Dear friends, La Salette Laity,
September 10 is a very important date for you since a few years ago, because in this day we celebrate the World Day of La Salette Laity. This was officially requested during the first meeting of La Salette Laity at La Salette (September 2011) and was accepted and ratified by a decision of the General Chapter 2012 .
The celebration urges you and us Missionaries not to forget the inspirational principles which created a base of this church movement which echoes the reconciliation message of Our Lady of La Salette . The principles that are reflected in the message of reconciliation by the Beautiful Lady of La Salette are:
1) Involve yourselves so that there is always a consistency between faith and life lived and the right balance between prayer and daily work
2) Living and witnessing with joy our membership in Christ and his Church
3) To know, to deepen and to make our own the message of the Virgin of La Salette
4) Become men and women who build bridges and work for a reconciled world at all levels (family, work environment, profession ...)
5) Share the joys, sufferings, and challenges of the evangelizing mission of the La Salette Missionaries
6) Praying to the Lord to send priestly and religious vocations to his Church and to our Congregation
September is a very precious month for us all, because we remember and celebrate the anniversary of Mary's Apparition at La Salette on the 19th of September. For us missionaries and for you La Salete Laity it all started this day, at the feet of the Weeping Virgin ...
Wherever you are in the world, I wish each of you, to become more and more active and zealous members of our great "charismatic La Salette family" following the example of the two witnesses (Pastorelli) Maximin and Melanie who, were overwhelmed by the words and tears of the Beautiful Lady, and they never hesitated in making public testimony of the profound human and spiritual experience lived on the mountain of the Salette on 19 September 1846.
I wish all of you a good family celebration and promise to remember you in our prayers.
Sincerely yours
P. Silvano Marisa
General Superior

Wisdom, Submission, Tears
(Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time: Isaiah 22:19-23; Romans 11:33-39; Matthew 16:13-10)
The readings are about authority. A certain Shebna is replaced by Eliakim as master of the palace; Simon is established as the rock foundation of the Church, with power to loose and bind; and God’s judgments require no advice from anyone.

From another perspective, however, they are less about authority than about God’s free choice. Why God chose Shebna or Simon is not stated, but God’s wisdom and knowledge are deep and rich, and he knows what he is doing and why. This can be difficult to grasp, especially in moments of public or private tragedy. ‘It’s God’s will’ is not always perceived as a satisfactory explanation. Even Job and Jeremiah seemed to expect God to justify his treatment of them.

It should not surprise us, then, that the farmers around La Salette railed at God when their crops were ruined. Theirs was a hard life at the best of times, and rules about Sunday rest and worship were for them just old wives’ tales, of interest only to the ‘few elderly women who go to Mass’—to use the Beautiful Lady’s words.
Mary feels no need to defend God. Quite the opposite, she calls us to submit. The submission she envisions is not mere passivity. It is an active recognition of who God is and who we are, of God’s all-encompassing knowledge and infinite wisdom.

This theme is not new with La Salette. Spiritual writers have long used the language of ‘abandonment’ and ‘surrender’ to God’s will. What stands out at La Salette is what happens when the People of God do not recognize his will, accept it and submit to it.
Natural disasters, for example, are exactly that: natural, though they are often called ‘acts of God.’ Not every catastrophe is a punishment. Still, the suffering and unhappiness that often surrounds us can make us wonder about our world and our place in it.

Mary provides a detailed list of troubles appropriate to the place where she appeared: crops of all kinds were failing, and young children were dying. If she were to appear in our country, what disasters and tragedies would bring tears to her eyes today?

House of Prayer
(Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Isaiah 56:1-7; Romans 11:13-32; Matthew 15:21-28)
Jesus was moved by the deep faith of the Canaanite woman and spoke to her admiringly: “O woman, great is your faith!”
She demonstrated her faith in two ways: first by believing that Jesus could cure her daughter, and then by acknowledging that, as an outsider, she really had no right to ask for his help and was throwing herself on his mercy. It was this humility won him over.
This is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Temple was originally a house of prayer for Jews only. In Acts 21:28, St. Paul is erroneously accused of bringing a gentile into the Temple—a very serious offence. But Isaiah foresaw the day when the Temple would in fact be open to all peoples. That Temple is the Church, the People of God.
The vast majority of Christians are descendants of gentiles. In the Acts of the Apostles we read that the gentiles rejoiced that the Gospel was being preached to them. St. Paul today again expresses his hope that his own Jewish people will one day accept the gift of faith he offers, that they will be sufficiently jealous of the gentiles to say, “I want what they have.”
It all boils down to a question of mercy, God’s free gift. No one but he can decide who is deserving of it. He is bound by no rule. “I will grant mercy to whom I will.” (Exodus 33:19, quoted in Romans 9:15)
La Salette is in the same vein. Not for nothing we speak of Mary’s ‘merciful apparition.’ In different portions of her message, she strikingly paraphrases Isaiah’s words about foreigners, “loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants—all who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer.”
Mary appeared in 1846 because the ‘House of Prayer’ had ceased to be a place where her people found joy. Many La Salette pilgrims rediscover God’s mercy, leading to faith. For others, rediscovering faith leads to recognizing God’s mercy. Either way, they all rejoice to find their place in God’s House of Prayer.

