From the Kippah to the Cross: A Jew's Conversion to Catholicism by Jean-Marie Élie Setbon

Author:Jean-Marie Élie Setbon [Setbon, Jean-Marie Élie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781681496528
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2015-04-21T05:00:00+00:00

Lustiger Gives Me a Sign on the

Beach at Trouville

Of course with only the state welfare we were receiving, we could no longer afford to go on vacation. So sometimes when the weather was good we would all take the train round-trip to Trouville with the 75 percent large-family discount. And it was there on the beach, while I was neither meditating nor contemplating, on Monday, August 6, 2007, three years after my wife’s death, that my life started turning upside down. The kids were busy playing at the water’s edge. I wandered off a little ways, leaving Rachel, who was thirteen, to watch over her younger siblings. While I was walking on the sand my eyes suddenly caught sight of a large Calvary scene overlooking the beach. And then, as had happened in the past, without my expecting it at all, something very intense took place inside. I felt drawn to Christ again.

I went back toward the children and sat down, a little shaken up by what I had just experienced. I began leafing through a book of Jewish theology while they continued to play around me. Suddenly, in the intense heat, intense chills started running through my body. I had no idea what was happening to me. And I had no idea why I addressed the children at that moment, saying: “Cardinal Lustiger is dying in the hospital!” I had absolutely no idea where that came from.

We did not take the train back until eight and got back to the house late. Usually, when we got home, I would give them their baths. But this time I was unsettled and needed to be alone. So I asked the older girls to look after the boys. I urged them not to disturb me and closed myself up in my room. There, I turned on the television and, flipping through the channels, came across the Catholic channel KTO. I was stunned to hear the newscaster announce that Cardinal Lustiger had died the day before! It was a real shock. This was August 6, 2007. On August 6 the Church celebrates the Transfiguration of Christ. The Transfiguration is the extraordinary moment when Jesus led three of his apostles up a mountain and appeared before them transfigured with a stunning whiteness, surrounded by Moses and Elijah (see Mt 17:1-9; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36).

This time, the call was clear. Cardinal Lustiger had come to meet me. Jean-Marie Lustiger, a converted Jew, had given me a sign. Christ had worked through him. It was as simple as that. This was the event that would set everything in motion. At the time, I did not explicitly tell myself: “This time, OK, I’m going to convert!” No. I was satisfied with living the experience and following what was happening, without looking ahead to the future. I promised myself that I would see a priest of the Catholic Church in September, when the children were back in school and I would have more time.

I fell asleep with that decision.

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