Editor: This is a heart-to-heart extended reflection on the connection between our Weeping Mother at La Salette and her Son, as well as between her and the two children and us. It was originally published in “Celle Qui Pleure” in the 1963 and was translated by Fr. Donald Jeffrey, M.S.
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Photographs of Maximin and Melanie soon after the La Salette apparition |
By chance you met on the grassy slopes of that lonely mountain. In no time you had a friendship. To look at both of you, we'd swear you were old comrades of bygone days. We marvel at your childlike ingenuity and simplicity at inventing little games to make the time pass more quickly and pleasantly during those long sunny hours of your employment.
A Great Privilege
But you were happy, carefree. You did not know that when you ate and fell asleep in the healthy open air, surrounded by lofty peaks, you became oblivious of everything else in the world. The church bells announced the arrival of first Vespers of the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Church put on the lips of the Mother of Christ the eternal complaint: "Come, all who pass by the way, pay attention and see: Is there any pain like my pain…(Lam 1:12a)" Especially you were far from suspecting that you were destined to meet so special a person as Mary, our Mother!
Editor: The following are some frequently asked questions about the La Salette Apparition, first printed in the La Salette Magazine, Celle Qui Pleure, in the August-September, 1960 issue and translated by Frs. Donald Jeffrey, M.S., and Ron Gagné, M.S.
1) How could the Virgin Mary cry at La Salette? Isn’t it true that in heaven, when we see God face to face, we can no longer suffer and therefore cannot cry?
Without doubt those in heaven neither suffer nor weep. The “beatific vision” they enjoy in seeing God face to face is certainly incompatible with suffering and tears. However the Virgin wept at La Salette not because she was sad but because she wanted to emphasize by her tears the alarming scope of her message as the Mother of the Lord. "If my people will not submit, I will be forced to let go of the arm of my Son."
She cried because she was speaking to human beings who need some signs. On earth, tears are the ultimate sign of sorrow. In addition, Mary’s tears express her deep sadness at not being able to protect her people from coming misfortunes, although her capacity to suffer has passed.
Of course, if Mary was still living on earth and could still suffer, she would cry with immense sorrow over our sins. The crimes of her people on earth would make her weep – she who experienced in her youth and no doubt still feels the indescribable joy of having been chosen to be the Mother of God.
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Monument in Washington, DC in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. |
"I've been to the mountaintop. ... I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."
He was using the image of Moses on Mt. Nebo: Dt 32:48-51 and 34:1-5
The Lord said to Moses, "Go up on Mount Nebo... and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their possession. ... Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, ... and the Lord showed him all the land—Gilead, and as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, the circuit of the Jordan with the lowlands at Jericho, city of palms, and as far as Zoar. The Lord then said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that I would give to their descendants.”
When I was just a child, I was taught my very first prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” As far as I was concerned, this was my prayer. As I recited it each night on my knees, it gave me comfort that I was speaking to God, way up there in heaven.
In the first grade, as I began to learn different formal prayers, the language itself was difficult. Either I couldn't understand those big words or I simply could not pronounce them. This seems to be a common problem for many children.
I remember well an incident which occurred while I served as a priest in the La Salette parish in Phoenicia, New York. One Saturday morning, I visited the first grade religious education class. The teacher was anxious to have me hear the children reciting their prayers. To my amusement, the class proceeded to pray the Lord's Prayer for me. I listened carefully as one little boy near me prayed, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy King Kong's dumb, thy will be done..." I kept my composure and after they concluded, I told the class that they were doing fine but, perhaps, needed a little more practice. As I walked away the saying came to mind: "Out of the mouths of babes come gems!"
In my own childhood prayers, I was certainly not above reproach. For a short time, I was reciting the Hail Mary and including "Blessed art thou among swimmin'..." No matter what our misunderstandings or faltering beginnings, it was most beneficial for us to begin the habit of formal prayer in our early years.
“(The arm of my Son) is so strong, so heavy, I can no longer hold it back.”
German La Salette holy card
No one can speak or write about La Salette without speaking about the wrath of God and punishment for sins. The message of Our Lady is incomplete without it. In Catholic circles fire and brimstone have gone out of style for sermons and homilies. But to cross these passages out of a comment on the LA Salette discourse would be dishonest and misleading.
We know that sin is an offense against God. We also know that sin is offense and injury to the human person. One cannot offend God without injuring oneself as well as others. The injury is not always nor immediately visible but neither is cancer. We all know that life and love are difficult, even with the help of discipline. Without it, they are impossible. We all know that dreams are necessary and that they are unattainable without help. Unappealing as it can be, distasteful as it is, correction by God for erring ways is essential to our dreams.
In the end, we would not love a sentimental, wimpy, overly permissive God who would allow us all our ways and all our whims. We would then be forever imprisoned in mediocrity, unable to go beyond today's goodness to tomorrow's excellence and perfection, forever prevented from coming to any fulfillment and within sight of a dream. In fact, we could look upon correction by God as an act of kindness and mercy and of supreme concern. The young child who always lives in a permissive cocoon knows instinctively that he is not loved, that no one really cares.
Editor: In 1996, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette, Fr. Isidro Perin, M.S., our then-Superior General, wrote his reflections on the message and meaning of the apparition. We share them with you since we La Salette religious and laity should heed his words of wisdom.
