France Werfel and "The Song of Bernadette"

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/december.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 8, 2010 

(Luk 1:28-31) And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

POPE BENEDICT XVI: "Dear friends, "our salvation rests on a coming," Romano Guardini wrote ("La santa note: Dall'Avvento all'Epifania," Brescia 1994, p. 13). "The Savior came from the freedom of God … Thus the decision of faith consists … in welcoming him who draws near to us" (p. 14). "The Redeemer," he adds, "comes to each man: in his joys and anxieties, in his clear knowing, in his perplexities and temptations, in everything that constitutes the nature of his life" (p. 15).

Let us ask the Virgin Mary, in whose womb the Son of the Most High dwelt, and for whom on Wednesday, Dec. 8 we celebrate the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, to sustain us in this spiritual journey, to welcome the coming of the Lord with faith and with love."

VATICAN RADIO: Pondering the Immaculate Conception

VIA THE PHILIPPINES: Born without sin

Do you still remember the book “The Song of Bernadette,” which was made into a movie?

“The Song of Bernadette” is about a 14-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous who witnessed 18 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin at a cave in the village of Lourdes, France. As a result, numerous people with serious sicknesses began visiting the site and were miraculously cured.

Few people, however, know the story behind the writing of this book.

It goes back to World War II. A well-known Jewish writer, France Werfel, and his wife had just slipped across the German border. They were fleeing from the Nazis who were pursuing them.

Working their way down through France, they hoped to cross into Spain and set sail to the United States. But Spanish border guards turned them back.

The couple sought shelter in nearby Lourdes, where the famous shrine of our Lady is located. That night Franz Werfel went to the shrine.

Standing alone in the darkness, he spoke words to this effect: “I am not a believer, and I must be honest and say so. But in my extreme need, on the chance that I could be wrong about God, I ask Him for help for me and my wife.

“See us safely to America and I promise to write the story of this place for all the world to read.”

Werfel returned to the village. He told a friend later that he experienced a peace of mind after that prayer that he had never experienced before in his entire life.

Within days, Werfel and his wife inexplicably found a way to cross over into Spain. Shortly after, they were safely on board a ship that brought them to the US.

The first thing the Jewish writer did in the US was to write the story of Lourdes as he vowed. Thus, “The Song of Bernadette.”

December 8 is the feast of Mary who called herself the “Immaculate Conception” at the grotto of Lourdes to whom the non-believer Franz Werfel desperately went for help.

The dogma (Church’s official teaching) of the Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, means everyone born in this world starts life in a state of "dis-grace" before God because of Original Sin.

However, God made an exception. And that was Mary.

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 27- "On holy stillness of body and soul"

2. Stillness of the body is the knowledge and composure of the habits and feelings. And stillness of the soul is the knowledge of one's thoughts and an inviolable mind.        

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This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

 

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