Items filtered by date: April 2025

August 2021

Telling a story sets the heart on fire

Storytelling has existed as long as humanity has had language. Crafting stories as a means of entertainment and education is an ancient art that has been present in every culture. Stories have shaped worldviews and values of the major civilizations in history.

Even today, an increasing number of famous motivational speakers keep on highlighting the relevance and importance of good stories as part of an effective and involving verbal communication. 

We all know and have experienced the power of stories. Stories keep alive our attention, stir our emotions and feelings, encourage us to remember. Good stories move us deeply, and we end up sharing them. Rightly, the American poet, novelist, dramatist, essayist and James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University, Edward Reynold Price (February 1, 1933 – January 20, 2011), stated that “the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives.”

Stories imbue the entire Bible. Stories are at the heart of the Bible and at the heart of Jesus’ communication style. Whether walking on the roads of Galilee and beyond with his disciples or preaching to the crowds, Jesus of Nazareth used stories to share his message. It is not a coincidence that Matthew reminds us that storytelling was Jesus’ preferred technique when speaking to the crowds (see Matthew 13:34). Yes, Jesus appears to be a great storyteller. Interesting enough, when the well-known American writer Mark Twain was asked who he thought was the greatest storyteller, he answered Jesus of Nazareth.

Not only Jesus used stories to speak about the Father and His Kingdom, but his stories were told in simple language. They were both relatable and understandable. Pharisees, fishermen, and farmers all heard Jesus’ stories and metaphors drawn from their everyday life. His teaching included birds, flowers, lost coins, and a lot of other everyday objects that the people of his time could easily relate to.

Through stories Jesus was able to capture the attention of his audiences, inspire their imagination, and communicate a compelling and life-changing message. Through stories he revealed the merciful face of the Father and touched the deepest chords of the people. Indeed, Jesus told powerful stories: they challenged and changed lives. As a result, many of those who heard his stories started to follow him and become part of His-Story.

Following the example set by Jesus of Nazareth, his followers have been telling his story century after century. From generation to generation, the story of God’s goodness and mercy made flesh in Jesus the Christ has been told and preached. 

Jesus’ final words to the Gerasene man “Return home and recount what God has done for you” (Luke 8:39) encouraged him to go off and proclaim throughout the whole town what Jesus had done for him. At La Salette, the “Beautiful Lady” invested the two little shepherds, Maximin and Melanie, with the mission of recounting the story of their encounter with her. This story too, like the one concerning the Son, has been handed down from generation to generation. Both have transformed a great multitude of men and women. And we, Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, are the custodians of these two stories: not to guard them jealously, but to make them resonate in the lives of our brothers and sisters that we meet while pursuing our earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem. Today as yesterday, the Church and the world need to hear both stories told. People need to hear them from those who have been transformed by both the Son and the Mother.

Mary tells us a story about her Son

While the two witnesses thought that their first mission was to convey the news of the glorious apparition to the inhabitants of the vicinity of Corps, the concern of Mary, Mother of the Divine Redeemer, was to remind the Church of her duty of being the herald of the Good News of Salvation. This is why Marie is not concerned with exalting herself, even though she deserves this honor. The Mother of the Church seems to remind us of submission as a fundamental condition for deserving the graces that her Son has left us as an inheritance, through his abnegation to the human condition and culminating in the outpouring of his blood on the cross.

The Apparition of Mary in La Salette is not an end in itself. Mary intends to awaken in all the baptized, starting with those to whom was given the greatest responsibilities in the Church, the awareness of the urgency of announcing to all the mystery of her Son, who was buried and was raised on the third day. She does not place herself at the center of her message. The purpose of his glorious apparition, as during the wedding feast in Cana, is to ask obedience from his Son: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).

In 2001, John Paul II, in his message for World Mission Day, encouraged the people of God to set out to bring the Gospel of Jesus to all peoples. What story should we tell then? The luminous crucifix that Mary wears on her chest during the apparition answers precisely this question, since it was the one thing that most attracted the attention of Maximin and Melanie because of the light emanating from it. This shows and confirms Paul’s missionary call: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:22–23). It is this story, this message that we must tell until the final coming of Christ. In order for this “great adventure of evangelization” to be effective, John Paul II proposes new methods, new models and new paradigms. In this mission common to all, it is important to make present the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of our brothers and sisters.

