La Salette:
The Message And Its Meaning
by Frs. Marcel Schlewer, MS
and Maurice Sublet, MS
A Globe of Fire
The Beautiful Lady
The beautiful Lady now stood up while the children remained transfixed where they were. She said to them in French: “Come near, my children, be not afraid. I am here to tell you great news”.Fully reassured by these words the children hurried to meet her. Her voice, they said, was like music. They approached so near her that, as they later expressed it, another person could not have passed between them and her. The Lady also took a few steps towards them.They looked at her and noticed that she did not cease weeping all the time she spoke to them. As Maximin put it, “She was like a mama whom her own children had beaten and who had escaped to the mountain to weep.” The beautiful Lady was tall and seemed to be made of light. She was dressed like women of the region with a long dress, an apron nearly as long as the dress, a shawl that crossed over her breast and was knotted in the back, and a cap or bonnet similar to the ones worn by peasant women. Roses crowned her head while another wreath of roses adorned the edges of her white shawl and a third garland surrounded her shoes. Over her brow shone a light in the form of a diadem. On her shoulders shone a heavy chain and from a smaller golden chain hung a resplendent crucifix with a hammer and pincers placed on each side of the Cross, a little beyond the nailed hands.
The Message And Its Meaning
by Frs. Marcel Schlewer, MS
and Maurice Sublet, MS
A Globe of Fire
Near this little fountain the two children layed down on the grass and fell asleep. How long their slumber lasted is not certain – half an hour perhaps, or three quarters of an hour or possibly more. In any case Melanie suddenly awoke and called Maximin: “Memin, Memin, let us go and find our cows, I cannot see them anywhere.”Of course, being at the bottom of the little ravine, they could not see the meadow where they had left them.Quickly they climbed the slope opposite Mount Gargas (hence they were standing on what is now the esplanade in front of the basilica). Turning around they could view the entire alpine pasture land and were greatly relieved to see that their cows had remained where they had been left, peaceably chewing the cud.Reassured, Melanie began to redescend towards the dried-up fountainto recover her little sack of provisions before once again watering the cows. Half-way down the grassy slope she paused immobilized, frozen with fear. “Memin”, she called out“look at that great light over there”. “Where is it?”, the boy replied, as he ran and stood at her side. (At the place of the Apparition two statues represent the children on the slope of the ravine, in the first stage of the Event.)At the very spot where they had slept was a globe of fire, as if, in the children's words, “the sun had fallen there”. The light swirled, then grew in size and, opening, disclosed within it a woman, seated, her head in her hands, her elbows on her knees, in the attitude of one oppressed with grief. Melanie, in her fright, raised her hands and dropped her shepherd's staff. Maximin thought only of defending himself. “Keep your stick”,he said to her, “I will keep mine and will give it a good whack if it does anything to us” ...Even after she conversed with them, the children could not identify their heavenly Visitor. They would simply call her “the Beautiful Lady”.
The Beautiful Lady
The beautiful Lady now stood up while the children remained transfixed where they were. She said to them in French: “Come near, my children, be not afraid. I am here to tell you great news”.Fully reassured by these words the children hurried to meet her. Her voice, they said, was like music. They approached so near her that, as they later expressed it, another person could not have passed between them and her. The Lady also took a few steps towards them.They looked at her and noticed that she did not cease weeping all the time she spoke to them. As Maximin put it, “She was like a mama whom her own children had beaten and who had escaped to the mountain to weep.” The beautiful Lady was tall and seemed to be made of light. She was dressed like women of the region with a long dress, an apron nearly as long as the dress, a shawl that crossed over her breast and was knotted in the back, and a cap or bonnet similar to the ones worn by peasant women. Roses crowned her head while another wreath of roses adorned the edges of her white shawl and a third garland surrounded her shoes. Over her brow shone a light in the form of a diadem. On her shoulders shone a heavy chain and from a smaller golden chain hung a resplendent crucifix with a hammer and pincers placed on each side of the Cross, a little beyond the nailed hands.
The Message
The unknown Lady now spoke to the children. “We were drinking her words”, they would say later, adding,“she wept all the time she spoke to us”.
“Come near, my children, be not afraid; I am here to tell you great news.
