Mother of God wept

We have witnessed a miracle.
The Virgin Mary wept.
The statue of the Virgin Mary stood in the park near the old wooden church. The statue was as old as the church itself. In the spring, parishioners, grandmothers and women in white headscarves, refurbished the statue, painted eyes on her and the holy baby, updated the pattern on the robe of St. Mary. That is, there was no secret in the statue at all. The statue was made by a local craftsman, now an old grandfather named Ivan. In general, a small town that stood by a large river was inhabited mainly by elderly people. The climate here was good and people lived long. There were also young people, but they were few. The youth had excellent health and the climate did not play a big role in choosing a place to live.
So, back to the statue. As I said, the statue stood in the park not so long ago, some thirty or thirty-five years. Exactly as much as the years of the local church. And even the creator of the statue was still alive. Do you understand what I'm leading to? I'm talking about the fact that there were no secrets in the statue at all! But... But nevertheless, the statue was streaming myrrh. The fact that the statue was crying was not immediately noticed.
Little girl Masha was walking with her mother in the park. A few meters from the church there was a playground. The rector of the church was always touched when he saw dark and light heads in the distance and heard children's voices. So, the girl Masha walked with her mother to the site, their path lay past the statue of the Virgin Mary.
Masha's mother was thinking about something and did not notice the miracle that happened to the statue, but Masha saw it.
“Mom,” Masha screamed, pointing to the statue, “aunt is crying!” Why?
Mom did not respond, she just mechanically nodded and continued to think about something.
However, Masha was not the kind of child who gives up easily.
The girl Masha did not like when her words were ignored.
By this time, mother and daughter had already passed the statue.
Having not received an answer to the question, Masha pulled her hand out of her mother's hand and, after taking a few steps, stood in front of her mother.
- What? - Mom looked at her daughter in surprise, - what kind of aunt?
-And that one over there! -Masha vigorously shook her hand and pointed to the statue of the Virgin Mary, which they passed.
- Masha, - the girl's mother turned around, - this is not an aunt, this is the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. She cannot cry, she is not alive, she is a statue!
“Not a living aunt-statue is crying,” Masha confirmed vigorously, “do you want to show me?”
“Masha, no,” the woman said, trying to shake off her daughter’s hand, who again took her mother’s hand and pulled her along, “we’re late!” We agreed that you will stay on the site for no more than ten minutes, and then we will go to an English lesson.
-But the aunt is crying, - the daughter was stubborn, - you yourself said that you need to help those who are crying! Is not it so?
This argument convinced mother Masha and she reluctantly turned back.
Approaching the statue, the woman could not believe her eyes. The statue was really crying. Tears from painted eyes flowed continuously.
The shocked woman walked around the statue from all sides, trying to find a catch, but the creation of the old grandfather Ivan was not subjected, as Masha's mother suspected, to any changes and upgrades.
While mom was trying to find a catch, the daughter went up to a trickle of water that slowly flowed from the eyes of the statue and put her hands on it. The water accumulated in the center of the small hands not very quickly, but by the time the mother finally walked around the statue, the girl had a small lake in her hands. The girl drank this water in several sips and smiled.
“Mom, it tastes like fruit drink, try it too,” and the little girl held out her hand, at the bottom, which left a few drops from the tears of the Virgin.
- What are you doing? - Masha's mother screamed in horror, - spit it out now!
- Aunt-statue, thank you, - Masha stroked the statue of the Virgin on the hand, - I was very thirsty! Now I don't want to! Aunt, don't cry anymore! I feel so sorry for you! Won't you cry? - Masha trustingly clung to the base of the statue, - tomorrow my mother and I will come to the site again, I will check if you have calmed down! It is harmful to cry for a long time, your nose swells up and your head hurts! Do not Cry!
Masha spoke the last words in a patter as her mother pulled her away.
In the evening, Masha's mother chatted with her friend on the phone for a long time and, among other things, told about the statue and about the trick with water from the eyes. Masha's mother could understand who and why staged this prank.
