By Anne DiBernardo - Florida Catholic

• Related story: Pro-life education: ‘It cannot be business as usual’

MIAMI | To the outside world, Sandi Le Bel was a highly successful woman living the dream life. She had a master’s degree, a nice home, and cruised around the world earning a great salary working as a marketing director for a Fortune 500 company.

A fallen-away Catholic, she had been experimenting with seemingly attractive New Age philosophies that promote inner peace – until 17 years ago.

In March 2000, Le Bel was caught off-guard by a spiritual tsunami that “shook her to core,” shattering all her misconceptions about the Catholic Church. “I had it all wrong,” said Le Bel, a national speaker and the new education coordinator for the Archdiocese of Miami Respect Life Ministry.

Over a bowl of onion soup, Le Bel took a time-out from hurricane Irma preparations to trace the extraordinary graces that changed the trajectory of her life.  

Before embarking on her “road to Damascus,” she had closely aligned herself with the feminism movement and had two abortions — despite the fact that she was born and raised in a Catholic home, attended a Catholic high school, and married a Catholic. Like many cradle Catholics, Le Bel was angry at the Church for not being more progressive.

“Gradually, I stopped attending Mass regularly and felt no need to confess before a priest. After all, I rationalized, it was not in the Bible — not that I read the bible,” she said, explaining that she always felt close to God the Father, but had trouble fully accepting Jesus.

“Perhaps because I wondered which religion was the correct one, I doubted that Jesus was ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’ I gave thanks to God, but didn’t really know how to pray,” said Le Bel, adding that she also believed reincarnation was an explanation for human suffering.

In truth, she was feeling empty inside. In hopes of quenching her unrequited thirst for inner peace, in January 2000 she enrolled in a spiritual development course at a local college, where an internationally-known psychic talked about meditation, yoga, reiki, Kabala, shamanism, angels and astrology.

“We were offered every alternative to finding inner peace — except through Jesus Christ,” said Le Bel, admitting that she sensed danger. 

 

‘Brilliant white light’

On Sunday, March 12, 2000, everything changed, she recalled.

“One minute I was in my home alone, and the next minute my mind was taken across a narrow suspension bridge. I found myself enveloped in brilliant white light,” Le Bel said, describing the air as molecules that reflected light like diamonds.

“I knew I was in heaven. The first person to come towards me was Jesus in a long-flowing white garment, his hair loose about his shoulders. I saw his glory, and in seeing his glory, I understood my sinfulness. Overwhelmed and nervous, I turned to flee. My shame was too much to bear. As I started running away, Jesus stretched out his hand towards me and I heard myself say, ‘I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I shall be healed.’”

Le Bel knelt before Jesus and for the first time in her life, without any doubt, acknowledged him as the Divine Son. She then saw the Blessed Mother. Later, Le Bel was struck with a deep sense of urgency to travel to Medjugorje, an area in Bosnia where it is alleged that the Blessed Mother has been appearing since 1981. (The apparitions are currently being studied, but have yet to be approved by the Church.)

Le Bel had never heard of Medjugorje. Her mind was percolating with questions. Yet she made haste and used her frequent flyer miles to purchase a $1,800 airline ticket to Croatia. She told her boss to cancel all her meetings.

“Our Lady explained to me that I had fallen off the path that leads to eternal life, which is the path that her Son Jesus left for us – the holy Catholic Church. Furthermore, since only God perfectly knows what is good and what is evil, humans cannot choose which Church teachings are essential for salvation and which are not. Nothing the Church teaches can harm us,” Le Bel said. “All my past deceptions and objections about the Church fell away.”

She draws a correlation between her experience and the scales that fell from St. Paul’s eyes. Her stubborn defense of abortion, reincarnation, and contraception melted like wax.

With filial trust, Le Bel assured the Blessed Mother that she would adhere to all of the Church’s teachings, even those outside her comprehension. Whatever she did not understand, she trusted Mary would work out.

Then, during the three-hour drive to the airport, Le Bel understood why the sudden urgency to travel to Medjugorje: She had been scheduled to start a Master Reiki class the following week. Reiki is a superstitious New Age healing practice. Le Bel feels the Lord used her experiences in Medjugorje to help her understand the gravity of the choices she was about to make.

 

Lives of saints

At home, Le Bel’s lively witness led to profound conversions in the lives of her family and friends, who also returned to the sacraments. Her new rituals included daily Mass and praying the rosary. She spent time in adoration, found herself a good spiritual director, and initiated the practice of monthly confession. She enrolled in a Life in the Spirit Seminar at her parish, St. Edward in Pembroke Pines.

She also renounced vain and useless distractions, and gained a heightened sensitivity to sin and evil in movies and songs. She ditched anything having to do with New Age and started reading about the lives of the saints.

In August 2000, Le Bel heard the Lord say his plan for her life was for her to have a child and nine months later she gave birth to a son. She left her career in 2001 to focus on raising her child. When her son entered kindergarten at St. Bernadette School in Hollywood, her pastor invited her to lead a prayer group and Why Catholic sessions.  

Since her conversion, she has excelled as a ministry leader and served on the National Service Committee Council for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. She has also been the keynote speaker at Marian and Charismatic conferences.

In hindsight, Le Bel can see how each of her experiences has given her a unique perspective and prepared her for her new role as the education coordinator for the Respect Life Ministry.

 

Post-abortive

Being a post-abortive woman, she truly relates to the passage in Luke 7:47: “She who was forgiven much, loves much.”

“My witness is a story of finding the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is a story of the miracle of God’s infinite love and mercy. Conversion was a powerful, significant event for me, but more important is the far-reaching effects into my heart and life over these past 17 years. Like a pebble thrown into a lake, the ripple effect of those moments of grace continue to transform me, and the lives of my family and friends, drawing us closer to God.

“Conversion does not need a radical or mystical experience because Jesus said, ‘Blessed are they who believe and do not see,’” Le Bel added. “Whether you are already walking with Jesus or just beginning your search for answers, the sacraments and the scriptures, together with Our Lady’s messages … all have the anointing of the Spirit to lead you into deeper conversion and holiness, to prepare you for what is to come.

“I understand why Our Lady says do not wait to be converted. It truly is an ongoing process, a journey of growing in faith, hope, and love.” 

On private revelations

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 67:

"Throughout the ages, there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium [collective sense of the faithful] knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. Christian faith cannot accept ‘revelations’ that claim to surpass or correct the revelation of which Christ as the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such ‘revelations’.”