Items filtered by date: April 2025

Rekindling the Fire

(Pentecost: Acts 2:1-11; Galatians 5:16-25; John 15:26-27 and 16:12-15)

The disciples had been gathering in the upper room for some time. There they prayed, they elected Matthias to replace Judas and, as Jesus had told them at his Ascension, they were waiting for “the promise of the Father.”

Then, in wind and fire, came the Spirit driving them, as it were, out of the upper room into the world to preach, “as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”

In today’s Gospel Acclamation we pray: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love;” and in the Sequence: “Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray.”

In the second reading, St. Paul is trying to help the Galatians understand that their sectarian quarrels (among other things) have nothing to do with the fruits of the Spirit. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit,” he writes. In other words, leave behind everything that is not of the Spirit.

When we read these words, we may be inclined to feel guilty as charged. If so, what is holding us back?

At La Salette, Mary came to rekindle the fire of God’s love in her people. With a message that was deliberately unsettling, she wanted to drive them out of their complacency, so that they might respond to their Christian vocation, as the Spirit enabled them.

The challenge of Pentecost is always the rekindling of our hearts, but not for ourselves alone. The fire is meant to spread. It is restless; if it stays in one place, it will burn out.

So also with La Salette. Visitors to the Holy Mountain often shed tears when it is time to leave. But La Salette is like the upper room of Pentecost. What is experienced there must not be confined to that place.

The Beautiful Lady appeared in light, to draw our attention back to her Son. She spoke so as to be understood. As La Salettes, it is not enough for us to repeat her words. We want to truly listen to others, to speak their language; we still need the Holy Spirit to drive us out into the world to preach, work, live and show our love for God, and thus to help us translate La Salette with our words and actions.

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

May 2021

Dreaming with the Son and the Mother

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So, God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:26–27). At the beginning of the book of Genesis and the History of Salvation, we find the “dream of God” for humanity.

We find a similar narrative dynamic at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus shares with his assembly another dream, that of his public ministry, applying to himself what the Prophet Isaiah writes (Luke 4:14–30). From a narrative point of view, both God and Jesus are characters guided by “goals” and “purposes”. Let us dwell briefly on the figure of Jesus. From the very first moments of his public ministry, Jesus is characterized as a goal-oriented man. The episode of Nazareth, once placed in the context of Luke’s macro-narrative, functions as a programmatic text. This is the “apostolic Magna Charta” of Jesus. In this episode, in fact, the objectives of the ministry of Jesus are outlined, expressed through prophetic imagery and language. Approached in this way, the episode of Nazareth allows us to reflect on the importance of having “goals” and “objectives in the Spirit”, both in our religious and apostolic life.

First: setting “goals and purposes in the Spirit” is a spiritual responsibility (see for example Phil 3:12–15). We can live ‘by default’ or creatively design our life-journey following the impulses of the Spirit. We can live by setting ourselves “goals” and “objectives”, or let circumstances decide for us what to do. This is the difference between living and existing, between living simply by reacting to circumstances or living by designing, crafting our path as followers and disciples of Jesus of Nazareth.

Second: “goals and purposes in the Spirit” are statements of faith. They say what is important and relevant to us, and at the same time they testify to our experience of God and also to our trust in Him. Often, great “goals” and “purposes” portray a deep faith, while small “goals” or “purposes” may allude to a shaky and superficial faith (see Eph 3,20–21). Often, the measure of our faith in God decides the measure of our dreams, “goals” or “purposes”.

Third: having, both in our religious and apostolic life, “goals and purposes in the Spirit” avoids the risk of losing focus and direction. “Goals and purposes in the Spirit” avoid the risk of running with incertitude by beating the air in vain (see 1 Cor 9:26).

Fourth: “goals and intentions in the Spirit” motivate us to persist and persevere.

Fifth: “goals and intentions in the Spirit” build and shape our Christian character. As we run the race towards our “goals” and “purposes” we also collaborate with the Spirit in building our character as disciples of Jesus of Nazareth (see Phil 3,12).

Now, like the Son, the Mother also has a dream. A dream that becomes a mission for us. The final statement of the Beautiful Lady of La Salette to Maximin and Melanie reveal her dream: “Make it known to all my people.” A dream “in progress”. Her dream. Our “goal or purpose in the Spirit.”

Called to identify with God

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Gen 1:26–27).” 

