What is the importance of Mary and prayer as La Salettes?

Editor: This is the fifteenth in this series of articles based on the eight Dossiers (from February 1978 to November 1981) totaling 718 pages in this study. In 1982, Fr. Eugene Barrette, M.S., the prime mover in this historic study, was elected the thirteenth La Salette Superior General (1982-1988). Other articles on Religious Life are available in our La Salette Online Library.

How is Mary’s life our model of Ministry?

Early version of the La Salette Apparition

“‘The perfect model of this [ministerial] spiritual life is the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Apostles’ (Laity, #4). Lumen Gentium, #56, quoted in Dossier II, also states this, and the Pastoral letter of the U.S. Bishops, Behold Your Mother, very succinctly summarizes this and says: ‘In its apostolic work the Church looks to Mary. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ. So too, through the Church, Jesus continues to be born and grow in the hearts of the faithful’ (#80).

“The Puebla document linked this directly to religious: ‘Taking Mary as their model of consecration and their intercessor, the consecrated [religious] will flesh out the Word of God in their lives. Like her and with her, they will offer that Word to human beings in an ongoing process of evangelization’ (#745).

This perfectly describes what [our ministry] is all about – making Jesus and his power present. It is also a good description of why Mary is so special. She is not simply a Mother interceding for us; she is also a model for us, the "[model] Christian." Our own lives should repeat the pattern she showed in her life.

“Puebla also has a good summary of Mary's role in Salvation History – a role seen primarily through the eyes of scripture. It is quoted at length here because it can nourish our reflection and preaching on Mary.

• ‘At the Annunciation, she unconditionally accepted the Word of God' (Luke 1:26 ff).
• At the Visitation, she went to serve and announce the presence of the Lord (Luke 1:38-45).
• In the Magnificat, she prophetically sung of the freedom of the children of God and the fulfillment of the promise (Luke 1:46)
• At the Nativity, she gave birth to the Word of God and offered him the adoration of all those seeking him, whether simple shepherds or wise men from distant lands (Luke 2:1-8).
• In the flight into Egypt, she accepted the consequences, the suspicion, and persecution of which the Son of God was the object (Matthew 2:13-5).
• She accepted the mysterious and adorable behavior of the Lord, storing up everything in her heart (Luke 2:51).The La Salette Basilica on the
  Holy Mountain in France at dusk
• Present and attentive to human needs, she called forth the ‘messianic sign’ that brought joy to the wedding feast (John 2:1-11).
• She was strong and faithful at the foot of the cross, open to accepting universal motherhood.
• She waited ardently for the fullness of the Spirit, along with the whole Church (Acts 1-2).
• And her Assumption is commemorated in the Liturgy by the figure of the woman, the symbol of the Church in the book of Revelation (Revelation 12)’ (Puebla, #844).

“Throughout this, Mary showed herself as the model of ecclesial service. She made herself a servant of the Lord; when she went to Elizabeth, she also proclaimed the Gospel in the verses of the Magnificat; her intercession at Cana culminated in the disciples' faith. Her full service to human beings opens them up to the Gospel and urges them to obey it: ‘Do whatever he tells you’ (John 2:5).” (1)

Reflection Questions:

• What quality in Mary’s life or the La Salette Apparition do you most admire?
• Other comments...

La Salette Rule:

Responsive to the needs of the universal and local Church and in conformity with our charism, attentive to the signs of the times and after prayer and discernment, we generously undertake those [ministerial] tasks to which we believe Providence is calling us. We also willingly evaluate our ministries and regularly renew our apostolic methods, adapting them to present needs and the requirements of our working conditions. (#26)

How do prayer and action strengthen each other?

“[Ministerial] life is one coin with two faces: prayer and action. As a commission study for the Special General Chapter expressed it:

‘Called to participate in the redeeming work of Christ, we fulfill our mission by prayer and apostolic action. This was Christ's way of life. The Gospels show that he led a life of assiduous prayer while at the same time giving himself intensely to [people], announcing the Good News of Salvation to all, instructing them in his Gospel, aiding them in their distress, and converting their hearts (from Our Religious Consecration and Our Apostolic Life).

“What we want to avoid at all cost is a dichotomy between spiritual life and [ministerial] activity. As [ministerial] religious, we fulfill our spiritual life not despite our apostolic activities but through them and in them. [Ministry] is nourished by prayer – true, but only a partial truth. Prayer is nourished by [our ministry] – true, but only a partial truth. There must be a healthy integration of both in our lives. We must avoid both extremes: claiming that [in] praying we fulfill our [ministry], or that our [ministry] is our prayer.” (2)

What have we recently learned about the changing relationship between prayer and ministry?

“The conflict and tension involved here – between prayer and [ministry] – has been put in very sharp relief over [the past few] decades. From one extreme, we have swung to the other extreme and, in the last decade, have arrived at a more balanced position.

