The Madonna in the Clouds?

Can you see the figure of Our Lady carrying

Baby Jesus in the midst of the clouds?

(step back a little to see the image more

distinctly or view the video below)

At the risk of being labeled a crazy, I’m posting this photo anyway... only because I was encouraged by the fact that I’m not alone in discerning a blessed image in it, and also because of the set of circumstances that led up to me taking the picture.  Perhaps readers will also recognize the image, and find some hope and inspiration in it after reading this story...

It all really began after I attended a speaking engagement on February 16th by Vassula Ryden, a purported mystic of Greek Orthodox background.  During her talk, one of the topics she emphasized was the need for repentance and prayers for the conversion of sinners.  Readers who are familiar with the Blessed Virgin’s apparitions around the world should already know that this topic isn’t new, but it’s been a major theme of Our Lady’s messages throughout history.

According to Vassula’s testimony, Jesus and Mary are lamenting mankinds’ lukewarm response to the messages that they’ve repeatedly given in the past.  Most especially, there is now an urgent need to pray for the conversion of sinners because of increased evil in today’s world.  I was deeply impressed by this message and I left the presentation with a renewed resolve to work on my own continued conversion, and to pray more for the conversion of sinners.  Now fast forward to February 28th…

This statue (minus the detailed
features) best reminds me
of the figure I saw in the sky.

As I was driving in to work, I prayed my usual morning rosary… and I offered it for the conversion of sinners.  Being a sinner, myself, I consciously asked Jesus to accept my prayer intention in union with Our Lady’s prayers.  I figured that if he wasn’t willing to accept the prayer from me because of my sins… he would at least accept it if it were offered to him through his own mother.  So I prayed the rosary as I normally did, but when I was just about finished, I happened to glance up at the sky ahead of me and noticed a remarkable cloud formation – it looked like a giant silhouette of a woman holding a baby!  I managed to take a couple of photos with my cell-phone, of which the above-photo turned out the best (it was much clearer when I saw it in person).

Me, and others, have discerned in the uncanny cloud formation Our Lady carrying the infant Jesus in one arm, while her other arm is extended downward towards the earth (see the short video below).  Either the Blessed Mother is holding her hand out as an invitation for us to draw near to her and her Divine Son, or she is extending her hand out to offer us the Christ Child.  However one interprets the gesture, the end result is the same: JESUS!

I also perceived in this occurrence that Our Lady was making it known that she is reaching out in a special way to sinners... and on a more personal level, I felt assured that she had kindly accepted my prayer intention and had offered it to the Lord.

In retrospect, it’s not so much the remarkable cloud-figure that I find so intriguing about this entire situation, but more so, it’s the timing of the sequence of events that led up to it: from Vassula’s testimony… to me offering my rosary in union with Our Lady’s prayers… and then the appearance in the sky of a highly symbolic image of the Madonna and Child at the end of the prayer.  If that wasn’t enough… the day after, when I was having doubts over whether the Lord was the source of all this, the priest who offered the Noon Mass in the Honolulu Cathedral preached, out of all topics... the need for us to pray for the conversion of sinners!  How awesome is that?  God is good!