God dreamt of man and created him in his own image and likeness. And although, by disobeying, man lost the divine friendship, sin did not destroy this relationship entirely, since God dreamt of the restoration of the human race and, for this reason, sent forth his Son (Jn 3:16). The plan to send the Son was preceded by great men whose faithfulness was put to the test, like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. With these, and especially after Moses, He dreams of having a whole prophetic people; He dreams of the day when He can purify man, exchange his heart of stone for one of flesh, infuse him with the Holy Spirit. The dream became reality in his Son Jesus Christ who atoned for our sins through his blood shed on the cross. Christ, our peace, gave God the opportunity to bring us closer to him again. The dream is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost with the sending of the Holy Spirit that will create intimacy, relationship and a body whose members are all those who accept the invitation to enter the Kingdom inaugurated by Christ.

God’s dream is identified with the will of God who wants “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). Hence, every man should come to Christ, “the way of truth and life”.

“Come closer, my children; don’t be afraid. I am here to tell you great news.”  In this invitation, the messenger speaks on behalf of her beloved Son. She does not bring a new message, she intends to guide us to put into practice the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is exactly where the message of La Salette leads us, to God’s dream, in the sense that it seeks to free man from the mire of materialism, secularism and indifference in which he is immersed.

“If they are converted, rocks and stones will become heaps of wheat!” Convert and believe in the Gospel (Mk 1:15) was the great appeal that Jesus made to the world, and in her apparition at La Salette and other places, Mary continues to repeat the same message. Man’s conversion is a guarantee of his sanctification and the first step towards the harmony of our planet. Man’s state of mind influences the universe to turn to God or to deviate from its Creator. What we are being given to witness today with the Covid-19 pandemic induces us to reconsider our position before God.

The way in which the worldlings have tried to handle the situation by dispensing with God testifies henceforth to man’s bewilderment in viewing things from above. A concrete example is the restrictions that have been imposed upon believers in conducting their services in churches at a time when, paradoxically, the opening of supermarkets and events of various kinds have not been impeded. In this situation of worldliness, it is appropriate to censure our silence, which is confused with a certain conformism. On the contrary, Our Lady strongly affirms the primacy of the spiritual, submitting to God.

Those destined for Heaven

In his sermon Jesus said, “This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (Jn 6:39).This is God’s plan of action for all time. Called into existence, we are to God “the apple of his eye” for we cooperate in the conception of the new generation. He wishes that every person conceived on earth should partake of life with the Triune God in all of eternity. At the moment of conception man receives an extraordinary gift: the dignity of a potential dweller in Heaven with God and with other human beings.

Mary represents the society that has now completed its earthly pilgrimage. She knows God’s entire plan and comes to show us where this dignity of the heavenly dweller is threatened. With her message, she wants to awaken in us a longing for Heaven; she wants to make us aware of the importance of the encounter with her Son in the Eucharist and of the need to show respect for the One who gave Himself entirely for love.

Melanie and Maximin were simple children, but their account of what they experienced in their encounter with the Beautiful Lady had nothing to do with lying or manipulation. They registered everything perfectly: the dress of a peasant girl had not concealed the heavenly majesty of Our Lady; Her manner of speaking had been so extraordinary that even the foreign language and the long conversation with Her became indelibly imprinted in the memory of the seers, for Her speech was strongly marked by an otherworldly origin, and Her voice, despite the affliction, inspired confidence and compassion in the two children. Mary’s tears had visibly moved Melanie and Maximin, and whenever they recounted the event, they noted this fact, in turn arousing deep emotion in their listeners; Mary’s disappearance itself caused the witnesses of the encounter to reflect on the fact that they had not asked Her to take them with her. Although they did not know who the Lady was, they wanted to go wherever She would go, because the impression made by her presence had been so beautiful and beatifying.

Sad, but also great and necessary, was the news brought to us all on that afternoon of 19 September 1846. The Queen of Heaven and Earth comes to make us aware of who we are to God: we are His children. The only predestination stemming from the simple fact of being a man is to go to Heaven. There is no other predestination in God’s plans. If this plan does not lead man to Heaven, it is only his own fault - because man himself does not want it!

The Mother of God and the Mother of men, by generating the most outstanding Man on earth, Jesus Christ, reminds us that in Her Son we are all brothers and sisters. We enjoy the same dignity as the Son of God, for God has decided to adopt us as His children of His divine election.

Although Mary shows us our shortcomings in following God’s plan, when we reflect on His Message, a desire arises within us to pay attention to the things of God and to want to improve our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Mary opens a window for us to see the reality in which she is already present and towards which she wants to direct us all: Heaven and eternal life with God.

Whoever desires this, strengthens her motherly heart.