“If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let fall the arm of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer withhold it. “For how long a time do I suffer for you! If I would not have my Son abandon you, I am compelled to pray to him without ceasing; and as to you, you take not heed of it.“However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you.“Six days I have given you to labor, the seventh I have kept for myself; and they will not give it to me. It is this which makes the arm of my Son so heavy.“Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the name of my Son. These are the two things which make the arm of my Son so heavy.“If the harvest is spoilt, it is all on your account. I gave you warning last year with the potatoes (‘pommes de terre’) but you did not heed it. On the contrary, when you found the potatoes spoilt, you swore, you took the name of my Son in vain. They will continue to decay, so that by Christmas there will be none left.”The French expression “pommes de terre” intrigued Melanie. In the local dialect the word for potatoes was “las truffas”, whereas “pommes” for Melanie meant the fruit of the apple tree. Hence she instinctively turned towards Maximin to ask for an explanation, but the Beautiful Lady forestalled her.“Ah, my children, you do not understand? Well, wait, I shall say it otherwise”.And she continued her discourse in the local dialect of their region.“If you have wheat, it is no good to sow it; all you sow the insects will eat,and what comes up will fall into dust when you thresh it.”“There will come a great famine. Before the famine comes, the children under seven years of age will be seized with trembling and will die in the hands of those who hold them; the others will do penance by the famine.The walnuts will become bad, and the grapes will rot.”Here the Beautiful Lady addressed the children separately, confiding to each a secret. She spoke first to Maximin, and though the little shepherd did not perceive that her tone of voice had changed, Melanie at his side could not hear a word, though she still saw the Beautiful Lady's lips moving.Then came Melanie's turn to receive her secret under like conditions. Both secrets were given in French.
Again addressing the two children in the idiom familiar to them, the Lady continued: “If they are converted,the stones and rocks will change into mounds of wheat, and the potatoes will be self-sown in the land.“Do you say your prayers well, my children?”, she asked the shepherds. Both answered with complete frankness: “Not very well, Madam”.“Ah, my children”, she exhorted them, “you must be sure to say them well morning and evening.When you cannot do better, say at least an Our Father and a Hail Mary; but when you have time, say more.” “There are none who go to Mass except a few aged women. The rest work on Sunday all summer; then in the winter, when they know not what to do, they go to Mass only to mock at religion. During Lent, they go to the meat-market like dogs.” “Have you never seen wheat that is spoilt, my children?”, the Beautiful Lady then asked them. “No,Madam”, they replied.“But you, my child”, she insisted, addressing the little boy in particular, “you must surely have seen some once when you were at the farm of Coin with your father. (Coin was a hamlet near the town of Corps).The owner of the field told your father to go and see his ruined wheat. You went together. You took two or three ears of wheat into your hands and rubbed them, and they fell into dust. Then you continued home.When you were still half an hour's distance from Corps, your father gave you a piece of bread and said to you: ‘Here, my child, eat some bread this year at least; I don't know who will eat any next year, if the wheat goes on like that’”.Confronted with such precise details, Maximin eagerly replied: “Oh yes, Madam, I remember now; just at this moment did not remember”.Then the Lady, again speaking French as at the beginning of her discourse and when giving the secrets, said to them: “Well, my children, you will make this known to all my people.”Now she turned slightly to her left, passed in front of the children, crossed the brook Sezia, stepping on stones emerging from it, and when she was about ten feet from the opposite bank repeated her final request, without turning around or stopping: “Well, my children, you will make this well known to all my people.” These were her last words.
Meanwhile the two witnesses were still standing motionless at the spot where the conversation had taken place, when suddenly they realized that the heavenly Visitor was already some steps away from them. In their eagerness to join her again, they ran across the brook and were with her in a moment. Thus, in the company of Maximin and Melanie,the Lady moved along, gliding over the tips of the grass without touching it, until she reached the top of the hillock where the children, after their sleep, had gone to look after their cows. Melanie preceded her by a few steps, and Maximin was at her right.
On reaching the summit the Lady paused for a few seconds, then slowly rose up to a height of a meter and a half. She remained suspended in the air for a moment, raised her eyes to Heaven, then glanced in the direction of the southeast. At that moment, Melanie, who had been standing at the left of the Lady, came in front in order to see her better. Only then did she notice that the celestial Visitor had ceased weeping,although her features remained very sad. The radiant vision now began to disappear. “We saw her head no more, then the rest of the body no more; she seemed to melt away. There remained a great light”, related Maximin, “as well as the roses at her feet which I tried to catch with my hands; but there was nothing more”. “We looked for a long time”, added Melanie, “to see if we could not have another glimpse of her”, but the Beautiful Lady had disappeared.The little shepherdess then remarked to her companion: “Perhaps it was a great Saint”. “If we had known it was a great Saint”, said Maximin, “we would have asked her to take us with her”.