Soon we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady at La Salette. We know that this event took place in 1846 on a mountain in the Alps of southern France. Appearing to two children, Maximin and Melanie, Mary speaks to them of the realities of their times. It was not a comfortable historic moment for many changes were in process: new philosophies proclaimed, new ways of organizing society being explored.
It was the beginning of the "age of reason" when many believed in reason's supremacy to the detriment of faith in God. At that very moment, Europe was experiencing famine as a result of a great drought: children dying, potatoes rotting, wheat spoiling. Mary spoke to Maximin and Melanie about these "signs" in the context of Gospel values. "In vain do people work if God does not bless it." Mary pointed out the way to atone for human sinfulness. It was a renewed call to conversion. Prayer, penance and respect for God would be concrete expressions of responding to this invitation.
Mary said: “If my people refuse to submit, I will be forced to let go the arm of my Son.” In one and the same sentence she calls us sinners ("will not submit") as well as "my people." We can simultaneously be sinners and loved by God.
The discourse begins with the declaration that these people are "my people"... What is affirmed here is a mutual belonging. It is, by itself, an affectionate phrase. In spite of all the wrong they are doing, of all she has to reproach them, that they are still her people. The unstated fact in the message is that she is here, appearing on earth because we are, in fact, her people.
Disobedience to the will of God is the comprehensive, all encompassing evil they are guilty of. The rest of the message is an itemized list of violations of the law of the Lord. Submission here, of course, means submission to the will of God.
This will of God is always a factor in the existence of a Christian. It is always associated with his or her life. No part of the Christian faith has been more profoundly misunderstood than this truth, that God has a will for each one of us. God wants the people to do certain things and avoid others. But this is not the only point in question here.
What could go unnoticed, unheeded for a lifetime is the reason for the will of God. Is God pleased when we accomplish God's will? Is God pleased when we show the world that God is God, Lord and Master of all, by insisting that all beings perform God's will in all areas of life? Is this part of some divine hangup that will not allow God to rest until everything and everyone pays tribute to the Godhead?
The Lady Appeared. So must the reconciler appear. Making an appearance, being seen, being present to people is part of the ministry of reconciliation. Human reconcilers cannot truly reconcile people, bring them back to God. God alone does that. They are only asked to be there and let people know, by word and deed that they are wanted, loved.
The Lady doesn't live on earth, but by appearing as she did on the mountain she implied that she belonged with and to her people. This temporary visibility is a witness to her constant presence to her people. Whoever would exercise reconciliation is called to presence. Jesus did not recruit his disciples in the synagogue on a solemn feast. He went where they lived and worked. Indeed, he came upon them for the first time and called them while they were at work:
As he was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea: they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of [people]...” He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them and immediately... they followed him (Mt. 4: 18-22).
Christ came upon them in the midst of their life, and on their ground. God always wants to be part of our daily existence. This is the life we live most of the time.
Our Lady of La Salette appeared to Maximin and Melanie in the rush of their own workaday occupation. They were shepherds doing their shepherd task-they had just finished rounding up their cows, and she appeared to them on their own turf. They worked on the summit of a mountain so she went to the mountain. The reconciler is part of people's daily lives, part of them. They may not know where the local church is and they may swear like parakeets but if the reconciler is present to them they know that God has not abandoned them.
A few years ago a survey revealed which emotion people experienced most often. A large number mentioned fear and anxiety. There is a lot of fear in the world and much of that fear is fear of God. Fear comes from the unknown and God is the Great Unknown. God is mysterious. People think of God as all-powerful and judge: an awesome combination. There is a just fear of God which is not abject cowering. The fear of God spoken of in the Scriptures is, for the most part respect, honor, reverence, deference.
People cannot “come closer”, cannot be reconciled in fear. Fear must go and it won't go easily. Many were born and raised in a straightjacket of fear about religion: a punishing God (“God will get you for this, you wait and see!”), events, natural phenomena, diseases, accidents became deeds right from the avenging hand of God. There is nothing quite like fear to alienate and persuade someone to keep a safe (!) distance from all that is “God.”
The reconciler's first task is to break fear. Manner, style, respectful familiarity with God and the things of God, reassurance about the certainty of reconciliation from a loving Father can do wonders to dispel apprehension.
The La Salette Reconciler remains close to the people and reaches out to all of them. He seeks out those who never appear at any function, who are far away, the alienated. He lets them know that they are desired, invited, wanted, not because they are prayerful, cultivated people, but because they are valuable in themselves.
The Lady gave a vivid example of this kind of seeking. Maximin and Melanie were the “ideal” unchurched people. As far as the Church and the world were concerned they lived in the black hole of oblivion. They were the alienated, people who were totally indifferent to the existence of God and Church. They were textbook examples of uninterested and uninteresting people – normally undesirable – practically useless in any church organization. They were invited not just to come around but to come near. They were summoned to intimacy.
The Lady chose Maximin and Melanie in order to tell the world that God loves and chooses people not by virtue of rank or accomplishment but in view of a special mission God has reserved for them. They were asked to belong. People love to be asked. They love to belong to something or someone greater than themselves. The Lady's first words corresponded to a very normal human desire — more than that – a craving to belong and to be used importantly and especially lovingly.