Thousands of Christians from the state of New Mexico and beyond have been flocking to the city of Hobbs to witness what many are considering a real-life miracle – a statue of the Virgin Mary crying tears that allegedly smell like roses.

Churchgoers at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, in Hobbs, first noticed the scented tears coming out of the statue’s eyes last Sunday, during Mass. Father Jose ‘Pepe’ Segura said that a parishioner informed him about the bizarre phenomenon, and he himself had people wipe the statue’s face clean, only to see the tears flowing down the Virgin Mary’s face again.

“That’s when I saw that she really was crying,” Father Segura told the Las Cruces Sun Sentinel. “I think it’s a reminder for all of us to get closer to God and to stop being violent.”

As word of the alleged miracle spread among parishioners, more and more people came to the church to witness it for themselves. Visitors started coming from all over New Mexico and neighboring states, so the church stayed open round the clock.

We’ve seen cases of weeping religious statues before, but what really sets this one apart from the others is that the Virgin Mary statue is made of bronze, so it’s technically impossible for it to retain any fluids, let alone an oily substance that reportedly smells like roses.

Ricardo Flores Kastanis, the sculptor who created the statue at a New Mexico foundry, was recently interviewed by a local news station and said that none of the statues he has made in the past have ever wept before, and that he doesn’t have an explanation for why this one is doing just that.

“I couldn’t tell you. I mean, I think that faith is an issue. Technically, of course, the metal doesn’t hold water,” Kastanis said. “If you see my Catholic side, of course it’s beautiful. But if you see the technical side, there’s no explanation that I can find. This is completely, something that I’ve never seen before.”

Last Thursday, officials of the Diocese of Las Cruces New Mexico arrived in Hobbs to investigate the reported miracle. The church was closed for four hours, while experts inspected the statue and collected tear samples, but it might take a long time before we get some clear explanation.

Church officials will have to x-ray the statue, interview witnesses and dig as far back into the past as possible to establish whether this is a real miracle or a hoax. The whole process wcould take years, but those Christians who have already witnessed the statue’s tears, don’t really care about the investigation. To them, this is already a true miracle.

“This is a miracle, there is nothing more. We know there is a God,” a woman told reporters. “In the past, when I see this, I see this on TV. We don’t see it in Hobbs, New Mexico. Not until now. I believe it’s a miracle.”

“It is a miracle, nothing short of a miracle,” another parishioner at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church said. “You can even get a sense of her presence. You can smell roses in her tears. I’ve got a tissue that I’ve taken, wiped from her mantle.”