Flavio Gillio MS

Eusébio Kangupe MS

Karol Porczak MS

May 2021

Dreaming with the Son and the Mother

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So, God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:26–27). At the beginning of the book of Genesis and the History of Salvation, we find the “dream of God” for humanity.

We find a similar narrative dynamic at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus shares with his assembly another dream, that of his public ministry, applying to himself what the Prophet Isaiah writes (Luke 4:14–30). From a narrative point of view, both God and Jesus are characters guided by “goals” and “purposes”. Let us dwell briefly on the figure of Jesus. From the very first moments of his public ministry, Jesus is characterized as a goal-oriented man. The episode of Nazareth, once placed in the context of Luke’s macro-narrative, functions as a programmatic text. This is the “apostolic Magna Charta” of Jesus. In this episode, in fact, the objectives of the ministry of Jesus are outlined, expressed through prophetic imagery and language. Approached in this way, the episode of Nazareth allows us to reflect on the importance of having “goals” and “objectives in the Spirit”, both in our religious and apostolic life.

First: setting “goals and purposes in the Spirit” is a spiritual responsibility (see for example Phil 3:12–15). We can live ‘by default’ or creatively design our life-journey following the impulses of the Spirit. We can live by setting ourselves “goals” and “objectives”, or let circumstances decide for us what to do. This is the difference between living and existing, between living simply by reacting to circumstances or living by designing, crafting our path as followers and disciples of Jesus of Nazareth.

Second: “goals and purposes in the Spirit” are statements of faith. They say what is important and relevant to us, and at the same time they testify to our experience of God and also to our trust in Him. Often, great “goals” and “purposes” portray a deep faith, while small “goals” or “purposes” may allude to a shaky and superficial faith (see Eph 3,20–21). Often, the measure of our faith in God decides the measure of our dreams, “goals” or “purposes”.

Third: having, both in our religious and apostolic life, “goals and purposes in the Spirit” avoids the risk of losing focus and direction. “Goals and purposes in the Spirit” avoid the risk of running with incertitude by beating the air in vain (see 1 Cor 9:26).

Fourth: “goals and intentions in the Spirit” motivate us to persist and persevere.

Fifth: “goals and intentions in the Spirit” build and shape our Christian character. As we run the race towards our “goals” and “purposes” we also collaborate with the Spirit in building our character as disciples of Jesus of Nazareth (see Phil 3,12).

Now, like the Son, the Mother also has a dream. A dream that becomes a mission for us. The final statement of the Beautiful Lady of La Salette to Maximin and Melanie reveal her dream: “Make it known to all my people.” A dream “in progress”. Her dream. Our “goal or purpose in the Spirit.”

Called to identify with God

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Gen 1:26–27).” 

God dreamt of man and created him in his own image and likeness. And although, by disobeying, man lost the divine friendship, sin did not destroy this relationship entirely, since God dreamt of the restoration of the human race and, for this reason, sent forth his Son (Jn 3:16). The plan to send the Son was preceded by great men whose faithfulness was put to the test, like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. With these, and especially after Moses, He dreams of having a whole prophetic people; He dreams of the day when He can purify man, exchange his heart of stone for one of flesh, infuse him with the Holy Spirit. The dream became reality in his Son Jesus Christ who atoned for our sins through his blood shed on the cross. Christ, our peace, gave God the opportunity to bring us closer to him again. The dream is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost with the sending of the Holy Spirit that will create intimacy, relationship and a body whose members are all those who accept the invitation to enter the Kingdom inaugurated by Christ.

God’s dream is identified with the will of God who wants “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). Hence, every man should come to Christ, “the way of truth and life”.

“Come closer, my children; don’t be afraid. I am here to tell you great news.”  In this invitation, the messenger speaks on behalf of her beloved Son. She does not bring a new message, she intends to guide us to put into practice the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is exactly where the message of La Salette leads us, to God’s dream, in the sense that it seeks to free man from the mire of materialism, secularism and indifference in which he is immersed.

“If they are converted, rocks and stones will become heaps of wheat!” Convert and believe in the Gospel (Mk 1:15) was the great appeal that Jesus made to the world, and in her apparition at La Salette and other places, Mary continues to repeat the same message. Man’s conversion is a guarantee of his sanctification and the first step towards the harmony of our planet. Man’s state of mind influences the universe to turn to God or to deviate from its Creator. What we are being given to witness today with the Covid-19 pandemic induces us to reconsider our position before God.

