunday night. Carlotta Reigner, a member of the church's healing ministry, said she was at the church until 3 a.m. Monday and returned before 8 a.m.
'People are so touched by now that it doesn't seem that time exists,' she said. 'Everyone is so peaceful. Even the children seem so at ease. It's a very gentle, quiet, reverent spirit that is here.'
More than 60 police and members of the Texas Guard, a local volunteer group, were on hand to keep order.
American Red Cross spokesman Walter Hobbs said several people suffered from chest pains and one person was so dehydrated he had to be sent to a hospital for intravenous feeding.
'We thought we had some heat collapses, but it turned out they were just in the spirit and they got up and walked away,' Hobbs said.
Only three visitations by the Virgin Mary have been authenticated by the Vatican: in Guadalupe, Mexico, in 1531, in Lourdes in 1858 and in Fatima in 1917.
The feast of the Assumption of Mary was established by the Roman Catholic church in 1950. It marks the 'entrance of Mary, body and soul, into heaven.' This year, the date also marks the final day of the year that Pope John Paul II declared the church's Marian year, celebrating the veneration of Mary.
The three who said they received messages were Mike Slate, a retired Air Force officer, Mary Constancio, a former physical therapist, and Theresa Werner, a housewife.
Mary Constancio felt the first message March 1 and wrote it down the nextmorning. Slate and Werner heard their first messages April 18.
The three said they received the messages, described as a voice heard by one of the parishioners, during prayer services and wrote them down. Other parishioners have reported feeling the presence of Mary or smelling roses, the flower associated with her.
Slate said he ignored the first message he heard, but June 27 he wrote down the second message: 'My children, go forth and bring your lame, your crippled, your souls which have no hope, for I will be merciful to them through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.' He said he later discovered Werner had heard the same message.
Lubbock Bishop Michael Sheehan, who did not plan to attend the Monday night mass, proclaimed his neutrality in a carefully worded statement.
