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How is the La Salette Apparition a Charismatic Gift to the Church?
Editor: In the growing pains initiated by Vatican II (1962-1965), and during that Council (November 7, 1964) the La Salette Missionaries established a La Salette Publication entitled “Reconciliare (to reconcile)” to support fraternal encounters of La Salettes around the world concerning our religious community. This article was originally published in May of 1967, pgs. 1-2.
If La Salette as an event is a charismatic gift (and there is no doubt in my mind that it is), then it is a charismatic gift to the Church (as someone pointed out, I believe). But, what kind of charismatic gift is it?
I wish Fr. Marie-Dominique Chenu, O.P. (1895-1990) would have written about this. I have always felt that it was a prophetic gift. The nature of the intervention is prophetic, the style and content of the message are prophetic (promises and threats), and Mary is Queen of the Prophets, sent (in my opinion) at a time when there were no earthly prophets to be found.
Is La Salette the impetus for the modern group of Marian apparitions?
Would this be the main reason for the series of Marian apparitions in the “fossilized” 19th and early 20th centuries? Isn’t it Amos who says that the ultimate sign of God’s rejection of his people is that there are no more prophets in the land? It is the parable of the king and his vineyard all over again. The king sent his own son, or the king sent his own mother.
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The La Salette Rule and Religious Life and Ministry Today
Editor: The article was taken and edited from the La Salette publication: “Circular Letter, October 1983” by Very Rev. Fr. Eugene Barrette, M.S., then Superior General of La Salette Superior General. He had dedicated more than fifteen years in assisting our community to update its Rule after the changes requested from Vatican II. His insights and expertise shine forth from his 12-page letter that is remarkably applicable to our present renewal of La Salette life and ministry.
Byzantine icon of the cursing of the barren fig tree (Luke 13:6-9)The Lukan Jesus reminds us with the striking parable of the barren fig tree: Jesus told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down’” (Luke 13:6-9). •
Our New La Salette Rule and Us
(Since a few years after Vatican II), we have been working on the Rule; now we are to work with the Rule. Now is the time when we must do all that we can to hear what we are saying about ourselves, ...to accept and internalize this Rule, ...to have our word become flesh (and express itself as) ...Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette ...(and) bring a particular grace to the People of God.
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La Salette Around the World – 01 – Blessed Beginnings
Mary weeping in Phase One of the Apparition
Editor: We, who have been touched by her La Salette message on that Saturday afternoon, September 19, 1846, are proud to retell the story of our beginnings as we celebrate the 175th anniversary of Mary’s visit at La Salette. We do this by republishing sections of the Centennial Booklet, “La Salette—1846-1946”, edited by Fr. Emile Ladouceur, M.S., describing the first hundred years of making Mary’s message known.
The following twelve articles in this special series will trace how the message and mission of Our Lady of La Salette were planted in various countries around the world, establishing the La Salette Missionaries as a truly worldwide ministry of reconciliation.
What happened at La Salette in the solitary cloister of the Alps of Dauphiny, in southeastern France, on that bright Saturday afternoon, September 19, 1846, was enacted not alone for the two humble shepherds who testified to the Vision and broadcast its Message — it was destined for a world audience of all future years. Many years have elapsed since the Blessed Mother of God was seen weeping and sorrowing on this modern Calvary; ...years have passed since her poignant words fell upon human ears.
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Are La Salette Missionaries and La Salette Laity called to be Prophets?
Do we have the courage today to call ourselves prophets?
Mary comes to La Salette precisely in a prophetic spirit. Mary, like other prophets, loves her people and suffers when they turn away from God. Like the prophets, the Beautiful Lady comes to deliver a "great news", of which, after all, God is the first author. Like almost all the prophets, Our Lady calls everyone to conversion.
Mary said: "Then, my children, make this known to all my people!" Mary invites us to commit ourselves to this mission of being prophets in the world that she herself realized in her life. Yes, we must be prophets. If we want to revise our vocation, if we want to somehow renew our vocation, if we seek our deepest religious identity, we must obviously rediscover the prophetic character of our vocation. Who, then, is a religious-prophet?
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Open Roads: Following Mary and Her Son (Part Two)
Editor: This is part two of two parts of a reflection was written in 1989 by Fr. Roger Castel, M.S., a noted theologian, teacher, writer and retreat director who ministered on the Holy Mountain of La Salette for many years.
Words
Mary seated, weepingHere again let us focus solely on the dynamic aspect of the words Beautiful Lady's discourse. Maximin and Melanie stand stock-still, stunned, on their guard. Mary sets them moving: “Come near, my children; don't be afraid...”, like Jesus said to his first disciples: “‘Come, and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day” (John 1:39).
“Come and see,” Jesus had said. And we were no longer afraid, and we went down towards her. As the two witnesses commented: “We were so close to her that no one could have passed between her and us.”