The Great News Spreads
At dusk, a little earlier than usual, the children brought back their herds to the hamlet of Ablandins nestling on the mountainside below. Pierre Selme had been impatiently awaiting Maximin's return to the farm house.“Well, Memin”, he asked him, “why did you not come back to me in my field, as I told you?” “Oh”,Maximin replied, “You do not know what happened? We found by the spring a beautiful lady who entertained us a long time and talked with Melanie and myself. At first I was afraid and did not dare to go and fetch my bread which was near her, but she said to us: ‘Come near, my children, do not be afraid, I am here to tell you great news’”.The boy then related the story of the Apparition, hardly pausing for breath. He was very surprised that the people of the valley had not noticed the bright light in the ravine. He then scampered lightheartedly over to the home of Melanie's master, Baptiste Pra. The girl, busy in the stable, had as yet said nothing.Maximin, more communicative, spoke at once to the assembled Pra family about the Beautiful Lady. He was immediately surrounded and questioned. On hearing the story, the old mother of Baptiste Pra began to cry,and with the intuition her simple faith gave her exclaimed: “This beautiful Lady can be none other than the Blessed Virgin”. The others were not so sure and waited for Melanie. As she did not hurry, her mistress, old Mother Pra, ran to the cowbarn to fetch her. “Come quickly and tell us what you saw with Maximin”.“I saw as he did,” the girl replied, “and since he has told you, you must know it by now.”But all insisted, so back in the kitchen of the humble cottage she stood before them and related, for the first time, the wonderful event. All were amazed to hear both children, while reciting the Lady's discourse, speaking French fluently, for that same morning neither of them knew anything or very little of that language.The pious old grandmother, more and more moved, repeated her conviction: “She is certainly the Blessed Virgin, for there is no other person in Heaven whose Son governs”. Then she turned reproachfully to her young son James: “You have heard what the Blessed Virgin said - go now and work again on Sunday!”“Bah”, came the retort, “you will make me believe that this little one has seen the Blessed Virgin, she who does not even say her prayers!” “But that night”, declared Melanie later, “I remained a long time on my knees although I hardly knew any prayers by heart”.It was eventually decided that this affair was something to be submitted to the Church. Hence, first thing in the morning, the two children descended to the village of La Salette to tell their story to the pastor, Father Jacques Perrin. A knock at the rectory door brought the priest’s housekeeper, a kind but inquisitive spinster.They said they must see the priest. Must they, indeed? And why? They had something of great importance to tell him. They could tell it to her, Francoise insisted; it was the same thing. Seeing that she was immovable, the children began their recital.
Father Perrin, in the next room, heard them and as they continued, he lay down his pen (he was writing his sermon). For a while he sat motionless, then moved noiselessly toward the kitchen. When the account was complete, he stepped into the kitchen and with tears in his eyes said to the children: “How fortunate you are,my children, for it must have been the Blessed Virgin whom you saw!” It was time for Mass and when Father Perrin mounted the pulpit he began telling the people of the children’s strange experience on the mountain. But his voice was choked with emotion and his words were unintelligible save by someone who already knew the story. The people looked at each other, mystified. But there was one who understood him - Monsieur Peytard, the mayor of La Salette.In the afternoon Peytard was on his way to the hamlet of Ablandins. He did not advertise his real purpose but
would casually drop in at the Pra’s house for a friendly visit. He spoke to Melanie and asked to hear again the story she had been telling (by this time Maximin was already back in Corps). When she was through, he said: “Be careful, my child, to add or suppress nothing.” “I have said everything the beautiful lady told me to say”, was her reply. Then he began to cross-examine her mercilessly, passing back and forth from threats to bribes. It was fruitless. He could not shake Melanie or get her to vary her account by a word or persuade her to say no more about it. The lengthy interview, however, did induce Pra to abandon his attitude of disbelief.There must be something to this affair. He must put the story down on paper, with the help of his friends Selme and Moussier. So, that evening Melanie was made to tell the story one more time, but now very slowly, so that Pra could get every word down on paper. How right was his instinct in giving documentary form, as quickly as possible, to what the unforgettable voice had said on the mountain just the day before! Monday morning M. Peytard descended to Corps to question Maximin. He returned to La Salette, won over by the amazing self-assurance, candor and tenacity of the boy. His account accorded perfectly, down to the last detail, with that of Melanie.
Now the news spread rapidly. Pilgrims, unbelievers, skeptics, took turn in questioning the two young witnesses, trying in every way to cause them to contradict each other. Among them were journalists,delegates from the civil authorities, but most importantly ecclesiastics commissioned by Monseigneur de Bruillard, the bishop of Grenoble. For, according to Canon Law, the ultimate decision rested with the bishop in whose diocese a reported miracle or apparition had taken place.
The Judgment
After five long years of diligent inquiries, Bishop Philibert de Bruillard of Grenoble, published his longawaited decision, on September 19, 1851:
“We judge that the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin to the two cowherds on the 19th of September, 1846, on a mountain of the chain of Alps, situated in the parish of La Salette, in the archpresbytery of Corps, bears within itself all the characteristics of truth, and that
the faithful have grounds for believing it indubitable and certain.”
The mission assigned by Our Lady to Maximin and Melanie was now ended. On September 19, 1855, Monseigneur Ginoulhiac, the new bishop of Grenoble, thus assessed the situation: “The mission of the children is now ended, that of the Church begins.” Innumerable today are the men and women of all races and countries who have found in the message of La Salette the road to conversion, a deepening of their faith, the needed dynamism for their everyday lives, and the motives for their commitment with and in Christ to the service of all peoples.
The Meaning of the Message
An apparition does not form part of the deposit of Faith. Rather it is a supernatural sign needing to be discerned. We are free to accept or reject it but in any case what is needed is sufficient information on which to base a sound judgment and an enlightened faith.
