Spirituality & Charism

Examination of Conscience

Examination of Conscience Using the Message of Our Lady of La Salette

At times we need to reflect deeply on Mary’s words at La Salette and how they apply to us, her children. A most appropriate time, of course, is in our preparation for our celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession). The following questions are meant to help us delve not only into her words but also into our hearts.

• Our Lady said: “I am here to tell you great news.” Do I try to learn more about the message of Our Lady of La Salette – to learn what her “great news” is and how to put it into practice in my life?

• The Virgin spoke of submission and obedience to God’s will: “If my people will not submit,” she said. In my daily life do I try to act according to God’s will and God’s law? How well do I listen to what the Catholic Church teaches and how do I choose to live it out? How well do I listen to those around me, my family and friends?

• The Beautiful Lady of La Salette explained her ongoing efforts to reconcile her people with God: “If I would not have my Son abandon you, I am compelled to pray to him without ceasing.” Have I done my share in the work of the reconciliation of sinners? Do I pray for those whom I know are having difficulties in their faith, relationships or other responsibilities of life? Have I given good example to those around me of reconciliation-in-action? And, lastly, have I reconciled myself with God, myself or others, realizing full well that I too am a needy sinner?

• The Beautiful Lady was concerned about Maximin’s father who worried about having enough food to feed his family. Am I genuinely concerned for others and their challenges, as Mary showed at La Salette? Or am I mostly concerned with my own problems and welfare?

Read more Examination of Conscience

Ministry of Reconciliation: Methods Rooted in Spirituality

Missionaries of La Salette, Orlando, FL, October 25, 2010

Introduction

In my preparation for being with you this evening and in the days ahead, I have spoken with different members of your congregation, especially your elected leadership team members, and they have shared with me their thoughts" their hopes and dreams" for this assembly. They have also made available documents and reports which have chronicled your recent exploration of your charism of reconciliation. Without presuming that I have more than a superficial knowledge of your community, I can tell you that my experience of those conversations and readings of those documents has had a very familiar feel to it. Simply, my own congregation has been on a similar journey of discovering as we have danced with the same set of questions: What is a charism of reconciliation? How does this charism influence our lives together? How does it empower our apostolic mission? 

Read more Ministry of Reconciliation: Methods Rooted in Spirituality

La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians part 7

LASTLY, LIKE MARY, WE MUST PRAY AND MAKE SACRIFICES FOR OTHERS…

After inviting the children to “come near”, the children listened with rapt attention to the Beautiful Lady as she described her selfless commitment to her people:

“If my people refuse to submit, I shall be forced to let go the arm of my Son. It is so strong and so heavy, I can no longer hold it. How long a time I have suffered for you! If I want my Son not to abandon you, I must plead with him without ceasing. And as for you, you pay no heed! However much you pray, however much you do, you will never be able to repay the pains I have taken for you.”

Like Paul, who urges the followers of Jesus to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17), Mary, the “first disciple”, testifies that she does indeed pray “without ceasing” for us, her children.

She also attests that her prayerful concern for us requires a great effort on her part: “How long have I suffered for you!” She is not complaining, just explaining that, if we are dedicated to following her Son, this will require both prayer and sacrifice.

Jesus says: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. (Jn. 12: 23-25)

Read more La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians part 7

La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians part 6

SIXTH: WE MUST TRUST GOD AND OTHERS…

At La Salette, the Lady placed deep trust in God, but she also trusted people, even the two little urchins standing before her as she spoke. Her message was important and the Lord had sent her to give it to the world. Now, who would or could be entrusted with it?

The Lord often makes it a point to choose people whom no one else would consider to achieve God's purposes. This is the Lord's way of operating. He is always choosing the inexperienced, the unworthy, the flawed. They are the Peters, the Pauls, the Johns and the Bartholomews of humanity who are sent on unlikely, impossible missions, which they surprisingly continue to fulfill in his name.

Maximin and Melanie are no exception. The Lady trusted two pieces of “human driftwood” with her important and powerful message.

Read more La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians part 6

La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians – Part 5

The Fifth Quality: Mary at La Salette reminds us through her tears that we must be compassionate in our relationships with others.

