In addition to political turmoil, Florida has also been the scene of spiritual occurrences. Spiritual-warfare centers are sprouting here, there are charismatics, and beginning in December of 1996 what looked like a colored silhouette of the Virgin Mary -- as she appeared at Guadalupe, Mexico during the 16th century (feast day December 12)-- has been reflecting off the glass (see below) of the Seminole Finance Company in Clearwater. 

       "Word spread, and thousands of people flocked to the site to light candles, pray, and leave flowers below the 60-foot-high image," said one website dedicated to it. "More than 500,000 came to the image by mid-January. Scientists have tried to explain the phenomenon, saying it is water from the sprinklers reflecting from the sun. HOWEVER, why does the image always appear the same form, and why is the image visible long after any sprinklers have gone off? This blessed miracle has turned many people to convert, and that is the exact mission of the Blessed Virgin, in all of the places she has appeared throughout the world." 

       Ironic it is that the feast day of December 12 is the same day set as the deadline for the electoral college! 

       A friend from California felt inspired to urge us to pray in a special way for the intervention of the Virgin of Guadalupe -- who is credited with converting 8 million pagan Aztecs in the 1500s and is patroness of the Americas!

       It is likewise ironic that the phenomena have occurred in an area where the bishop prohibited public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in September.