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PHOTO DESK HAS DIGITAL PICTURES OF THE TREE AND A CLOSE-UP SHOT OF THE VIRGIN MARY APPARITION. A PHOTO MUST ACCOMPANY THIS STORY.

WORDS IN ALL CAPS ARE ITALICS.

GERSH IS BEEPABLE


I have to admit, I don't see it.

Make no mistake, I do see SOMETHING -- a stain on a tree on Arden Street in Inwood that can, if the light is just right, resemble a weeping Virgin Mary -- but I don't see what true believers see.

Since last week, when one devout Catholic on the block spotted the Madonna on a common Siberian Elm tree, thousands have visited the tree and surrounded it with those foot-tall candles sold at botanicas.

News of the tree spread quickly by word of mouth, and now people walk or drive up all day long to stare at the halo-like knot, the stained bark and the sap oozing from the Madonna's "eyes." Many stand transfixed in holy rapture.

"It makes me feel so good to see her that I want to cry," said Rosa Nunez, who did just that. "I love the Virgin so much. When I see her up there, it's like I'm seeing my own mother. It's a blessing."

Charles Nelson, who lives at 80 Arden, saw it as a warning.

"She's crying because there is no love around," said Nelson, who is black. "The Dominicans don't like the Puerto Ricans. The Puerto Ricans don't like the blacks. The blacks don't like anybody. So She has showed up to tell us that we must change."

Of course, for every 10 Rosa Nunezes and Charles Nelsons on Arden Street, there is one Euds Rodriguez, who simply does not believe in holy apparitions.

"The Lord does not show up this way!" she said. "If you want to see the Lord, look at the weather, the babies, the trees! How does all this happen? God! But a knot in a tree is not God."

I wondered, though, whether it even mattered if this convenient nexus of sap, tree knot and bark is actually the Virgin Mary or not? Indeed, isn't it enough that people BELIEVE it is the Virgin Mary?

Not for Rodriguez. "People are ignorant and they just want to see something," she scoffed.

As often happens in these cases, the apparition has prompted some wild stories, including one tale of how a woman in a wheelchair regained her ability to walk after wiping some of the sap on her head.

"I saw it happen!" Nelson said, his belief in the story increasing with each re-telling.

This is not the first time that deities have reportedly visited Inwood. In 1993, after television got a hold of the story, thousands of people gathered under a frosted glass window on Post Avenue that, some said, bore the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Father Jose Aquilar dashed hopes, however, saying that the apparition was merely a collision between overactive imaginations and a bathroom with bad ventilation. "There was a tremendous amount of moisture in that window, that's all," he said.

The Catholic Church's caution in such cases -- and there have been many over the years, including a notable sighting of Jesus Christ in a Texas shower stall -- has put Father Ambiorix Rodriguez of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in the tough position of having to reject the apparition while not alienating parishioners who truly believe they see God on a tree.

"I think there's a lot of imagination going on there," said Rodriguez, whose church is directly across the street from the tree (a coincidence?). "I don't see the Virgin, but I don't want to push people away either. If it helps them feel closer to God, that's good."

And, of course, there's a perfectly logical explanation -- and when I want a perfectly logical explanation of anything, I turn to none other than Parks Commissioner Henry Stern.

"The `face' of the Virgin Mary is merely a scar from tree pruning," Stern said. "And the tears are what's called `slime flux,' which is a seepage of sap from a wound in the bark."

A believer in the separation of Church and state, Stern of course denied that the Virgin Mary has taken up residence on one of the city's 500,000 street trees.

"If it's a source of inspiration for some people, so much the better," he said. "But the life of a tree is the true miracle. I am inspired by them all the time. This city is really tough on trees."

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email: gershny@yahoo.com