A Sign from Above

Archbishop Prelate Thomas Andrews was searching for a sign whether to move the Christian Church of Brownsville from its location on East St. Charles Street.

The sign he was looking for came to him in the form of the face of Jesus Christ.

During Sunday mass on April 29, a regular attendee, Brother Bob Martinez, said he felt sad about the possibility of relocating.

Martinez said he was looking at a picture of Jesus adorning the front of the chapel, when he slowly shifted his gaze upward to the high altar and saw the apparition.

This may have been the sign Andrews was waiting for, but Martinez said, “It’s more like a miracle.”

The church is located on the same street where the Virgin Mary appeared on a tree in 1993, but Martinez said this new image “is permanent” and “not going away.”

The church moved to its current address at the Church of the Divine Spirit, previously known as Middle Earth Bookstore, when owner George Samano offered the space to him in January.

Samano, a Christian, said the space was suppose to be a place where “all religions and faiths were represented. I didn’t want to offend any faith.”

The site houses 7,500 books on various cultural traditions and religions, but now Samano plans to turn it into a place strictly devoted to the Christian faith.

“I didn’t know what to do with the place and had hesitated putting the for sale sign up,” he said.

Samano, who will be moving to Veracruz soon, considers the apparition “a sign from God” letting him know what to do.

Until April, other faiths had been using the space to practice, such as Hindu services held every other Sunday.

But, since the image appeared, many people have come by to see it and have stopped using it to hold their own services, Andrews said.

For now, Andrews will continue to hold Mass there every Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

“I’ve always considered this a calling,” said Andrews, who makes a living by practicing law in Los Fresnos, said. “Everything was falling into place and now this.”

The Christian Church originally started in Harlingen by Andrews and Bishop David Longoria. It has since moved to Brownsville, expanded to include three communities in Mexico and two in Florida, and Longoria does missions into Mexico to provide impoverished children with gifts on Christmas.