Remembering helps us to move forward for a better future

In her last recommendation to the visionaries at La Salette, Mary asked them to make “this” known to all Her people, and she repeated it twice in French (precisely: “Eh bien, mes enfants, vous le ferez passer à tout mon people”).  That “this” which has been transmitted for 175 years is contained in the entire La Salette event. Here, details are important: the country in which the apparition took place (19^th century France); the place of the apparition (a village in the Alps); the time (about 3. 00 p.m. on Saturday, September 19, 1846); the time after the first vespers of the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (celebrated on the third Sunday of September[1]); the dress of the Beautiful Lady, modeled on that worn by the peasant women of the region of La Salette, and other elements she had on her (the crucifix with Jesus[2], the pliers and hammer[3], the two chains[4], the multicolored roses); then the sadness, the hidden face, the tears, the way Mary moved and her gestures in the presence of the children. But also, the message itself and the two languages in which it was communicated, the spring that emerged and continues to run at the place of the Apparition, where the sphere of light appeared with the person of Our Lady sitting inside, and finally the fact that both children received secrets, which they did not even talk about between themselves.

All of these elements are known to us. We talk about them at every possible opportunity. As long as the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary exists on the mountain near the village of La Salette in France, and as long as the Congregation of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette exists, the continuity and actuality of the message of the Beautiful Lady, communicated to Melanie and Maximin, will be assured. The transmission of the story of this event supposes a continuation until the end of time, but it could have ended earlier, if men would convert and by their conduct make useless the call of the Lady in tears to conversion and penance.

Our Lady’s true spiritual children surely consider the conversion of humanity to the paths of the Divine Will more important than the existence of the Basilica of Our Lady of La Salette and of the Congregation of the Missionaries of La Salette itself.

One element remains unresolved and is the subject of useless controversy: what is the significance of the secrets entrusted to Melanie and Maximin[5]?

The fact that Mary entrusted secrets to these two children constitutes an important element in the transmission of the story of the event at La Salette. They are a guarantee that the encounter had the character of mystery and therefore requires respect. We should not be worried about discovering their content, but in giving the account of the apparition, we should always mention their existence in humbly acknowledging our ignorance as to their content.

Flavio Gillio MS

Eusébio Kangupe MS

Karol Porczak MS

Philippines – Provincial Chapter

Provincial Chapter: July 2-6 2021

New Provincial Council

Fr. Manuel Medina, provincial superior

Fr. Elmer Galiza, provincial vicar

Fr. Joseph Pilotin, second assistant

May the Holy Spirit enlighten the new Council in the service to the Province.

July 2021

Proclaiming Christ in freedom and in the midst of diversity

If there is a text that par excellence expresses the missionary spirit from the point of view of the New Testament, this text is the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 9, verses 19-23, where Paul writes: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

In this passage, Paul gives to his work of evangelization a clear catholic (universal) character. In these verses Paul also unveils three important elements that support such a universalistic approach to his ministry. First: Paul’s work of evangelization is universal because the evangelizer is free, as stated in the first part of verse 19: “Though I am free and belong to no one […]”. Second: Paul’s work of evangelization is without “boundaries” because the evangelizer finds his motivation in the gospel: “I do all this for the sake of the gospel […]” (v. 23). Third, Paul’s work of evangelization is universal because the evangelizer has only one purpose or goal, i.e., “so that by all possible means I might save some” (v. 22). These three elements explain both the “why” and the “how” Paul was able to “[…] become all things to all people” (v. 22). That is why, for example, when in Athens, Paul is first found reasoning “in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks” and then in “the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:17) and also in the Areopagus (Acts 17:22). These few passages are enough to show the great “catholic” pastoral approach that inspired and guided Paul’s ministry and work of evangelization. It looks like, for Paul, there were not “suitable” and “unsuitable” situations; or “suitable” and unsuitable” people to preach the Good News. Every situation and every people were, potentially, the right situation and the right people to proclaim the “[…] good news about Jesus the Messiah […]” (Mark 1:1).