This is the fifth part of a seven-part article about the admirable qualities shown by Our Lady during the Apparition of La Salette in France. See Series Listing

Read more La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians – Part 5

La Salette: the Most Biblical of Apparitions

Joachim Bouflet received his Ph.D. in history at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1972. After teaching for 10 years, he entered the field of spirituality specializing in the study of stigmatized persons and apparitions, and has authored books dealing with those subjects. For several years, he has worked with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome as a consultant to the postulators of causes for persons being considered for beatification. Most recently he has been appointed consulter for the cause of French stigmatist, Marta Robin. He is a Third Order Carmelite.

Mr. Bouflet gave this presentation in early 2010. Fr. Norman Butler, M.S., attended and used his notes to provide us with this summary.

Introduction

The children slept. On waking they see a Beautiful Lady. They have passed from dreams to the real world. In that real world their cows are missing. They see a lady seated on a stone. Being seated is a sign of superiority, yet this lady weeps. The tears make us think of Jesus: above all Mary presents herself as related to Jesus. Jesus cried at the death of Lazarus when he saw everyone so sad. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem too 

“You did not recognize the day of your visitation”. At La Salette Mary takes up these themes. She cries out of compassion, as Jesus did on seeing the mourners at Lazarus' wake. She cries also because the world has not recognized the time of visitation. She announces “Great News” but complains that we have not recognized the day: “I have kept the seventh day for myself but you will not give it to me.”

The children describe her as tall and dressed in bright white light, the color of divine transcendence as in the Transfiguration. Yet she is dressed simply, wearing a bonnet and an apron. Mary enters the culture of those mountains, yet she does so in light, wearing flowers, a chain and a kind of “crown of light.” She is near yet she is special. She is also wearing shoes. In a sacred place one takes off shoes; in other apparitions she is barefoot.

She moves, gestures, walks and rises. She counsels, “Don’t be afraid” when the divine breaks into the ordinary world. She walks and the children follow. She crosses a stream, crossing from the world of sin to life, like the Hebrews passing through the Red Sea.

All of this is unique in apparitions of the 20th century. There is a prophetic dimension. La Salette is the most biblical of the Marian apparitions.

Mary As Prophet

Mary comes to La Salette as a prophet. She is witness to the God who chooses to enter human history. The apparition is simply a continuation of God's acts since the creation of the world. Mary's prophetic words do not foretell the future but rather show how God acts regarding the people. This is evident in her words and gestures and prophetic actions. There is an interaction here by which the words clarify the gestures and vice versa.

Such interaction can be seen in the case of John the Baptist or Jesus himself. The prophesy is both a threat and blessing. It is like the prophesy of the Magnificat: he has raised the lowly, but has cast down the proud in the conceit of their heart. “If they are converted... abundance.”

Prophecy generates more prophecy. “Make this known to all my people.” Mary echoes Jesus' words: go, teach, baptize. The children become prophets of God's grace – grace that saves and is at work today. Vincent de Paul and Padre Pio were prophets, not because they told the future but because they witnessed to God's saving action in the world today. Mary's words are part of God's whisperings that accompany the pilgrim people.

La Salette is not for only a limited audience. It is a gift for the church and for humanity. Such is any Marian apparition. There is a dimension of prophesy in every apparition. Apparitions speak God's word and call us to listen to God's word. Obviously this is not a new revelation but a way to energize God's already definitive word.

A true prophet, Mary shows the unity of the two covenants. Like Jesus the prophet, she chooses the poor and shows concern for their hunger and thirst. Mary is the witness to God's plan. She is also a witness to the destructive consequences of abandoning that plan. Like the prophet Micah, Mary is full of God's energy to show Israel its sins. At La Salette she is the queen who reveals. The great sin is against the third commandment. In
Exodus we are told to sanctify the Lord's day, the seventh day. Mary speaks in the first person about sanctifying this seventh day. She is completely identified with God's will.