Anguish of Heart
(Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 1 Kings 19:9-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33)
Before and after the episode recounted in the first reading—the wind, earthquake, fire, and gentle sound—the Lord asks Elijah, “Why are you here?” and both times Elijah answers: “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant.”
St. Paul describes the anguish he is experiencing for his own people. Having experienced for himself Jesus as Messiah and Savior, he dearly desired to share his faith with all devout Jews. That is why, in his missionary journeys, he went first to the local synagogues to preach the Good News, but with little success.
At La Salette Mary described her anguish in these terms: “How long a time I have suffered for you!... However much you pray, however much you do, you will never be able to recompense the pains I have taken for you.”
Jesus expressed disappointment with Peter’s little faith. Many Catholics and Christians today are grieved, not so much by the little faith as by the seemingly total absence of faith of so many. It is a comfort to know that St. Paul and the Beautiful Lady knew that sorrow as well. We are not alone.
In the Responsorial Psalm we find encouragement.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the Lord — for he proclaims peace…
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
The Lord himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
How close this comes to the image Our Lady uses about the abundant harvests that will follow, ‘if they are converted.’ Her deeper purpose is to plant the seeds of peace and reconciliation, of truth and fidelity, of justice, which is a righteousness that includes but goes well beyond the requirements of commandments and laws. If these take root and produce fruit, the Lord’s benefits will follow.
Anguish of heart didn’t stop St. Paul or Our Lady from reaching out to their people. We needn’t let it stop us either. If for any reason we are unable to reach out in direct ways, we can always do so in prayer.

No One Else but Jesus
(Feast of the Transfiguration: Daniel 7:9-14; 2 Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9)
Over the main entrance to the Basilica on the Holy Mountain of La Salette is a stained-glass representation of the Transfiguration of Jesus. As you step outside, the site of the Apparition our Our Lady is directly in front of you.
The visual comparison is obvious. On a ‘holy mountain,’ Jesus’ face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. The Blessed Virgin at La Salette was first seen in a globe of blinding light, and she herself was all light. In both cases we seem to be dealing with what St. Paul calls the glorious, spiritual body (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:43-44).

Jesus chose three witnesses. Mary chose two. St. Peter emphasizes that he and his companions were eyewitnesses of the ‘majesty’ of Jesus. Maximin and Mélanie were eyewitnesses of a ‘Beautiful Lady.’
Then there are the words. In the Gospel they come from the cloud: “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” This left Peter, James and John ‘very much afraid.’ Jesus then tells them not to be afraid. Since the children were terrified at seeing the globe of light, Mary first told them to come closer without fear.

The most essential point in common between the two ‘high mountains,’ however, is the Beloved Son. He is the fulfillment of Daniel’s vision of “One like a Son of man, who received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.”
Mary mentions her Son several times, and twice reproaches her people with the abuse of his name. In other words, they do not serve him; they do not respect his dominion, glory and kingship.
It was after the Transfiguration that Jesus began his last journey to Jerusalem. As he approached that beloved city, he wept, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace.” He then predicted the calamities that would befall her, “because you did not recognize the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44).

If those who call themselves Christian fail to recognize and welcome Christ, the consequences are devastating. But conversion is always possible.
And so, Mary directs us to her Son and, like the voice from the cloud, invites us to ‘listen to him.’