The rumor about the myrrh-streaming statue spread quickly. A week later, Masha and her mother again came to the site and saw a strange picture. People lined up in front of the statue with jars and buckets. The statue became hard to see due to the large number of people surrounding it. Tears from the eyes of the Virgin flowed slowly, yet it was not water from the tap, the water filled the buckets drop by drop and the line was worried. The most responsible women regulated the queue and finally delivered a verdict, to approach the statue with a capacity no larger than a small water bottle. After that, things went faster, but still not fast enough. The bottles filled too slowly. Then new restrictions were introduced, the bottles were replaced with mugs, and even then, the mug had to be only half filled. Those who wanted a full mug had to stand at the end of the line again.
People walked and walked and there was no end to the land. Masha's mother felt unconscious anxiety and even guilt. itshe told her friend that after Masha drank water, her allergy went away, moreover, Masha stopped choking and the inhaler was no longer needed. Asthma is gone. Probably, the news about the cured girl made people believe that the tears of the Virgin have healing properties. Whether the tears helped or not, Masha's mother did not know for some of the inhabitants of the city. She was happy that her child was healthy and nothing else bothered her. When another week passed, mother and Masha again came to the site, but the usual landscape was disturbed. The Mother of God was not there. Someone stole the statue. Someone impatient, decided that he would not wait for his turn to take advantage of the tears of the Virgin and simply, under the cover of night, took and dragged her away, driving a truck. Masha knew who did it, or rather, her fingers knew who drew a picture with a truck. There was even a truck number on the picture. However, when Masha showed the drawing to her mother, mother, as always, did not peer, but only praised Masha. It was important for mom that her daughter was healthy, and everything else was not important. The alarmed residents of the city for some time hoped for the conscience of the kidnapper and expected that he would return the statue to its place when he filled his buckets with her tears, but time passed, and no one returned the statue. Finally, the rector turned to grandfather Ivan with a request to make a new Mother of God. People supported the request and even promised to form the whole world and thank grandfather Ivan with money. However, grandfather Ivan refused, he said that his eyesight was no longer the same, and he was afraid of not being able to cope with such a responsible task. The more he was persuaded, the more he resisted. Finally, the townspeople realized that the will of grandfather Ivan was firm and left him alone. The abbot ordered a statue from some company that had long ago put the manufacture of utensils and statues of religious content on stream. When the new statue was brought in, the townspeople came with buckets. For some reason, people decided that the new statue would also stream myrrh. The statue, unlike the statue of grandfather Ivan, was brand new and solemnly beautiful. The bright face of the Virgin and the baby in her arms evoked blissful feelings, but the statue, of course, did not stream myrrh. Soon the disappointed crowd left the heels next to the church. Everything is back to normal.
Ten years have passed. One day a little boy came up to the statue and asked:
- Aunt, isn't it hard for you to hold the baby?
My mom told me not to hang on it when I walk because I'm heavy! Mom says I'm fat because I eat a lot, but I think I'm fat because no one plays with me and everyone teases me! It's hard for me to walk, but my mother never picks me up! Aunt, don't cry, I will grow up and become thin and tall, please don't cry like that! Come on, I'll wipe your tears from your clothes, otherwise they will ruin your beautiful dress!

The boy's mother did not tell anyone that after talking with the statue, the boy stopped walking like a lunatic at night, and his weight soon returned to normal, but somehow the townspeople found out that this statue began to stream myrrh. This time, guards were put up to the statue and even fenced off with a small fence, but nothing helped, a week later this Mother of God was also stolen.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners!" - I just want to say, thinking about this story, where the virtues and vices of mankind are mixed.
Do you think the new statue ordered by the abbot will also be just as wonderful?

  And I believe that when the time comes, the Mother of God will help the next child, who will trustfully turn to her and stretch out her hands.