From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Called to shine in the midst of darkness   
      
   "Why does the Lord call us the light of the world? Why has he compared   
   us to a city on a hill (Mt. 5:14)? Are we not called to shine in the   
   midst of darkness, and stand up high for those most sunk down? If you   
   hide your lamp beneath a bushel (Mt. 5:15; Luke 8:26, 11:33), you will   
   soon notice that you yourself will be in the dark. You will find   
   others bumping into you. So what can you do to illumine the world? Let   
   your faith produce good works. Be a reflection of God's light. The   
   good is not preoccupied with darkness. It rejoices in being seen (John   
   3:21). It exults over the very pointings which are made at it.   
   Christian modesty not only wishes to be modest, but also it wishes to   
   be beheld as what it actually is."   
   --Tertullian, 160-225 (excerpt from ON THE APPAREL OF WOMEN 2.13)   
      
      
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   January 20th - Our Lady of the Miracle   
   (Madonna del Miracolo)   
      
   In 1842, a 28-year-old French Jew named Alphonse Ratisbonne was   
   visiting Rome. He was the youngest son of an important banking family   
   in Strasbourg, a close relation of the Rothschilds. As often happens   
   with European Jews, a family takes the name of a city. The French   
   Ratisbonne comes from Ratisbona, the Latin name for Regensburg, a   
   famous German city near Munich. Alphonse was a Jew by race and   
   religion, virulently anti-Catholic, and libertine in his customs.   
      
   Alphonse Ratisbonne was making a tour of Europe and the East before   
   settling to marry his cousin Flore and assume a partnership at his   
   uncle’s bank. Ending by coincidence in Rome instead of Palermo as he   
   had intended, he was well received by the French diplomatic circle   
   residing there. He reluctantly made a call on Baron Theodore de   
   Bussières, a very fervent Catholic. Even though the Jew seemed quite   
   far from any conversion, the Baron, undaunted by his sarcasm and   
   blasphemy, saw in him a future Catholic and encouraged his visits.   
      
   One afternoon, during a lively conversation in which Ratisbonne was   
   ridiculing the superstitions of the Catholic religion, the Baron   
   challenged Ratisbonne to submit to a simple test and wear the   
   Miraculous Medal. Taken aback but wanting to prove the ineffectiveness   
   of such religious baubles, Ratisbonne consented and allowed the   
   Baron’s young daughter to put the medal around his neck. Baron de   
   Bussières also insisted that Ratisbonne recite the Memorare once a   
   day. Ratisbonne promised, saying, “If it does me no good, at least it   
   will do me no harm.”   
      
   The Baron and a close circle of aristocratic friends increased their   
   prayers for the skeptical Jew. Notable among them was a devout   
   Catholic who was seriously ill, Count Laferronays, who offered his   
   life for the conversion of the “young Jew.” On the same day he entered   
   a church and prayed more than 20 Memorares for this intention, he   
   suffered a heart attack, received the last Sacraments, and died.   
      
   The next day, his friend Baron de Bussières was on his way to arrange   
   the Count’s funeral in the Basilica of St. Andrea delle Fratte when he   
   met Ratisbonne. He asked him to accompany him and wait in the church   
   until he had arranged some matters with the priest in the sacristy.   
      
   Ratisbonne did not accompany his friend into the sacristy. He wandered   
   through the church admiring the beautiful marbles and various works of   
   art. As he stood before a side altar dedicated to St. Michael   
   Archangel, Our Lady suddenly appeared to him. It was January 20, 1842.   
      
   Standing over the altar, Our Lady appeared wearing a crown and a   
   simple long white tunic with a jeweled belt around her waist and   
   blue-green mantle draped over her left shoulder. She gazed at him   
   affably; her hands were open spreading rays of graces. Her bearing was   
   quite regal, not just because of the crown she was wearing. Rather,   
   her height and elegance gave the impression of a great lady, fully   
   conscious of her own dignity. She transmitted both grandeur and mercy   
   in an atmosphere of great peace. She had some of the characteristics   
   of Our Lady of Graces. Alphonse Ratisbonne saw this figure and   
   understood that he was before an apparition of the Mother of God. He   
   knelt down before her and converted.   
      
   Returning from the sacristy, the Baron was surprised to see the Jew   
   fervently praying on his knees before the altar of St. Michael the   
   Archangel. He helped his friend to his feet, and Ratisbonne   
   immediately asked to go to a confessor so he could receive Baptism.   
   Eleven days later, on January 31, he received Baptism, Confirmation   
   and his First Communion from the hands of Cardinal Patrizi, the Vicar   
   of the Pope.   
      
   His conversion had enormous repercussions over all Christendom. The   
   entire Catholic world became aware of it and was impressed by it.   
   Afterward, Ratisbonne became a Jesuit priest. Ten years later, he and   
   his brother Theodore, who also had converted from Judaism, founded a   
   religious congregation--the Congregation of Sion--turned to the   
   conversion of the Jews.   
      
      
   The Significance of the Miracle   
      
   Shortly after the apparition, based on the description of Fr.   
   Ratisbonne, a picture was painted representing Our Lady who had   
   appeared to him that day in Sant' Andrea delle Fratte. When the   
   picture was completed, he viewed it and said that it only vaguely   
   depicted the beauty of the apparition he had seen. This is not   
   difficult to believe since the actual beauty of Our Lady must far   
   surpass any mere representation. The picture was placed on the exact   
   spot where she had appeared to him, and became know as Madonna del   
   Miracolo, Our Lady of the Miracle, referring to the two-fold miracle,   
   her apparition and the instantaneous conversion of Alphonse   
   Ratisbonne.   
      
   Obviously, that apparition represented a great benefit for the soul of   
   Ratisbonne. It also represented a benefit for the Catholic Church with   
   the foundation of the Congregation of Sion, with its special mission   
   to work for the conversion of the Jews. This congregation expresses   
   well the Church’s position toward the Jews. Her position is not to   
   hate the Jews, but rather to defend herself against their attacks. To   
   the measure that they attack the Church, she defends herself. But   
   above all, she desires their conversion.   
      
   But in the doctrinal and psychological context of those times, the   
   Ratisbonne miracle had a more profound significance. In the 19th   
   century, the Revolution was strongly promoting Rationalism, a school   
   of thought that today has become outdated. Then the Revolution was   
   emphasizing this point: the rational man, the man who tries to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)