Despite what we might think, Paul was not the first one to embody and give life to this way of spreading the Good News. Before him, Jesus of Nazareth did the same. Before Paul, the One who was the “Apostle” of the Father approached his mission with the same attitude. In fact, during his public ministry Jesus of Nazareth, motivated by a “burning fire” for both the Kingdom of God and “the things of the Father”, announced the Good News to both men and women; to both the Pharisees and the Sadducees; to the rich as much as to the poor and marginalized of that time; to the pious Jews as well as to the Samaritans and the Gentiles. Jesus’ ministry knew neither religious or cultural limits, nor ethnic or social boundaries. His deep commitment to the mission entrusted to Him by the Father made Him an extremely free preacher, teacher, and redeemer. 

Interesting enough, we can find the same spirit in the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette. Indeed, it is suggested, for example by the clothes that the Beautiful Lady of La Salette wore when she appeared to the two little shepherds, Maximin and Melanie. The memories of the two children tell us that Mary, at La Salette, was dressed as the every-day women in the area of the small village of La Salette were used to be dressed during those days. Similarly, the same can be said when Mary changed her language from French to Patois, the dialect spoken by the common people of that geographical area at that time.

Jesus of Nazareth, Saint Paul, and the Beautiful Lady of La Salette: three challenging examples that invite and inspire us to live in our ministries, beyond our preferences or ideologies, the “catholicity” of the mission that the Mother, through the Son, has entrusted to each of us.

The language of love

It is out of love that Jesus has taken upon himself our human condition, even though this magnificent act would cost him extreme suffering to the point of crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

“I will tell you in another way” which touches very well on evangelization as the primordial mission of the Church, since it is the continuation of Christ's saving action. The Christian message has inserted itself into the language of all peoples in such a way as to supplant even cultures! It is like saying that all cultures allow themselves to be enlightened by the authority of Christ as their common denominator: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” than the name of Jesus Christ. 

John XXIII’s pontificate assumed the aggiornamento of the Church by giving continuity to the movement of liturgical, theological, biblical, pastoral and social renewal, in search of a new position in harmony with the great desire of the Mother of God to make the message of her Son increasingly understood.

St. John Paul II, in his encyclical, Redemptoris missio proposed, for the first time, the expression “new evangelization”. This does not arise because a new dicastery had emerged and been established in the Holy See, but rather a provocation to the Church to recognize the urgency and necessity of evangelization as a mission of the Church herself, which has been going on for two thousand years, which in any case must find a new language, have new lifestyles, also made up of profound identity, but also of respect. Therefore, the saint of our time has intended to awaken us to a new language in the proclamation of the faith of all times, and we understand that Mary, not wanting to change the direction of her Son’s Church, only wants to remind us of our duty as always it is, first of all, our submission to God. “I will tell you differently”, is nothing more than making explicit the permanent and eternal truth; that is, the mystery of Jesus who died and rose, the cause of our salvation. “I will tell you differently” is, as Cardinal Tagle says, to accept the current challenge of discerning how to present the Gospel, which is always the same, in a changing world. 

In the proclamation of the Good News of salvation, the language that has no boundaries must be understood, the language of love whose legacy Jesus left us in the last moment of his life in this world must be implied: “That you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). The Gospel proclamation in these days, the language best understood by humanity today is that of love which is the maternal love of Mary in tears at the foot of the cross and in La Salette, not that of the great theological explanations.

It is out of love that Jesus has come into the world; it is out of love that Mary remains caring towards us, and it is out of love that we, the missionaries of La Salette, accept the challenge of the Church’s evangelizing mission.

La Salette - communication of sensitivity that goes beyond language and culture

History has attributed a missionary character to our Congregation. After 175 years since the apparition in La Salette, we know that our task is to evangelize the world in the spirit of the Message given to us by the Beautiful Lady. This entails the need to open ourselves to other languages and cultures in which we find ourselves working. The entire congregation is responsible for this and not just the individual provinces anchored in a single culture and language.

It makes us reflect that Maria, speaking with Melania and Maximin, uses two languages. French is the language of the State that tradition has dubbed the First Daughter of the Church. In this language, Mary delivers her most compelling recommendations concerning the Eucharist and the respect due to her Son. When she instead speaks of the prosaic problems of the region of La Salette, she begins to use a dialect that even children understood. Melanie’s perplexity forces Mary to revise the method of communication and makes it more accessible. In this way, she conquers not only the mediators of the communication of the Message, but also the listeners who understand her.