Such is the end which the Church has in view when a bishop affirms that an apparition reported to have taken place within the confines of his diocese “bears within itself all the characteristics of truth and that the faithful have grounds for believing it indubitable and certain.” One cannot grasp the purpose and dynamism “of such an event except in the light of the Holy Spirit's action in our day and in the perspectives of the sources of our Faith.
It is time then to ask ourselves what is the meaning and import of the grace accorded to mankind on September 19, 1846. What are the aspects of the Word of God to which this message from Heaven recalls us? And to what kind of conversion does it summon us?
The unknown Lady now spoke to the children. “We were drinking her words”, they would say later, adding,“she wept all the time she spoke to us”.
“Come near, my children, be not afraid; I am here to tell you great news.
“If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let fall the arm of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer withhold it. “For how long a time do I suffer for you! If I would not have my Son abandon you, I am compelled to pray to him without ceasing; and as to you, you take not heed of it.“However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you.“Six days I have given you to labor, the seventh I have kept for myself; and they will not give it to me. It is this which makes the arm of my Son so heavy.“Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the name of my Son. These are the two things which make the arm of my Son so heavy.“If the harvest is spoilt, it is all on your account. I gave you warning last year with the potatoes (‘pommes de terre’) but you did not heed it. On the contrary, when you found the potatoes spoilt, you swore, you took the name of my Son in vain. They will continue to decay, so that by Christmas there will be none left.”The French expression “pommes de terre” intrigued Melanie. In the local dialect the word for potatoes was “las truffas”, whereas “pommes” for Melanie meant the fruit of the apple tree. Hence she instinctively turned towards Maximin to ask for an explanation, but the Beautiful Lady forestalled her.“Ah, my children, you do not understand? Well, wait, I shall say it otherwise”.And she continued her discourse in the local dialect of their region.“If you have wheat, it is no good to sow it; all you sow the insects will eat,and what comes up will fall into dust when you thresh it.”“There will come a great famine. Before the famine comes, the children under seven years of age will be seized with trembling and will die in the hands of those who hold them; the others will do penance by the famine.The walnuts will become bad, and the grapes will rot.”Here the Beautiful Lady addressed the children separately, confiding to each a secret. She spoke first to Maximin, and though the little shepherd did not perceive that her tone of voice had changed, Melanie at his side could not hear a word, though she still saw the Beautiful Lady's lips moving.Then came Melanie's turn to receive her secret under like conditions. Both secrets were given in French.
Again addressing the two children in the idiom familiar to them, the Lady continued: “If they are converted,the stones and rocks will change into mounds of wheat, and the potatoes will be self-sown in the land.“Do you say your prayers well, my children?”, she asked the shepherds. Both answered with complete frankness: “Not very well, Madam”.“Ah, my children”, she exhorted them, “you must be sure to say them well morning and evening.When you cannot do better, say at least an Our Father and a Hail Mary; but when you have time, say more.” “There are none who go to Mass except a few aged women. The rest work on Sunday all summer; then in the winter, when they know not what to do, they go to Mass only to mock at religion. During Lent, they go to the meat-market like dogs.” “Have you never seen wheat that is spoilt, my children?”, the Beautiful Lady then asked them. “No,Madam”, they replied.“But you, my child”, she insisted, addressing the little boy in particular, “you must surely have seen some once when you were at the farm of Coin with your father. (Coin was a hamlet near the town of Corps).The owner of the field told your father to go and see his ruined wheat. You went together. You took two or three ears of wheat into your hands and rubbed them, and they fell into dust. Then you continued home.When you were still half an hour's distance from Corps, your father gave you a piece of bread and said to you: ‘Here, my child, eat some bread this year at least; I don't know who will eat any next year, if the wheat goes on like that’”.Confronted with such precise details, Maximin eagerly replied: “Oh yes, Madam, I remember now; just at this moment did not remember”.Then the Lady, again speaking French as at the beginning of her discourse and when giving the secrets, said to them: “Well, my children, you will make this known to all my people.”Now she turned slightly to her left, passed in front of the children, crossed the brook Sezia, stepping on stones emerging from it, and when she was about ten feet from the opposite bank repeated her final request, without turning around or stopping: “Well, my children, you will make this well known to all my people.” These were her last words.
Meanwhile the two witnesses were still standing motionless at the spot where the conversation had taken place, when suddenly they realized that the heavenly Visitor was already some steps away from them. In their eagerness to join her again, they ran across the brook and were with her in a moment. Thus, in the company of Maximin and Melanie,the Lady moved along, gliding over the tips of the grass without touching it, until she reached the top of the hillock where the children, after their sleep, had gone to look after their cows. Melanie preceded her by a few steps, and Maximin was at her right.
