A group of parishioners have been praying under a tree since it started leaking a mysterious liquid. The parish members believe the tree is weeping "God's tears," a local arborist thinks it's just sap.
"When you say 'glory be to God in Jesus name' the tree starts throwing out more water," Parishioner Maria Ybarra told WPTV.
The worship group has been slowly growing since the phenomenon was first discovered in Fresno.
"I said my prayer and asked the Lord to give me a miracle cause I'm really, really sick," Rosemarie Navarro, another parishioner said.
Arborist Jon Reelhorn believes the falling liquid is a natural occurrence, rather than supernatural.
"The aphides will suck the sap, the sap goes through the aphid and then it is a honey dew excrement from the aphid and it gets so heavy in the summertime that it will drip down," he said.
Reelhorn found another dripping tree right across the street from the original.
Other people have experienced something similar with the same type of tree, the Crepe Myrtle.
A commenter on GardenWeb.com asked: "What is dripping from my crepe myrtles? No, I don't mean rain. Some kind of liquid drips from my crepe myrtles all the time. What is it? Bugs?" This was back in 2007.
Another commenter admitted to having the same experience with their own tree.
"The aphids secrete it and it's called honey dew. It grosses some people out, but I don't think a little aphid *dew* ever hurt anyone," yet another commenter responded.
"God's tears" sightings are not new in the U.S. In 2011 a statue of the Virgin Mary was seen weeping in Ohio, the Daily Mail reported.
"I heard about it on the radio and I didn't think much of it. Being here at work and we saw the line-up of people. Out of curiosity I went over and looked and it's unbelievable. It's forming. The tear is there. It does not look like it's water or anything. It's real weird, very weird," Visitor Gayle Walker told WCPO, via the Daily Mail.
"Incidents like these -- weeping statues, paintings, trees or other objects -- happen more frequently than some might imagine," Father James Martin, Jesuit priest and editor-at-large at America Magazine, told the Huffington Post. "Usually the phenomena are easily explained by science. But occasionally the causes remain inexplicable. I'm a firm believer in miracles, but I also believe that God can speak to us through natural means, as a way of reminding us of God's presence. Sometimes God gives us a little nudge -- explicable or inexplicable -- as if to say, 'I'm here.'"
Clinical therapist Mark McOmber said believing the "crying" tree is an act of God is also a natural phenomenon, WPTV reported.
"Human beings inherently need to hope for things, things that they can't understand, things they can't see," McOmber said.
"I can tell you looking at it from a scientific standpoint and a spiritual standpoint it is the work of God manifesting here on earth," Ybarra said.
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