We must remember that very often, and not only today, in some situations it is necessary to “start speaking differently.” This is reconciliation: the initiative is on the side of the one who knows that the other person has something against him. It is I who must begin to speak differently, even if someone sees me in a bad light. Jesus also speaks of the need for a change in attitude and in the way we communicate: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:23-24). If we want to be reconciled with our fellow human beings, nothing is more useful than changing the tone, the mode of interaction, but first of all changing the narrative, that is, moving from an accusatory and judgmental narrative to one that expresses the request for forgiveness and reconciliation. This is now another language: that of love and mercy. And God speaks precisely this language. This task is difficult for us, but we are unceasingly helped by the love and grace of Jesus, so it is possible to accomplish it.

We must take the attitude of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas, of whom the Acts of the Apostles say that in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch [today central Turkey] they “revived the disciples and exhorted them to remain steadfast in the faith, for, they said, it is necessary to go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). A curious fact about that region: its inhabitants spoke their own dialect, Lycaonia (cf. Acts 14:11).

And so Mary, after communicating to the children her personal reflections in dialect, switches again to French and says: “Make this known to all my people”. She repeats this twice, so this recommendation also contains the phrase to be communicated: “You do not understand French. Then I will tell you differently.” We must convey the entire Message, with all the elements contained in it. This is not just a hint or a parenthesis made by Mary. Indeed, the phrase: “I will tell you differently” is an example of the use of language derived not from the experience of this world, but from the experience of Heaven which is our true homeland. Only the intimacy of the heart and the sensitivity of the mind in love and reconciliation are valid, and people of all times and cultures expect precisely that language, because they have always been thirsting for love and are touched by a profound crisis of faith and identity.

Flavio Gillio MS

Eusébio Kangupe MS

Karol Porczak MS

July 2021

Proclaiming Christ in freedom and in the midst of diversity

If there is a text that par excellence expresses the missionary spirit from the point of view of the New Testament, this text is the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 9, verses 19-23, where Paul writes: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

In this passage, Paul gives to his work of evangelization a clear catholic (universal) character. In these verses Paul also unveils three important elements that support such a universalistic approach to his ministry. First: Paul’s work of evangelization is universal because the evangelizer is free, as stated in the first part of verse 19: “Though I am free and belong to no one […]”. Second: Paul’s work of evangelization is without “boundaries” because the evangelizer finds his motivation in the gospel: “I do all this for the sake of the gospel […]” (v. 23). Third, Paul’s work of evangelization is universal because the evangelizer has only one purpose or goal, i.e., “so that by all possible means I might save some” (v. 22). These three elements explain both the “why” and the “how” Paul was able to “[…] become all things to all people” (v. 22). That is why, for example, when in Athens, Paul is first found reasoning “in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks” and then in “the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:17) and also in the Areopagus (Acts 17:22). These few passages are enough to show the great “catholic” pastoral approach that inspired and guided Paul’s ministry and work of evangelization. It looks like, for Paul, there were not “suitable” and “unsuitable” situations; or “suitable” and unsuitable” people to preach the Good News. Every situation and every people were, potentially, the right situation and the right people to proclaim the “[…] good news about Jesus the Messiah […]” (Mark 1:1).

Despite what we might think, Paul was not the first one to embody and give life to this way of spreading the Good News. Before him, Jesus of Nazareth did the same. Before Paul, the One who was the “Apostle” of the Father approached his mission with the same attitude. In fact, during his public ministry Jesus of Nazareth, motivated by a “burning fire” for both the Kingdom of God and “the things of the Father”, announced the Good News to both men and women; to both the Pharisees and the Sadducees; to the rich as much as to the poor and marginalized of that time; to the pious Jews as well as to the Samaritans and the Gentiles. Jesus’ ministry knew neither religious or cultural limits, nor ethnic or social boundaries. His deep commitment to the mission entrusted to Him by the Father made Him an extremely free preacher, teacher, and redeemer. 

Interesting enough, we can find the same spirit in the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette. Indeed, it is suggested, for example by the clothes that the Beautiful Lady of La Salette wore when she appeared to the two little shepherds, Maximin and Melanie. The memories of the two children tell us that Mary, at La Salette, was dressed as the every-day women in the area of the small village of La Salette were used to be dressed during those days. Similarly, the same can be said when Mary changed her language from French to Patois, the dialect spoken by the common people of that geographical area at that time.