* In the 1950s—beware of the danger of activism: “it was commonly held that the most critical and holiest activity for most Christians was prayer.

• The spiritual life consisted primarily of those moments of spiritual exercises, those acts explicitly directed to God. Spiritual life was when we filled up with the Lord; [ministry] was when we emptied. The Lord was found during those moments of withdrawal; the times of involvement were distractions, and we were warned to be careful lest we become too caught up in our [ministry].
• [Ministerial] activity was seldom treated as sanctifying in itself; the emphasis was much more on the dangers of activism, the heresy of action. Some claim that this form of spirituality was due to a great extent to the fact that monks were doing most spiritual writings.

*In the 1960s—Ministry in the world on behalf of the Kingdom of God: “The 60s reacted to the 50s by proclaiming ‘My work is my prayer.’

• “Work in the world on behalf of the kingdom of God became the most critical and holiest activity for the Christians. Vatican II and promoting a more incarnational spirituality gave great impetus to this mentality. Since this revolutionized or at least significantly [confused]) our view of spirituality is worth trying to grasp some of its essential elements. Fr. Schleck gives a good summary:

• “A horizontal instead of a vertical spirituality was suggested: ‘It suggested a spirituality of action, or involvement, a spirituality that would emphasize human values, use them rather than renounce their use. For too long a time, many have argued that we have tended to look upon spirituality with a monastic framework as found only in moments of withdrawal, disengagement, or standing back from the current of events. For too long, we have seen spirituality in terms of the vertical rather than in terms of the horizontal. We should, however, see spirituality, especially that of the active congregations, as something entirely possible within the context of our daily life and activity in the Church and the city of man.

• “We should define spirituality as penetration through the world to God. Indeed God can and is to be found in our work and the world around us since the world is [God’s] and since it is a sacramental expression of his perfection and riches (Colossians 1:15-8).

• “It is argued that the Bible knows nothing of the so-called interior life as a spiritual sanctuary that must be protected from the dangers involved in the action and the [ministry] of involvement. Instead, the Bible speaks of the whole man in relation to God and other [people]. [Human beings] should live just as much from the outward to the inward as from inward to outward. ...

• [Therefore] far from defining spirituality in terms of withdrawals, therefore, we ought instead to explain it in terms of involvement, as the responsibility of being ready to encounter the infinite in the finite, of meeting God in [humanity] and in the world about us (Charles A. Schleck, C.S.C., "Sanctification through the Apostolate," in Review for Religious, 1967, pgs. 84-85).

The Virgin in prayer in an oval frame, after Guido Reni; photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art

*In the 70s and 80s—Involvement in the world with a contemplative stance: The arguments sound very convincing, and there is a great deal of truth in the above. But it is not the whole truth, and the 70s proved it. In the 70s more balanced view began to emerge. Prayer, contemplation, eastern trends, charismatics, and mysticism again stirred genuine interest. Schools of Spirituality began to spring up everywhere.

“At the same time, a Bishops' Synod proclaimed that ‘to be a Christian means to work for justice in the world.’ The tension was faced squarely, and no attempt was made to resolve it by stressing one and denying the other. True Christian spirituality implies involvement in the world with a contemplative stance.

“For the 70s, and it is just now becoming more evident, it was no longer prayer that was the holiest activity; no longer apostolic involvement that was the most sacred activity. Instead, the holiest activity was and is one's attentiveness and response to the gifts and promptings of the Holy Spirit within us, which call us to fulfill God's loving plan. Therefore, the most critical and holiest acts will be those done under the influence of the Spirit, and there is no reason to think that these acts will be limited merely to times of prayer or simply to times of work. There will be both – as there was in Christ's own life.

“The unifying force, therefore, consists in being given to God's plan as perceived under the gift and direction of the Holy Spirit. An authentic response to the Spirit will lead us equally to the Lord in prayer and to him and others in our loving service to others.” (3)

Reflection Questions:

• What spirituality were you taught as a child? Was it one of the above?
• Other comments…

What is the true mystic today?

“Again, we must look at our history. We have often held a false stereotype of the mystic as a person removed from the world, hidden in their cell. Evelyn Underhill, in her book, Mysticism: bluntly states: ‘All records of mysticism in the West are also the records of supreme human activity’ (Mysticism: The Preeminent Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, Button, 1961, pg. 173)

“Perhaps this is the authentic spiritual genius of our western culture, to produce dynamic and active mystics on the order of St. Paul, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Sienna, Ignatius of Loyola, etc. Underhill states it beautifully when she writes: ‘To go up alone unto the mountain and come back as an ambassador to the world has ever been the method of humanity's best friends’ (Evelyn Underhill, Ibidem).” (4)

Endnotes:

(1) Fifth La Salette Dossier by Fr. Eugene Barrette, M.S., pgs. 37-38; (2) Ibidem, pgs. 39-40; (3) Ibidem, pg. 40-41; (4) Ibidem, pg. 42.