The way in which the worldlings have tried to handle the situation by dispensing with God testifies henceforth to man’s bewilderment in viewing things from above. A concrete example is the restrictions that have been imposed upon believers in conducting their services in churches at a time when, paradoxically, the opening of supermarkets and events of various kinds have not been impeded. In this situation of worldliness, it is appropriate to censure our silence, which is confused with a certain conformism. On the contrary, Our Lady strongly affirms the primacy of the spiritual, submitting to God.

Those destined for Heaven

In his sermon Jesus said, “This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (Jn 6:39).This is God’s plan of action for all time. Called into existence, we are to God “the apple of his eye” for we cooperate in the conception of the new generation. He wishes that every person conceived on earth should partake of life with the Triune God in all of eternity. At the moment of conception man receives an extraordinary gift: the dignity of a potential dweller in Heaven with God and with other human beings.

Mary represents the society that has now completed its earthly pilgrimage. She knows God’s entire plan and comes to show us where this dignity of the heavenly dweller is threatened. With her message, she wants to awaken in us a longing for Heaven; she wants to make us aware of the importance of the encounter with her Son in the Eucharist and of the need to show respect for the One who gave Himself entirely for love.

Melanie and Maximin were simple children, but their account of what they experienced in their encounter with the Beautiful Lady had nothing to do with lying or manipulation. They registered everything perfectly: the dress of a peasant girl had not concealed the heavenly majesty of Our Lady; Her manner of speaking had been so extraordinary that even the foreign language and the long conversation with Her became indelibly imprinted in the memory of the seers, for Her speech was strongly marked by an otherworldly origin, and Her voice, despite the affliction, inspired confidence and compassion in the two children. Mary’s tears had visibly moved Melanie and Maximin, and whenever they recounted the event, they noted this fact, in turn arousing deep emotion in their listeners; Mary’s disappearance itself caused the witnesses of the encounter to reflect on the fact that they had not asked Her to take them with her. Although they did not know who the Lady was, they wanted to go wherever She would go, because the impression made by her presence had been so beautiful and beatifying.

Sad, but also great and necessary, was the news brought to us all on that afternoon of 19 September 1846. The Queen of Heaven and Earth comes to make us aware of who we are to God: we are His children. The only predestination stemming from the simple fact of being a man is to go to Heaven. There is no other predestination in God’s plans. If this plan does not lead man to Heaven, it is only his own fault - because man himself does not want it!

The Mother of God and the Mother of men, by generating the most outstanding Man on earth, Jesus Christ, reminds us that in Her Son we are all brothers and sisters. We enjoy the same dignity as the Son of God, for God has decided to adopt us as His children of His divine election.

Although Mary shows us our shortcomings in following God’s plan, when we reflect on His Message, a desire arises within us to pay attention to the things of God and to want to improve our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Mary opens a window for us to see the reality in which she is already present and towards which she wants to direct us all: Heaven and eternal life with God.

Whoever desires this, strengthens her motherly heart.

Flavio Gillio MS

Eusébio Kangupe MS

Karol Porczak MS

Commissioned by Christ

(Ascension, celebrated on Sunday in many dioceses: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 4:1-13; Mark 16:15-20.)

The conclusion of Mark’s Gospel, which we read today, seems to combine Luke’s story of the Ascension with Matthew’s account of Jesus’ command to proclaim the Gospel to all the world.

The commission has been given. What an awesome charge, what a grave responsibility! Have no fear, though, because Christ did not set us up for failure but ultimately for success.

In the first reading, just before the Ascension, Jesus made a promise: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem... and to the ends of the earth.”

In Mark, Jesus told his apostles of signs that would accompany their ministry, after which he was taken from their sight.

At La Salette, the Beautiful Lady promised signs that would follow, “if they are converted.” She also gave a commission, beginning with Mélanie and Maximin: “You will make this known to all my people.”

She then turned away, repeated her final command, and ascended back to heaven. She came to remind us gently of the work her Son had left for us to do, and now she was gone.

This feast is more than recognizing that Christ ascended to his rightful place at the right hand of God. It is also about us, the body of Christ here on earth, desiring to ascend also, to be with Christ the head of our Church. We need to get to work.

We have the tools, especially the sacraments. We have the instruction manual, i.e., the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. We each have our particular skill, charism and specialty to contribute; as we find in the second reading: “He gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith.”

We pray: “Lord, kindle in our hearts a longing for the heavenly homeland and cause us to press forward, following in the Savior’s footsteps, to the place where for our sake he entered before us” (Vigil Mass). As La Salettes, we long to see Mary there as well.