Jesus of Nazareth, Saint Paul, and the Beautiful Lady of La Salette: three challenging examples that invite and inspire us to live in our ministries, beyond our preferences or ideologies, the “catholicity” of the mission that the Mother, through the Son, has entrusted to each of us.

The language of love

It is out of love that Jesus has taken upon himself our human condition, even though this magnificent act would cost him extreme suffering to the point of crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

“I will tell you in another way” which touches very well on evangelization as the primordial mission of the Church, since it is the continuation of Christ's saving action. The Christian message has inserted itself into the language of all peoples in such a way as to supplant even cultures! It is like saying that all cultures allow themselves to be enlightened by the authority of Christ as their common denominator: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” than the name of Jesus Christ. 

John XXIII’s pontificate assumed the aggiornamento of the Church by giving continuity to the movement of liturgical, theological, biblical, pastoral and social renewal, in search of a new position in harmony with the great desire of the Mother of God to make the message of her Son increasingly understood.

St. John Paul II, in his encyclical, Redemptoris missio proposed, for the first time, the expression “new evangelization”. This does not arise because a new dicastery had emerged and been established in the Holy See, but rather a provocation to the Church to recognize the urgency and necessity of evangelization as a mission of the Church herself, which has been going on for two thousand years, which in any case must find a new language, have new lifestyles, also made up of profound identity, but also of respect. Therefore, the saint of our time has intended to awaken us to a new language in the proclamation of the faith of all times, and we understand that Mary, not wanting to change the direction of her Son’s Church, only wants to remind us of our duty as always it is, first of all, our submission to God. “I will tell you differently”, is nothing more than making explicit the permanent and eternal truth; that is, the mystery of Jesus who died and rose, the cause of our salvation. “I will tell you differently” is, as Cardinal Tagle says, to accept the current challenge of discerning how to present the Gospel, which is always the same, in a changing world. 

In the proclamation of the Good News of salvation, the language that has no boundaries must be understood, the language of love whose legacy Jesus left us in the last moment of his life in this world must be implied: “That you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). The Gospel proclamation in these days, the language best understood by humanity today is that of love which is the maternal love of Mary in tears at the foot of the cross and in La Salette, not that of the great theological explanations.

It is out of love that Jesus has come into the world; it is out of love that Mary remains caring towards us, and it is out of love that we, the missionaries of La Salette, accept the challenge of the Church’s evangelizing mission.

La Salette - communication of sensitivity that goes beyond language and culture

History has attributed a missionary character to our Congregation. After 175 years since the apparition in La Salette, we know that our task is to evangelize the world in the spirit of the Message given to us by the Beautiful Lady. This entails the need to open ourselves to other languages and cultures in which we find ourselves working. The entire congregation is responsible for this and not just the individual provinces anchored in a single culture and language.

It makes us reflect that Maria, speaking with Melania and Maximin, uses two languages. French is the language of the State that tradition has dubbed the First Daughter of the Church. In this language, Mary delivers her most compelling recommendations concerning the Eucharist and the respect due to her Son. When she instead speaks of the prosaic problems of the region of La Salette, she begins to use a dialect that even children understood. Melanie’s perplexity forces Mary to revise the method of communication and makes it more accessible. In this way, she conquers not only the mediators of the communication of the Message, but also the listeners who understand her.

We must remember that very often, and not only today, in some situations it is necessary to “start speaking differently.” This is reconciliation: the initiative is on the side of the one who knows that the other person has something against him. It is I who must begin to speak differently, even if someone sees me in a bad light. Jesus also speaks of the need for a change in attitude and in the way we communicate: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:23-24). If we want to be reconciled with our fellow human beings, nothing is more useful than changing the tone, the mode of interaction, but first of all changing the narrative, that is, moving from an accusatory and judgmental narrative to one that expresses the request for forgiveness and reconciliation. This is now another language: that of love and mercy. And God speaks precisely this language. This task is difficult for us, but we are unceasingly helped by the love and grace of Jesus, so it is possible to accomplish it.

We must take the attitude of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas, of whom the Acts of the Apostles say that in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch [today central Turkey] they “revived the disciples and exhorted them to remain steadfast in the faith, for, they said, it is necessary to go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). A curious fact about that region: its inhabitants spoke their own dialect, Lycaonia (cf. Acts 14:11).

