"Here we go again," I thought, "another Mary on a slice of toast or a grilled cheese holy sandwich or in the water-drippings-on-a-highway-underpass, etc., etc."
The gullible or those desperately looking for hope or answers or simply some sign that God really does exist and really does care for them or even just recognizes their existence will flock to even the most simple or ridiculous signs and will venerate a fence post or a grease stain or a tree trunk if someone or something or their own psyche convinces them that it is here that they will truly find or finally find that aspect of God that they desperately crave.
In this case it was a chair, just a chair and a blanket and nun who would touch them with a reliquary (a relic container that holds a piece of cloth or bone or something that was a part of or close to the person or saint being venerated).
I, like many people, are quite cynical when it comes to venerating objects or ordinary people, for that matter. I believe that God will find us or we will find God (depending on how you look at it) if we look sincerely when the time is right, in other words, when we are most in need of finding God. I don't believe praying in front of a piece of toast is going to do it. In my mind that is just a sign of desperation, an indication that the person no longer really believes and is would be willing to venerate a golden calf as a god or an emissary of God.
On the other hand I believe there are objects (relics) and people (saints) and events (miracles) that can lead a person to God or closer to God. I think the image of Our Lady or Guadalupe (whether real or fake), the Shroud of Turin (whether real or fake), certain faith healers (whether real or fake) and numerous "saints" such as Mother Teresa can be just what they purport to be and can lead people to or closer to God (or in other terms to have "a religious experience."
I look at the image or Our Lady of Guadalupe and I think of the connection between God and man. I look at a picture of the Shroud of Turin and I think of that man 2000 or so years ago who gave of himself to the extent that his body could look like that depicted on the Shroud. I think of Mother Teresa and I pray that I could be just a little more like her and again I think of that man 2000 or so years ago.
While I am not particularly impressed with that chair in Naples, Italy, who am I to say it is a fraud or a sham or a scam?
For that matter, who am I to say that piece of toast or the fence post or any of the things or people or events that people venerate in some way are fakes or real. It is all in the way one approaches them. If it truly brings them closer to God, then for them it is real. One person's floor is another one's ceiling. One person's religious experience is another one's curiosity.
Whether you believe in miracles or saints or relics does not matter. Well, actually, it does matter, but only to you. It matters only to the person who experiences it and the way they experience it.
We all search or do not search for God in our own way and we all find or do not find God in our own way. Even those who claim not to be looking are looking. However, their search is for proof that God does not exist, but their real fear or concern is that they might find proof that He does.
That's why many of us scoff at the seemingly more ridiculous religious manifestations that some people claim (be careful next time you eat a grilled cheese sandwich, you might just be munching on a "miracle" [in fact, depending on how you believe, it is a miracle, but that's another story]). Something that triggered your "sudden insight" could be just as ridiculous, but then again, it's all in the eye of the beholder.