On reaching the summit the Lady paused for a few seconds, then slowly rose up to a height of a meter and a half. She remained suspended in the air for a moment, raised her eyes to Heaven, then glanced in the direction of the southeast. At that moment, Melanie, who had been standing at the left of the Lady, came in front in order to see her better. Only then did she notice that the celestial Visitor had ceased weeping,although her features remained very sad. The radiant vision now began to disappear. “We saw her head no more, then the rest of the body no more; she seemed to melt away. There remained a great light”, related Maximin, “as well as the roses at her feet which I tried to catch with my hands; but there was nothing more”. “We looked for a long time”, added Melanie, “to see if we could not have another glimpse of her”, but the Beautiful Lady had disappeared.The little shepherdess then remarked to her companion: “Perhaps it was a great Saint”. “If we had known it was a great Saint”, said Maximin, “we would have asked her to take us with her”.
The Great News Spreads
At dusk, a little earlier than usual, the children brought back their herds to the hamlet of Ablandins nestling on the mountainside below. Pierre Selme had been impatiently awaiting Maximin's return to the farm house.“Well, Memin”, he asked him, “why did you not come back to me in my field, as I told you?” “Oh”,Maximin replied, “You do not know what happened? We found by the spring a beautiful lady who entertained us a long time and talked with Melanie and myself. At first I was afraid and did not dare to go and fetch my bread which was near her, but she said to us: ‘Come near, my children, do not be afraid, I am here to tell you great news’”.The boy then related the story of the Apparition, hardly pausing for breath. He was very surprised that the people of the valley had not noticed the bright light in the ravine. He then scampered lightheartedly over to the home of Melanie's master, Baptiste Pra. The girl, busy in the stable, had as yet said nothing.Maximin, more communicative, spoke at once to the assembled Pra family about the Beautiful Lady. He was immediately surrounded and questioned. On hearing the story, the old mother of Baptiste Pra began to cry,and with the intuition her simple faith gave her exclaimed: “This beautiful Lady can be none other than the Blessed Virgin”. The others were not so sure and waited for Melanie. As she did not hurry, her mistress, old Mother Pra, ran to the cowbarn to fetch her. “Come quickly and tell us what you saw with Maximin”.“I saw as he did,” the girl replied, “and since he has told you, you must know it by now.”But all insisted, so back in the kitchen of the humble cottage she stood before them and related, for the first time, the wonderful event. All were amazed to hear both children, while reciting the Lady's discourse, speaking French fluently, for that same morning neither of them knew anything or very little of that language.The pious old grandmother, more and more moved, repeated her conviction: “She is certainly the Blessed Virgin, for there is no other person in Heaven whose Son governs”. Then she turned reproachfully to her young son James: “You have heard what the Blessed Virgin said - go now and work again on Sunday!”“Bah”, came the retort, “you will make me believe that this little one has seen the Blessed Virgin, she who does not even say her prayers!” “But that night”, declared Melanie later, “I remained a long time on my knees although I hardly knew any prayers by heart”.It was eventually decided that this affair was something to be submitted to the Church. Hence, first thing in the morning, the two children descended to the village of La Salette to tell their story to the pastor, Father Jacques Perrin. A knock at the rectory door brought the priest’s housekeeper, a kind but inquisitive spinster.They said they must see the priest. Must they, indeed? And why? They had something of great importance to tell him. They could tell it to her, Francoise insisted; it was the same thing. Seeing that she was immovable, the children began their recital.
Father Perrin, in the next room, heard them and as they continued, he lay down his pen (he was writing his sermon). For a while he sat motionless, then moved noiselessly toward the kitchen. When the account was complete, he stepped into the kitchen and with tears in his eyes said to the children: “How fortunate you are,my children, for it must have been the Blessed Virgin whom you saw!” It was time for Mass and when Father Perrin mounted the pulpit he began telling the people of the children’s strange experience on the mountain. But his voice was choked with emotion and his words were unintelligible save by someone who already knew the story. The people looked at each other, mystified. But there was one who understood him - Monsieur Peytard, the mayor of La Salette.In the afternoon Peytard was on his way to the hamlet of Ablandins. He did not advertise his real purpose but
would casually drop in at the Pra’s house for a friendly visit. He spoke to Melanie and asked to hear again the story she had been telling (by this time Maximin was already back in Corps). When she was through, he said: “Be careful, my child, to add or suppress nothing.” “I have said everything the beautiful lady told me to say”, was her reply. Then he began to cross-examine her mercilessly, passing back and forth from threats to bribes. It was fruitless. He could not shake Melanie or get her to vary her account by a word or persuade her to say no more about it. The lengthy interview, however, did induce Pra to abandon his attitude of disbelief.There must be something to this affair. He must put the story down on paper, with the help of his friends Selme and Moussier. So, that evening Melanie was made to tell the story one more time, but now very slowly, so that Pra could get every word down on paper. How right was his instinct in giving documentary form, as quickly as possible, to what the unforgettable voice had said on the mountain just the day before! Monday morning M. Peytard descended to Corps to question Maximin. He returned to La Salette, won over by the amazing self-assurance, candor and tenacity of the boy. His account accorded perfectly, down to the last detail, with that of Melanie.