And so Mary, after communicating to the children her personal reflections in dialect, switches again to French and says: “Make this known to all my people”. She repeats this twice, so this recommendation also contains the phrase to be communicated: “You do not understand French. Then I will tell you differently.” We must convey the entire Message, with all the elements contained in it. This is not just a hint or a parenthesis made by Mary. Indeed, the phrase: “I will tell you differently” is an example of the use of language derived not from the experience of this world, but from the experience of Heaven which is our true homeland. Only the intimacy of the heart and the sensitivity of the mind in love and reconciliation are valid, and people of all times and cultures expect precisely that language, because they have always been thirsting for love and are touched by a profound crisis of faith and identity.

Flavio Gillio MS

Eusébio Kangupe MS

Karol Porczak MS

Signs and Wonders

(18^th Ordinary Sunday: Exodus 16:2-15; Ephesians 4:17-24; John 6:24-35)

In the three-year cycle of the Sunday Lectionary, we are currently in “Year B,” which highlights the Gospel of Mark on the Sundays in Ordinary Time. But there is always a four-week break, when the Church presents the “Bread of Life Discourse” from Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel.

Today we have the opening, a curious exchange between Jesus and people who had been fed at the multiplication of loaves and fishes. “Rabbi, when did you get here?”—“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”

They had seen what he did, of course, and they continued to seek him out because they wanted more—more of the same. But they had not seen the sign; they had missed the meaning of the event.

In the first reading, the Israelites in the desert longed for the fleshpots of Egypt, forgetting the signs and wonders by which they had been rescued from slavery, and murmuring not so much against Moses and Aaron as against the Lord their God.

At La Salette, Our Lady describes a similar behavior. Twice she mentions people swearing and throwing in her Son’s name.

There seems to have been a longing for the past among the Christians of Ephesus. St. Paul writes, “You should put away the old self of your former way of life.” At the very least, they needed to learn that a genuine relationship with the Lord was not compatible with gentile ways, a message echoed at La Salette.

La Salette also has signs and wonders: the light, the tears, the roses, the chains, and the crucifix, the simple peasant garb; and let us not forget the once seasonal spring that has never ceased flowing since September of 1846. Also, in her discourse, Mary makes a wondrous promise, biblical in its extravagance, of abundant harvests for those who will return to God.

What does it take for us to have a truly personal relationship with the Lord, not based only on obedience or on our needs? How can we be worthy tabernacles of God’s grace? We can begin by seeing the signs of his presence, and recognizing the wonders of his love, as shown by the Beautiful Lady.

Wayne Vanasse, and Fr. René Butler, M.S.

Jesus and Human Need

(17^th Ordinary Sunday: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34)

Among the many forms of human suffering is the one put before us in today’s Gospel: food insecurity. In this case the situation was of short duration. Jesus responded to an immediate need on a specific occasion.

But, like Jesus, we too can ask how it is possible to respond to the needs of so many. Some of us, like Philip and Andrew, may answer that it can’t be done. But the evangelist tells us, “Jesus himself knew what he was going to do.”

Some of you reading this have experienced food insecurity, perhaps combined with anxiety over lodging, work, etc. Many have not. In which set of circumstances is the grace of God more active?

At La Salette, Mary noted that people worked on Sundays all summer. But, with potatoes, wheat, grapes and even walnuts all showing signs of blight, farmers were desperate to save what little they could. It is hard to be open to spiritual realities when material needs demand our full attention.

On the other hand, if we are so taken up with what we possess that we are unable to respond to others’ needs, it is equally hard to live in the Spirit, to grow and work and learn in community. Compassion and empathy are gifts. Do we desire them?

Jesus fed the hungry multitude because he saw their need, and he saw their need because he wanted to see it. Mary was aware of her people’s food insecurity, and she offered hope, “if they are converted.” Conversion, too, is a gift. Do we desire it?

St. Paul writes, “I urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” He focuses especially on unity: “one body and one Spirit.” How is this possible if some members are in dire need and other members do not help them?

Can we dare to pray for the gifts of conversion and compassion in our lives, to ask the Lord to make us like himself, willing to recognize the needs around us?