Mary Reconciler

Mary is also a reconciler at La Salette. She reconciles the people to God. Our Merciful God is always at the ready. We are the ones who break the covenant, not God. So Mary says that we need to return: “If my people will not submit...” This is not slavish submission. Look at the biblical term “submission.”:

• In 1 Cor 3:22b-23 Paul clarifies: “all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.” All creation has been submitted to humankind, created in God's image.
• Psalm 8:7b says: “You have put all things at his feet.”

Yet humankind has not used this well. The harmony God-Humankind has been broken. Mary underscores that the rupture is humanity's fault. “If the harvest fails, it's your own fault.”

This leads us to ecology based on God's commission to Adam. Gaudium et Spes 3 speaks of this rupture. Even individual sin has an impact on all creation. When humanity rises, all creation rises too; when humanity falls, creation falls with it.

Mary is the mystic “place” of full harmony. In Mary, God and humanity are reconciled. She carries the Word-made-flesh. Submission leads to harmony and love: “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)

In Gaudium et Spes 3, the Second Vatican Council speaks of the Church in the modern world. Mary's role is this: she calls us to return to God [submission] because so many bad things are happening. God’s will for us is prosperity. The basic law for transformation is love. In the resurrection of Jesus is given authority over all so that all creation can be at the service of humanity and of God.

Gaudium et Spes then looks at particular problems. Every question is sin from the point of view of God: families, bioethics, politics, peace, justice finances in the world, and the distribution of the world's goods.

(The La Salette secrets are just a pause in the dialogue, so we won't dedicate time to them.)

Mary’s Words

“Come near...” This is a call. Mary calls the children to a dialogue. As in all spiritual dialogue, it is God who takes the initiative. Look at the parable of the prodigal son. The father runs to the son. In the Visitation, Mary takes the initiative. At La Salette, Mary mentions her “Son” six times.

“If my people... arm of my Son.” The emphasis is the relation between her Son and her People. “If I want my Son... you”. That is what makes the arm so heavy.... They use my Son's name... When you found the potatoes ruined you swore using the name of my Son...

The Arm

“If my people will not submit... the arm of my Son.” No gospel speaks this way. Not even when Jesus calms the sea do we hear of Jesus' arm. Yes, the scriptures do speak of God's arm. Mary speaks of her Son as God whose arm saves.

Many places in scripture speak of God’s arm:

• God saves his people with outstretched arm (Ps 136:12a).
• “O Lord, have pity on us, for you we wait. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble!” (Isa 33:2)
• When God's arm strikes, it is against sin, especially the sin of idolatry (Isaiah 30).
• The arm of God promotes justice and salvation: “I will make my justice come speedily; my salvation shall go forth (and my arm shall judge the nations); In me shall the coastlands hope, and my arm they shall await.” (Is 51:5).
• The Magnificat also speaks of God's arm: “He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart” (Luke 1:51).

The Name

For Mary, the name of her Son is God's name. To swear using Jesus' name is a form of idolatry, as is work on Sunday. These are expressions of the golden calf. Mary denounces this. At that time in France, atheism was militant. God's name was insulted. In the Old Testament, such blasphemy was punishable by stoning since the sin went against adoration of the one true God.

Note that stoning is punishment both for blasphemy and for adultery. God is the spouse. Jesus is accused of blasphemy since he claims to be God's Son. The high priest rips his robe.

God's name is sacred and was never pronounced by the Jews.

““But,’ said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I am sent me to you.” (Ex 3:13-14).

When we know a person's name the door is open to a relationship. God makes Israel his people.

The angel Gabriel says the name of the child is Jesus, that is, “God saves.” In this way the angel clarifies the identity and mission of the child. This is the new covenant and blasphemy denies the covenant. Jesus is the Son of the Most High. In Jesus' name the paralytic is healed. No other name saves.

Mary speaks of her Son who reveals the Father. Jesus teaches us to say Our Father and Hallowed be your name (Matt 6:9-15). Matthew often refers to the merciful Father. Mary shows us her Son crucified. “Come near, my children” means come near to Jesus.

Make It Known

Mary has spoken about respect for God's name. Now teach others: go, teach, baptize (Matt 28:19). Baptism gives the Holy Spirit: “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5). Respect for Jesus' name means entering into his mission. Jesus' name is above every other name.

