Pacoima Home : Image at Window Lures Hundreds

Some say it’s an illusion. But others say God is responsible for what they insist is a cross-like image on a bathroom window in Pacoima.

The illuminated image has attracted hundreds of people daily to a small one-story house--and its bathroom--on Daventry Street, residents of the home said Tuesday. They said the cross becomes brighter as the sun sets, but seems to have no light source.

Some have been moved by what they have seen.

“How beautiful is the love of God,” Gloria Arriaga said after viewing the image Tuesday.

The crowds began arriving April 6 after word spread through the area’s Latino community that Lucina Elias and her family had discovered the image on a frosted window in their bathroom.

It appeared suddenly on Easter and has come back every day since, fading in and out and changing from white to orange at different hours, Elias said.

Elias said some who have seen the image do not believe it is a religious symbol. But, she said, “We did not create an illusion.”

Many other Pacoima residents agreed. “It is something that does not need an explanation,” Arriaga said.

Arriaga was among several hundred people waiting in line to see the image Tuesday afternoon.

Finally, Elias’ daughter, Maria, announced that the house would be closed to the public for the rest of the day.

“She needs to rest,” she said of her mother.

Maria Elias said the crowds have sometimes formed before sunrise. And it has often been well after midnight before the last of the viewers has left.

Father Joseph Battaglia, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Los Angeles, said he could not comment on the nature of the image. But he said the reaction to it shows that “people are still looking for signs that can strengthen their faith.”