Now the news spread rapidly. Pilgrims, unbelievers, skeptics, took turn in questioning the two young witnesses, trying in every way to cause them to contradict each other. Among them were journalists,delegates from the civil authorities, but most importantly ecclesiastics commissioned by Monseigneur de Bruillard, the bishop of Grenoble. For, according to Canon Law, the ultimate decision rested with the bishop in whose diocese a reported miracle or apparition had taken place.
The Judgment
After five long years of diligent inquiries, Bishop Philibert de Bruillard of Grenoble, published his longawaited decision, on September 19, 1851:
“We judge that the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin to the two cowherds on the 19th of September, 1846, on a mountain of the chain of Alps, situated in the parish of La Salette, in the archpresbytery of Corps, bears within itself all the characteristics of truth, and that
the faithful have grounds for believing it indubitable and certain.”
The mission assigned by Our Lady to Maximin and Melanie was now ended. On September 19, 1855, Monseigneur Ginoulhiac, the new bishop of Grenoble, thus assessed the situation: “The mission of the children is now ended, that of the Church begins.” Innumerable today are the men and women of all races and countries who have found in the message of La Salette the road to conversion, a deepening of their faith, the needed dynamism for their everyday lives, and the motives for their commitment with and in Christ to the service of all peoples.
The Meaning of the Message
An apparition does not form part of the deposit of Faith. Rather it is a supernatural sign needing to be discerned. We are free to accept or reject it but in any case what is needed is sufficient information on which to base a sound judgment and an enlightened faith.
Such is the end which the Church has in view when a bishop affirms that an apparition reported to have taken place within the confines of his diocese “bears within itself all the characteristics of truth and that the faithful have grounds for believing it indubitable and certain.” One cannot grasp the purpose and dynamism “of such an event except in the light of the Holy Spirit's action in our day and in the perspectives of the sources of our Faith.
It is time then to ask ourselves what is the meaning and import of the grace accorded to mankind on September 19, 1846. What are the aspects of the Word of God to which this message from Heaven recalls us? And to what kind of conversion does it summon us?
To See And Understand (Mt 13:13)
Even before speaking, Our Lady presents herself to the children and to us. Mary, the mother of Jesus and our mother, radiates the light of the resurrection: she is nothing else but light. The brightness of her face is such that Maximin is unable to bear it and it dazzles Melanie. Her garments, like those of Christ on the mount of the Transfiguration, are likewise resplendent with light: her headdress, robe, long apron and peasant woman's shawl. “The only knowledge I claim to have is about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ” (cf. 1 Cor 2:2)All the light comes from the large crucifix she bears on her breast. In appearing at La Salette Mary continues to fulfill the mission she received at the foot of the cross: to “take pains” for us in order to give birth to us in the Faith.On each side of the crucifix are placed the hammer and pincers, the instruments of the Passion. The
shoulders of the beautiful lady are weighed down by a large chain, the biblical symbol of sin and the injustices committed by us towards our brothers and sisters. “We therefore are divided in ourselves. As a result, our whole life, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle, and a dramatic one, between good and evil, between light and darkness. We find that we are unable of ourselves to overcome the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone feels as though bound by chains” (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 13).Paralleling the chain, along edges of the beautiful lady's shawl, were roses of all colors; roses likewise crowned her head, edging her diadem of light; again there were roses around her feet. A veritable rosary:from our human roots to the cross, and from the cross to glory and the feast without end! “I have taken root in a people of glory, in the Lord's domain... I have grown as the rose bushes of Jericho” (Sir 24:12 ff)For those who are particularly sensible to symbols, everything has already been said: Christ crucified and risen, Mary's role with regard to believers, our combats and our refusals, and our day-to-day lives needing to be transfigured.
That is indeed what the beautiful lady comes to recall to us in her message. Let us take note in particular of the fact that, through the young shepherds, it is “her people” that she is addressing, recalling to us at the same time the collective dimension of our Faith: we are called indeed, each one of us, but within the bosom of the people of God.“She wept all the time that she spoke to us...I clearly saw her tears, they flowed and flowed unceasingly”. The tears of Mary at La Salette recall those she shed on Mount Calvary and are a sign of her unceasing tenderness in our regard: they teach us the gravity of our refusals and indifference, and the urgency of our conversion. The tears of the Mother of God and our Mother show us the importance we must attach to her message.“Taken up to heaven Mary did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession she continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home”(Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 62).
Prayer and Action: the two are inseparable.
“Thus Mary, the daughter of Adam, consenting to the word of God, became the mother of Jesus. Committing herself wholeheartedly, and impeded by no sin, to God's saving will, she devoted herself totally, as handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 56).“Wherefore Mary is hailed as a pre-eminent and as a wholly unique member of the Church, and as its type and outstanding model of faith and charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honors her with filial affection and devotion as a most beloved Mother” (Ibidem, 53).“The entire body of the faithful pours forth urgent supplications to the Mother of God and our Mother that she, who aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers, may now, exalted as she is above all the angels and saints, intercede before her Son in the fellowship of all the saints...”(Ibidem, 69).