Mary invites us to join her in bowing before the Name in prophetic respect. Offense to the name is offense to God himself, a rejection of our baptismal grace. Mary denounces this rejection.

At La Salette Mary speaks of a strong and heavy arm falling on sinners, yet on her crucifix that arm is nailed to the cross. That arm on the cross can never punish since it is nailed. The arm is heavy with our sins (the suffering Servant). The crucified arm leads us to a reflection on God's weakness.

Sin breaks the covenant. Mary invites us to return. And she offers means. We are made in God's image and likeness, but sin disfigures us. Restoration comes through the risen Jesus.

Note that in the apparition it is the cross that is the source of glorious light. This is the paschal mystery. A story is told how, after Adam got thrown out of paradise. God looked everywhere to find him. God kept calling out: Adam! Adam! God heard some answers, but none were Adam's voice. Finally God found him - crucified. It was the new Adam.

Reconciliation happens in Christ. Reconciliation is not an intellectual process; it is the covenant alliance, a relationship. Mary invites us to this kind of reconciliation. “Out of the depths I call to you, Lord; Lord, hear my cry!” (Ps 130:1-2a)

1. Mary says our sin broke the covenant.
2. Indifference impedes healing.
3. God doesn't stop trying.

In the discourse Jesus is not named, nor are the children, nor is Mary. No names are used. The discourse invites us to relationships: my son, my people, and my children.

Sin – You Pay No Heed

Sin is the refusal to believe in the alliance and the grace that flows from it.

“For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies. But this you did not wish.” (Isa 30:15).

You didn't listen:

“Urgently and constantly I warned your fathers to obey my voice, from the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt even to this day. But they did not listen or give ear. Each one followed the hardness of his evil heart, till I brought upon them all the threats of this covenant which they had failed to observe as I commanded them” (Jer 11:7-8).

Mary says “you pay no heed”. Her words are still true over the years. Her prophetic words: I showed you last year with the potatoes, but you paid no attention. Yet God is love, slow to anger and full of mercy.

“Yet the Lord is waiting to show you favor, and he rises to pity you; For the Lord is a God of justice: blessed are all who wait for him!” (Is 30:18).

God doesn't break the delicate reed. Justice and mercy are one. Jansenism contrasted justice with mercy, but in the scripture they are always joined.

Mary says that hope still lives! God can give us a new heart:

“I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees. You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ez 36:26-28).

Jesus gives us a new heart by his submission. With him we return to the Father. Thus Mary's first invitation: Come near. Come near to me and I will show you the light of my crucified Son and his gospel. Come near, that you may believe and have life. The covenant will be renewed.

Here we see Mary as the servant of the Most High.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer 31:33).

Mary symbolizes this by crossing over the stream. Mary doesn't want us to be static but to walk, as she does.

The crucifix is the source of light. The cross is at the visual center. The crucified Jesus is savior. The crucifix calls us to conversion, to the life of God's kingdom.

Mary invites us to have a new heart so that the covenant can be restored. Thus she is the reconciler of sinners. She wants us to listen to the word, and put it into practice.

God never stops trying to reach us. At La Salette Mary says we pay no attention to God's laws. We need to submit to God's law of love. Love is action, but this does not mean just good works but rather who we are, love that goes beyond our church toward the heavenly Jerusalem. “…what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me” (Matt 25:45).

Mary's words on blasphemy relate to fraternal charity. God's love gets translated into love and sacraments and actions. Mary helps us see the invisible. We witness God as in the individual and in the community.

Meditatrix

Mary is the reconciler. Is she a mediatrix? Many authors feel that such a title places her on a par with Jesus. The debate continues.

The apparitions at Amsterdam in 1947 have been approved. This poses the question of the title of mediatrix. Mary announces a dogma about herself! I feel that Amsterdam can be understood only in light of La Salette. Mary intercedes: “pray for us sinners”.

John Paul II says that Mary is associated in an eminent way to the work of salvation. But what of mediatrix? Only Christ is the head, the church is his mystical body. Today we say “people of God, pilgrim church”. Mary stands at the side of the one mediator. Mary can get to the heart through her Son, Jesus. This is her role in relation to Jesus and to us.