The Question of Prayer
(Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 1 Kings 3:5-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52)
It is fairly common for people devoted to Our Lady of La Salette to say an Our Father and a Hail Mary because that is what Mary told Mélanie and Maximin to do. Her exact words, however, were: “Ah, my children, you should say your prayers well, at night and in the morning, even if you say only an Our Father and a Hail Mary when you can't do better. When you can do better, say more.”
That’s an important distinction. This is not an encouragement to settle for the minimum, which in ordinary circumstances could not be qualified as “praying well.”
Nor is it just a question of time. Solomon’s prayer is a excellent example. After acknowledging (in the omitted verse 6) God’s goodness to his father David and to himself, he then asks not for what anyone in his position might want, but for what he knows he will need to govern well his—and God’s—people. He has prayed well, and the Lord responds accordingly.

Discernment is essential when we come before God to ask for something. There is nothing wrong with wanting something for ourselves, but prayer must never be selfish. St. Paul writes, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God,” so we can place unfailing trust in him to meet our needs even as we pray for the needs of others. The important thing is to pray for what is… well… important!
Think of the treasure in the field, or the pearl of great price. Part of “selling all we have in order to buy it” is the willingness to place all we have and all we are in God’s hands, at God’s service.

Consider the magnificent prayer of St. Ignatius:
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own.
You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.
Think of that the next time you ponder the Beautiful Lady’s question: “Do you say your prayers well, my children?”

Interesting Possibilities
(Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Wisdom 12:13-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43)
Today’s readings are a veritable treasure trove of La Salette connections.
In Wisdom: God has care of all; he has not condemned unjustly; he is master of might, but judges with clemency; he has given his children the possibility of repentance.
Mary asked the children, “Do you say your prayers well?” They did not; but they had never been to catechism and had not learned to pray properly. Paul writes to the Romans, “We do not know how to pray as we ought.” The Spirit, therefore, takes over, as it were, and God reads what is in our hearts.

The Gospel speaks not only of seeds—a recurring image in the parables that we find also in the Message of La Salette—but of God’s patience with us. There comes, however, a time of harvest; patience then comes to an end. Our Lady speaks not only of ruined harvests past and future, but of the arm of her Son. Jesus also uses a frightful image: the weeds will be cast into the fire. But this is followed by a wonderful image: “Then shall the righteous shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father,” while the Beautiful Lady evokes a vision of heaps of wheat and self-sown potatoes.

The parables of the mustard seed and the measure of yeast have nothing fearsome about them. The seed and yeast just take their natural course to grow and expand. This is what is the Kingdom of heaven is like.
Jesus came to lead his people into that Kingdom, “an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace” (Preface for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe).
The Blessed Virgin came to La Salette to lead her people back into that Kingdom. They had not followed the natural course of faith; that seed, instead of growing, had withered; that yeast had somehow lost its power to permeate their lives.
But all is not lost. “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.” The unrighteous can be restored to righteousness. It is almost as though the weeds can be transformed to wheat, impossible in nature, but eminently possible by grace.

Dominion
(Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 2 Kings 4:8-16; Romans 6:3-11; Matthew 10: 37-42)
Did you notice how many times St. Paul refers to death in our second reading? I count about ten. He also mentions sin, twice. His point, however, is to talk about life, which he also mentions explicitly several times.
All these elements come together in the last sentence: “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.“
The context is baptism, in which we died with Christ so as to live with him. Death no longer has dominion over him or us, and neither does sin.
That presumes that we are faithful to our baptismal commitments. Christians baptized as infants will be expected at some point to ratify for themselves the profession of faith made on their behalf.
But experience teaches that this fidelity cannot be presumed, that this ratification is by no means guaranteed. Thus the dominion of death and of sin comes to be reestablished.
Such was the situation that caused Mary to come to La Salette. She spoke some challenging words, but not so challenging as those we find in today’s Gospel. Jesus demands our absolute and total loyalty. We have to take up our cross. That is the cost of discipleship.
It ought not to surprise us that many people are unwilling to accept these demands—today, as in 1846 and in the ancient Greek and Roman and Asian world where the Gospel was first preached.
At La Salette, Our Lady shows regret at the situation into which her people have fallen, materially and spiritually; she cannot bear to see the dominion of sin and death in their lives. She weeps because they have lost respect for her Son and the things of God. Their baptism no longer means anything to them.
But she shows determination as well. She will not simply stand by and let them reap the consequences of their sins.
On her breast she shows us Christ crucified, to remind us that he who died for our sins did so in order that we might truly live. The cost of discipleship cannot compare to the price Jesus paid to save us.
Whose dominion will we choose: Christ’s or death’s?