Let Yourselves Be Reconciled with God (Mt 5:23 f.; Mk 11:24 f.; 2 Cor 5:18 ff; Eph 2:15)
Our Lady specifies two refusals of her people: “the two things which make the arm of my Son so heavy”.The Seventh Day. The disrespect for the seventh day sends us back to the two first books of the Bible, Genesis and Exodus. How do we honor “the day which God has reserved for himself”, the day when one stands face to face with God? Is it really for us a day of repose befitting free people, the Day of the Lord, befitting us as children of God, the day of assembly for brothers and sisters in need of reconciliation?Christ inaugurated, by his resurrection, the first day of the new creation: we are called to live as children of God. And this life, which passes beyond death, causes us to enter already the Day of the Lord – a day without sunset.
The Name of My Son
The cart drivers of times past took the name of Christ at the least swerving of their horses. At the slightest misfortune do we not tend to impute to God responsibility for our adversities, forgetting our own responsibilities: when confronted with a trial, do we not egoistically close in on ourselves in a revolt without hope? The Virgin comes to tell us again “holy is his name” “There is no other Name under heaven given to men which is necessary for our salvation” (Acts 4:12)“Never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus...” (Col 3:17), that is, after the manner of Christ and according to his Spirit.
It is indeed a question therefore of this “submission”, this will to live with and in Christ. “Often refusing to acknowledge God as our source, we have upset as well the relationship which should link us to our last end; and at the same time we have broken the right order that should reign within ourselves as well as between ourselves and other people and all creatures” (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 13).
The Things That Are Spoiling (Mt 6:19; Lk 12 & 13; James 5:3)
This rebellion against God, this “death of God”, inevitably entails our death and the rupture of our harmony with the universe. Yet because of this death and rupture Christ Jesus came to open the road to salvation. At La Salette the Virgin does not turn us away from reality; on the contrary she urges us to look squarely at what is happening around us: ruined crops, potatoes that are rotting, wheat turning into dust, empty nutshells,grapes decaying on the vine, famine and epidemics. Our precarious situations, the restricted duration of our lives have, however, a reverse positive side: they are so many motives calling for our conversion, summoning us to take up the following of Christ, to live even now that new life which he lived until Calvary and whose resurrection is both a guarantee and a coming to full bloom of that life. This is the source of our confidence.
On this earth where two-thirds of humankind today suffer hunger and malnutrition, where the rights of man are scoffed at, where injustices are found at our very door, where each day the risk of total destruction increases, will we know how to be attentive to what Pope John XXIII lately called ‘the signs of the times’? May they become for us so many “signs of God”: may the very uncertainty of our created existence cause us to “return to Him” and to prove ourselves true brothers and sisters towards all the less fortunate we encounter.
If They Are Converted...(Ez 18:30 f; 1 Kings 8:35; Mk 1:15; Lk 15; Acts 2:38; 3:19)
The call to conversion is at the heart of the message of La Salette. Everything converges towards that end:the tears and the crucifix, the light and the roses, the attitudes of the beautiful lady, the walk from the ravine to the summit, but above all the discourse of the Virgin. “Return to God with all your heart”, he alone is the source of life. The biblical and evangelical consonances of this discourse are many.“If they are converted…” they will be blessed by God. And as in the Bible, stones and rocks will become mounds of wheat for “nothing is impossible with God”. “If they are converted…” Jesus declared: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all else will be added unto you.” “If they are converted…” And the apostle Paul gives us a glimpse of the happy issue: “All creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the children of God; it retains its hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God” (Rm 8:19).
The Road to Conversion (Mt 6:5 ff; Mk 14:32 ff; Lk 18:1 ff; Jn 17)
“Do you say your prayers well, my children?” “Not very well, Madam”, they replied.Should not that also be our reply? She exhorts them to pray each day, morning and evening. “Watch and pray”. The Virgin indicates only a minimum, an Our Father and a Hail Mary, but she urges them to do more when they can. This is also the teaching of the Council: “Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a sacrifice, living, holy and pleasing to God. They should everywhere on earth bear witness to Christ and give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope of an eternal life which is theirs” (Lumen Gentium, 10 and 1 Pt 3:15).
"During the summer only a few aged women go to Mass..."
The coming together of Christians each week for Sunday Mass is a “vital need”: the Word of God nourishes their faith; the contact with Christ, bread broken for a new world, is a source of dynamism; the communion of his Body given up for us and of his Blood once shed for us reminds us to be ready to give our lives in behalf of others and makes us sharers in the strength of Christ's Spirit. “At the heart of the former world with which we are still linked by our blindness and inertia, the Church, in the celebration of the Eucharist,understands and announces that the new world, inaugurated by the risen Christ, is in fact already present in our midst and it is incumbent on us to be its witnesses in our daily lives through our conduct, both individual and as members of society”. This eucharistic requirement thus becomes a source of hope and joy which no one can take from us (Lk 21:14 ff; Jn 13:1 ff; 20:19-26).
