About two weeks ago, Jesus appeared on the living room ceiling. Mitsie Yanagawa laughs from behind her hands when she talks about it. "I don't know why I see it!" she says. "It might be a message, but who knows?"

Her son-in-law says he doesn't see it, but he says it's like a Rorschach ink blot. Different people see different things.

Yanagawa, a 90-year-old retired school principal, sees baby Jesus held by mother Mary, a knight bowing before them offering a gift to the child. Around the scene is a serrated edge like a glow or aura, she says. Or maybe it's just a water spot.

"Some people will believe, some won't," Yanagawa says. "Those who believe will be thankful I said something."

The Manoa house where Yanagawa lives was built in the 1930s. During the December rains, some water leaked through the roof, leaving a large mark on the white ceiling panel. Yanagawa noticed the Jesus tableau the last week of March. She points out the way Mary's face is leaning in toward the child. Jesus looks almost like an ultrasound image of a child in utero. The knight is bending toward the baby. On another part of the ceiling, Yanagawa points out what she sees at the knight's shield.

"I sound crazy, yeah?" she says, laughing.

But she doesn't. For a woman of 90, she's pretty spry, with a smooth complexion, a head of thick white curls and a hearty laugh. She grew up in Hilo, went to college at Oberlin and got her master's in music education at Columbia University. She spent her career as a music teacher and later an administrator in public schools in Hilo and on O'ahu. These days, she fills her time gardening and having lunch with friends. She was still driving until recently, when she suffered a small stroke.

Her family wonders if seeing Jesus in the ceiling is a result of the stroke. Yanagawa shrugs at the idea. Or maybe it's because Easter is coming. Or maybe because she read "The Da Vinci Code." Doesn't matter. She just knows what she sees and isn't too worried if no one else sees it.

Yanagawa isn't sure what the message from the ceiling is, but she does offer these ideas: "God is everywhere. He's a friend. You can talk to him like you talk to anybody else. He likes you and he loves you."

A roofing company has been called to fix the leak. But Yanagawa is not planning to paint over the image in the living room ceiling. "I'm going to leave that there," she says.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.