At the beginning of the Gospel we read that Jesus “saw that a large crowd was coming to him.” With little, he met the need of many. When Christians respond to others’ needs, the goal is to help them come to Christ. That was Mary’s purpose at La Salette.

Wayne Vanasse, and Fr. René Butler, M.S.

Rest in the Lord

(16^th Ordinary Sunday: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34)

It is time to once again stop and reflect on today’s readings from a La Salette perspective.

Jeremiah proclaims God’s condemnation of “the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture.” But does the flock bear no responsibility? Real sheep cannot be blamed for being sheep, but when dealing with human beings, the image can go only so far. We have a conscience.

In its chapter on The Dignity of the Human Person, the Catechism of the Catholic Church includes a section on conscience. It begins with a quotation from Vatican II: “Man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.... His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.”

It then presents Church teaching under four headings, one of which is, The Formation of Conscience. The underlying premise is faith, such as the Psalmist today expresses in the Lord, his Shepherd.

Around the time of the French revolution, the philosophy of separation of Church and State, logical enough in itself, had led to serious anticlericalism. Since then, it is possible in France to celebrate a “civil baptism” for a newborn child, who is placed “under the protection of the Republic’s lay institutions.”

This attitude was behind people’s neglect of the Eucharist, and of religious practice in general, which Mary complained of at La Salette. Her people had been led astray.

Jeremiah conveys God’s promise: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock.” The Beautiful Lady offers hope to those who will but return to her Son.

Today there are many “shepherds” competing for the trust of the flock. The list includes scientists, governments, psychologists, news commentators, etc. Some are overtly hostile to religion. How are we to cope?

Today’s Gospel offers a hint. Jesus says to his Apostles after their missionary journey, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” That didn’t happen, but the principle is sound. We need to get away sometimes from all the distractions, to rest with the Lord who refreshes our soul, and to pray well.

Wayne Vanasse, and Fr. René Butler, M.S.

What we Were... What we Are

(15^th Ordinary Sunday: Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13)

The La Salette connection to today’s first reading is obvious. Amos says, “I was no prophet...; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

The Blessed Virgin spoke to two children who were certainly no prophets. She took them from following their cows, and said, “You will make this known to all my people.”

The Apostles, sent out as missionaries by Jesus in today’s Gospel, could say much the same thing: I was just a fisherman, just a tax collector, just an activist. The Lord took me from that, he changed my life entirely. Much later Paul, not one of the original Twelve, did not hesitate to tell others that he had been a persecutor of the Church until his encounter with Jesus.

Put yourself in their sandals. What were you? What are you now? We have all experienced life-changing events, of course. Some, like faith, are fundamental.

Even for those who have been practicing Catholics all their life, there comes a moment when prayer, the sacraments, Scripture, etc., all take on a new, more personal meaning and importance; they matter as they have never mattered before. This is conversion.

It may take place gradually, but at La Salette, it tends to be more sudden. Many an unsuspecting tourist to the Holy Mountain returns later as a pilgrim. The confessional is where most La Salette miracles take place.

In the second reading, Paul reminds us twice that we are chosen by God. Both times, however, he adds, “in him,” namely, in Christ. As La Salettes we might be tempted to think we have been chosen “in Mary,” but that would be incorrect. The very heart of the Beautiful Lady’s Apparition is Jesus, whose crucified image she wears over her heart.

If we truly believe, and have our faith properly rooted in Christ, then we can give glory to God as he summons us and sends us out to prophesy, to proclaim, to make a message known. We may have been something else, but now as we are converted and reconciled to God through his Son, we can in confidence turn our attention to the mission, whatever, wherever it may be.

Wayne Vanasse, and Fr. René Butler, M.S.

Chapter of the Polish Province

The Chapter of the Polish Province of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette started on June 22, 2021 at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Dębowiec and will last until July 3, 2021. It is presided over by Fr. Silvano Marisa, Superior General of the Congregation.

The theme of the Chapter is taken from the formula of the religious vows taken by all La Salette Missionaries: “To respond to the call of Mary of La Salette, the Reconciler of sinners”.

On June 25, the Chapter elected a new Provincial Council:

Fr. Grzegorz Zembroń, provincial superior (center)

Fr. Jan Kijek, provincial vicar (left)

Fr. Czesław Hałgas, second assistant (right)

May the Holy Spirit enlighten the new Council in the service to the Province.