“During Lent they go to the meat market like dogs...”
Far from scandalizing us, Our Lady's strongly worded reproach should prick our consciences. In the Bible, when people are compared to dogs, it means that they have lost all sense of dignity (Phil 3:2; Mt 7:6, etc.)What are we doing with our dignity as children of God when we waste food and other things, when we squander goods which others desperately need? To find our dignity anew, must we not realize that we do not live by bread alone and that the necessary efforts we must make to share our blessings with others is a communion with the Son of God, from whom precisely we derive our dignity? “What you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do to me!” (Mt 25).Each year, during Lent, is made present to us the “beautiful witness”given by Jesus during his Passion (1 Tim 6), and it is a reminder that we must never “sell” our dignity. The power of the resurrection is already at work in our midst, making of us children of God: there must then be no compromise with falsehood, injustice,money or power. Let us not live like dogs; rather let our food be the carrying out of the Father's will! Cost what it may! (Gospel accounts of the Passion).The Farm At Coins (Jer 23:24; Hos 6:1 f.; Mt 28:20; Lk 24:29;2 Cor 6:16)
The Beautiful Lady recalled to Maximin an event apparently unimportant: a small deed and passing observation of his father. For a long time M. Giraud no longer attended church and was indifferent towards religion. When on September 20th he listened for the first time to Maximin's account of the Apparition, his reaction was to forbid the boy to tell such nonsensical tales again. A few days later, annoyed at all the comings and goings of people wanting to question the boy, he threatened the child with severe punishment to make him shut up. “But,papa, she spoke to me about you!”, Maximin exclaimed. And he recalled to him the episode of the spoiled wheat at the Coin farm and the piece of bread he gave his son as they walked back to Corps. All this M.Giraud, just like his thoughtless son, had forgotten. He was now astonished: he who thought he had exiled God from his life discovers that not for an instant did God cease to be aware of his hopes and anxieties, and of the particular fear that he would have no more bread to give to his child. This discovery will be for him the beginning of agenuine conversion, which will be intensified further the day he will be miraculously cured of his persistent asthma. And what about us? Are we conscious of the presence of Him who follows us wherever we go? Heis present whenever we share our bread with others, when it is distributed to hungry children...Wherever life is given, the Father, thesource of life, is there.
An Urgent Mission (Mt 28:18; Lk 10:1 f.; Jn 17:18; 20:21; Rm10:13 ff)
"Well, my children, you will make this known to all my people".
The missionary dimension is essential to Christianity and Our Lady recalls this to us. “If Christ comes to create a new the conditions of a life reconciled with God and with each one of his children, we must in turn dedicate our lives to the realization of this reconciled life in the divided world in which we find ourselves...Reconciliation is a living force capable of opening up the future for individuals and people by renewing the bonds which either selfishness or fear have broken or weakened” (Jesus-Christ, pain rompu pour un monde nouveau, Centurion, 1981). In this world of ours where so many people work, build, suffer and hope, let us have that kind of missionary obsession.
"Well, my children, you will make this well known to all my people!"
And What of Us Today? Already on the second day after the Apparition visitors and pilgrims began to climb the “holy mountain”.Since 1851 and the Church's official recognition of the Apparition's authenticity, the crowds coming to La Salette have grown continually in number and renew themselves spiritually...and the “great news” has been made known everywhere in the world.Here we are today, in turn, all together and each one personally, being summoned by the Beautiful Lady:Mary recalls to us that God, “rich in mercy”, is present in each of our lives.
How could we fail to “take heed” of such tenderness? How could we resist the tears of her who is “compelled to pray without ceasing for us”, of Her who is so maternally attentive to every detail and happening in our lives: our struggles and our faults, our choices and our daily cares.Faithful to the mission she received on Calvary, Mary never ceases to recall to us the means which have been given to us to return to her Son: for we cannot, without His aid, build our lives and our world. To reject His grace cannot fail to have most serious consequence. Mary, our Reconciler, came to La Salette to recall this truth to her people.Can we recognize the forgotten truths of the Gospel as we contemplate her Apparition and ponder her words? Will we be willing to respond to “the pains she has taken for us” by returning to God with all our hearts, through Christ who is the way, the truth and the life: the One who was crucified for our sins, rose from the dead for our salvation, Jesus, our peace and reconciliation?
This text was prepared successively by several Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, in particular
Fathers Marcel Schlewer and Maurice Sublet.
The final French text was edited by Father Roger Castel and translated into English by Fr. James P. O'Reilly, MS. Father Normand Mailloux, MS, coordinated the publishing of the English edition.
The Association of Pilgrims of La Salette, France
Sanctuaire de N-D de La Salette, 38970 Corps France
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