The opening sentences of the discourse disclose to us a whole pedagogy of conversion. On first hearing, they sound harsh; we hear and interpret them according to our own mindset and the hardness of our hearts, and, of course, we apply them to other people.
“Submission”
Submission means the obedience of the slave to the master. Arm means the arm that strikes. Abandonment means that God has lost interest in us. And we forget that each section of the discourse begins with "and if" or with a question, which means that we are directly challenged, either collectively as "my people" or personally as were Maximin and Melanie with her words, "my children,... my child."
Open Roads—Following Mary and Her Son (Part One)
Editor: This is part one of two parts of a reflection written in 1989 by Fr. Roger Castel, M.S., a noted theologian, teacher, writer and retreat director who ministered on the Holy Mountain of La Salette for many years.
Jesus Christ, Our Crucified Lord
Mary and her Crucifix, mosaic from Altar of Main House, Ipswich_MAOn the Beautiful Lady's breast, Christ on the cross is the heart of the living light that shapes the entire Apparition and envelops even the two children, Maximin and Melanie. He is the Christ of glory (Matthew 25:31), the Crucified who already speaks as the Risen One, the Lord who entrusts to Mary her mission as mother of the believers and calls the disciple he loves to contemplate and imitate her, "taking into his home" the first and perfect disciple.
"If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me!" (Luke 9:23). And Mary stands at the foot of the cross: her presence is a yes carried out in faithfulness, in watchfulness. And in the silence of a gift so complete that it no longer has need of words (John 19:25-27).
All the baptized are called to give such a response. Even more so are the religious, whose sale reason for being is to "follow after Jesus." The letter to the Hebrews presents Christ to everyone as the source, the growth and the fullness of our faith. In a striking summary we can affirm: "Christ is the rule of our life" (Hebrews 3:1-6; 12:1-4).
First Things First
“I am willing to acknowledge the sincerity of my adversaries, but as far as loving and praying for them, that is beyond me. And yet I know that is what Jesus requires of his followers in the Gospel.” Who among us, at one time or another, has not felt the same way as this young Christian involved in some conflict or another? Certainly the occasions are not lacking in political, economic or social life, even in family life!
Respect one's adversary, love one's enemy, and pray for them? That which, upon reflection, appears to be a generous gesture of solidarity and faith, becomes especially delicate when we find ourselves concretely confronted by certain persons or groups.
My People
A slow ferment is taking place in the minds and conduct of Christians: an awakening of consciences and an acceptance of responsibility. What is this new awareness of consciences? "We are the Church!" What is this new taking-on of responsibility? "Let us be the Church!"
A Call To “Be Church”
Thus, responding to the call of the Spirit, mentalities and attitudes are being transformed by efforts unceasingly renewed. This silent germination is the hope of the Church of our time, because it fulfills the Lord's word:
"I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Yet they do not belong to the world, any more than I belong to the world. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. Sanctify them in the truth" (John 17:11-17).
"We are the Church!" How often do we hear this remark, albeit with different implications and in different contexts! But, whether said in an aggressive tone, or as a simple noting of a fact, or as a surprised discovery, in every case are manifested an awakening of consciences and an evolution in peoples’ thinking. They realize that a passage is taking place from a Church once viewed as external to the secular world to a life fully integrated with it. "The passage of a Church for-the-people to a Church with-the-people", in the words of Adolfo Perez Esquivel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Reconciliation – The Charism of the La Salette Missionaries
When the Second Vatican Council issued its call for the renewal of religious life (Perfectae Caritatis), it set into motion a process in which religious institutes were asked to return to their founders and rediscover what it was that gave birth to their institute.
Vatican II and the Renewal of Religious Life
The founder(s) of a religious institute embodied a particular insight into the Gospel, the person of Jesus, and/or the church, and so was drawn to a particular course of action (caring for the poor, educating children, attending to the dying, retiring to the desert to pray, and so on) on behalf of others. This particular slant (insight and action) was called charism, following a term Saint Paul used in his letters [see, e.g.,1 Corinthians 12:4].
Saint Paul refers to gifts (charisms) or graces given to individuals for the upbuilding of the church. Returning to their founders put religious in touch with the particular charism at their foundation.
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Colorado Catholic Bishops back death penalty repeal
The Catholic bishops of Colorado have backed a bipartisan bill to repeal the death penalty that appears set to become law, after five previous attempts failed.
“I urge all Coloradans to support the effort to repeal the death penalty and help bring about a culture in our state that respects all life,” Bishop Stephen Berg of Pueblo said in a statement to the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper. “The Catholic Church has long taught that every person, whether they are unborn, sick, or sinful, has a God-given dignity that cannot be erased or taken away. Yes, it can be marred, but it cannot be blotted out in the eyes of God,” Berg said.
On Jan. 31, 2020 the Colorado Catholic Conference said its bishops have been “active in their support for this bill.” The conference praised the State Senate for passing the repeal bill. S.B. 20 is expected to pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and be signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. The legislation would end capital punishment for crimes committed on or after July 1.
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