On the cross Jesus attracts all to himself so as to offer that “all” to the Father.

 “When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will (also) be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Cor 15:28).

Mary the reconciler shows us the means: submit to God, be servants as Jesus is servant. This is supernatural submission.

Paul speaks of submission of wives to husbands (Col 3:18), yet this submission is parallel to love and respect. Jesus says: I don't call you servants; I call you friends (John 15:15). “God's glory is man fully alive,” says Irenaeus.

Maternal love doesn't mean anything goes. The love Mary asks for is not undisciplined or indifferent to evil. In love Mary calls us to morning and evening prayer. She doesn't ask for lots of words or devotions. Remain present to God's love. When you can, say more.

God doesn't ask the impossible, but God does ask us to be generous. The severe words of Mary are related to love. She hopes for our conversion.

La Salette — the Most Biblical of Marian Apparitions
by Mr. Joaquim Bouflet, April, 2010
Notes by Fr. Norman Butler, M.S.

Painting of pilgrimage to La Salette Holy Mountain in France in 1870’s

Color Lithograph of pilgrimage to La Salette Holy Mountain in France in 1870’s 

Read more La Salette: the Most Biblical of Apparitions

La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 4

Mary concluded her apparition with the words: “You will make this known to all my people.”

This all-encompassing injunction is especially relevant in today's world, so pertinent to our society in these United States. We need not travel far to meet people from around the world. We Americans are truly “a coat of many colors.” Yet, some people, if they had their way, would seriously limit most emigration to our shores.

In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi tells how, in his student days in South Africa, he became deeply interested in the Bible, especially the Sermon on the Mount. He became convinced that Christianity was the answer to the caste system that had plagued India for centuries, and he seriously considered becoming a Christian.

Read more La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 4

La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 3

Third Quality: Followers of Jesus must be involved and interested in others.

(This is the third part of a seven-part article about the admirable qualities shown by Our Lady during the Apparition of La Salette in France.)

As believers, we are often advised to be involved, interested in the people we serve. This Beautiful Lady is involved in her people's interests and well-being. She worries about their relationship with her Son. She sadly recounts that few people go to Mass and, if they do go to Mass, some go only to make fun of religion. She is concerned that they have strayed too far from the fountainheads of their own happiness and peace.

She asks the children a personal, direct question: “Do you say your prayers well, my children?” When they answer “No Madame,” she chides them ever so gently: “Ah, my children, it is very important to do so, at night and in the morning.” Then she adds understandingly: “When you don't have time, at least say an Our Father and a Hail Mary, and when you can, say more.”

Read more La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 3

La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 2

On  Churchill's eightieth birthday, a reporter encountered him as he left his Hyde Park residence in London.

"Mr. Churchill, do you have any fear of death?"

"I am ready to meet my Maker," Churchill replied, and then he added with a twinkle, "But whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."

Our Lady of La Salette prefaced her message by saying, "Come near my children. Do not be afraid. I am 

here to tell you great news." The Great News she reveals is meant to become the antithesis of fear; it cancels out fear. As St. John the Evangelist shared: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…” (I John 4:18a).

Followers of Christ rightly manifest concern over people's right attitude toward God and religion. One of their responsibilities is to share their attitude of trust and confidence in the goodness of God.

Read more La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 2

La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 1

A FEW WORDS OF INTRODUCTION:

Mary in her visit to two children at La Salette is a stellar example of how to serve others, a model of leading others to follow Christ, her Son.

She communicates; she speaks a message. At La Salette Mary is speaking to people, exhibiting behavior, revealing an attitude, manifesting a mood, reaching out, teaching how to give reproach, encouragement, consolation, and be a reconciling presence. She is expressing empathy, sympathy, urgency.

She appears, speaks with and to the children, relates to them and changes their lives. Besides giving the message she has obviously come to give, she is giving the world a seminar, an example of how to minister, how to deal with people, how to announce the gospel, how to lead others to follow her Son.

Read more La Salette and the Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Christians: Part 1