April 2021

The Eucharist – Source and Summit of History

The same words of the introduction – “Come closer, my children” and “I am here to tell you great news” – are on the part of the Beautiful Lady, an invitation to remember what God had planned from the beginning of time: namely, that God wants to have us all close to Himself, in Heaven. This is practically the task of man on earth: first of all to desire for himself, and then to support others in their desire to discover this plan of God and to accept it as their own. There is no one among men who cares so much about fulfilling it as the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all believers in Him.

Mary points us to the concrete places and times where we can discern this plan and experience God’s personal support in the grace that comes from Her Son, Jesus. It is first of all a question of Holy Mass, through which Jesus Christ wishes to bestow his gifts upon us; it is also a question of prayer and the time devoted to it, which Mary is not afraid to reduce to the recitation of the Our Father and the Hail Mary. For some, these prayers have already become something unknown, because they are not taught by their parents, who today more and more often do not even feel the need to baptize their children. Lent, too, is no longer a time of preparation for the Sacred Easter Triduum, but is treated like normal weekdays, without any special significance.

Mary did not fail to mention that our deteriorated relationship with God is also reflected in our damaged crops and ruined harvests. We always forget the connection between God’s commandment, “Subdue the earth and rule over it,” and Mary’s words, “If they are converted, the stones and rocks will turn into piles of grain and potatoes will spring up on their own in the fields.” We can only subdue the earth satisfactorily then, when we ourselves allow ourselves to be subdued by God. Mary reminds us of this truth already at the beginning of the French part of her Message: “If my people do not want to submit…”. She herself wants to show herself as the first to submit to God and is proud of this choice. Nothing builds inner peace so strongly as adherence to the Will of God, and the Immaculate Virgin is a constant example of this for us. Therefore, speaking of us, she says “my people”, because she hopes that, as within herself, so too in each of us there is this natural desire for God and the desire to please Him out of love, and not out of calculation or hidden malice.

If something does not go according to our plans, then we swear distracted: either against drivers, or against pedestrians, against unpleasant people, against state authorities, against public services, against health care, against drought, against the coronavirus pandemic and the speculation connected with it, against damaged crops, against the prices of services and products, against evildoers and against failures and setbacks of all kinds. Mary reminds us that all this requires God’s intervention. Jesus is ready to help us, but our behavior and indifference to our eternal relationship with God require ever stronger means of reparation.Mary appeals to Jesus - to whom she mentions with tears - to use more delicate solutions. But she too is aware that by our behavior, we are faced with a choice between the loss of eternal life and the heavy intervention of Jesus’ arm, which is no longer possible to restrain even by Mary, even though she is full of grace. He does not want to punish. Punishment is the name we give to the wrath of God. The wrath of God, in the words of the prophets, means the zeal of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to put everything in order, as God had willed from the beginning of the world.

Let us follow this invitation of Mary to submit to God and obey Him in all that is written in the Decalogue. Let us then remember that God is merciful in the worldly time and always wants to help us. But when this time is over, He unfortunately has to be just, something we forget.

And Mary at La Salette suffers precisely because we forget this.

Karol Porczak MS