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

Loved and Chosen

(6^th Sunday of Easter: Acts 10:25-48; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17)

Jesus tells his disciples, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.” They already knew that, of course, but now, on the eve of his passion, it was an important reminder. The same words have resonated through the ages, to every generation of believers. That includes every one of us.

Maximin and Mélanie did not choose the Blessed Virgin. She chose them. Starting with them, her message, too, has borne fruit that will remain.

The choice is not exclusive. In today’s first reading, St. Peter and his companions, in the house of Cornelius, “were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.” They could have no better confirmation of Peter’s words, “God shows no partiality.”

Thus, the words of today’s Psalm are true: “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.”

The Holy Spirit came as a gift, bringing gifts which the Church calls charisms. The charism of La Salette is not something we chose for ourselves. On the contrary, it drew us to itself. We are its ministers, proclaiming reconciliation to all the ends of the earth.

But let us not forget today’s other readings, all about love. When Jesus tells us to love one another, he provides the foundation and the model: “as I have loved you.” This means first that we must really believe he loves us, and accept his love. Then, we must strive to imitate it—a challenge echoed in the second reading.

One of the most beautiful love poems in literature begins with the words, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” If we listen to Jesus with our heart, can we hear him counting the ways he loves us?

As La Salettes, perhaps we need only look at the crucifix over the Beautiful Lady’s heart. On that holy mountain, she appeared at a time and in a place that needed a message of love and tender mercy.

So let our prayer be to accept God’s undying love, and to live it, glorifying God in word and deed, speaking in tongues of Love (with or without words).

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

Fruit of Vine or Tree

(5^th Sunday of Easter: Acts 9:26-31; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8)

Jesus, drawing on a sight familiar to anyone in his day, describes himself as a vine and his disciples as branches in the Father’s vineyard. For us, he might have used a different metaphor, a fruit orchard, for example. Then he would have said, “I am the tree.”

Everything else would be the same: “A branch cannot bear fruit on its own... Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” Good branches are pruned and bad ones discarded.

The Father, who tends the vine, also tends the tree. He knows that certain shoots grow fast but will never bear fruit, and if allowed to grow they will simply drain resources from the rest. He also knows exactly what is needed to promote healthy growth, and to produce the best and most abundant fruit.

Jesus seems almost to be pleading with his disciples when he says, “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” He cares about them. At La Salette, a Beautiful Lady sadly observed that some Christians were no longer heeding that appeal.

Using Mary’s own language about spoiled wheat and rotten potatoes, we might say she found the vine or tree to be in need of much pruning and care, full of blight, and covered with the useless shoots of spiritual apathy. She therefore comes with the remedy, the necessary medicine when she offers us the opportunity for conversion and reconciliation, so we, the branches, might return to bearing fruit once again.

There is another way in which La Salette is an example of what true conversion can do in producing good fruit. Look at the missionary efforts of the religious communities and lay movements which have developed around the Apparition. Through them, many persons and countries have received Mary’s “great news;” the mission has led to abundant fruits of reconciliation.

If we may favor, for a moment, the metaphor of the tree, we may think of windfall fruit, which the grower does not throw away. We might apply this to marginalized persons. They must be included in our mission; as St. John says in the second reading: “Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.”

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

The Lord is my...

(4^th Sunday of Easter: Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18)

Most of us, if asked to finish the above title phrase, would say: Shepherd. We might even be surprised that today, often called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” we do not have the Twenty-third Psalm as our responsorial.

However, while the Gospel focuses on Jesus as Shepherd, the other readings and the Psalm provide other images or titles.

For example, Jesus is the stone rejected. St. Peter, continuing his discourse which we began reading last week, applies Psalm 118 to the people gathered around him in the Temple: “The stone rejected by you the builders,” reflecting the hostile relationship on the part of some of the people and their leaders.

At La Salette, the Blessed Virgin gave examples of the ways in which her people had rejected her Son. Have we, personally, ever deserved her reproaches? As we contemplate the crucifix on her breast, do we hear Peter’s words, speaking of “Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified”? If so, let us approach the Lord with humble repentance.

Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation of our faith and of the Church. This image is very close to what we find in Psalm 18, where David calls the Lord “my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.” Here we stand before our God in a relationship of trust.

It is the same with the Good Shepherd, of course, even though sometimes we are tempted by pride to strike out on our own, and finding only the sinful path by ourselves. Since we would never want the Shepherd to abandon us—remember Mary’s words, “If I want my Son not to abandon you”—why would we ever abandon him? We need him to guide us, to nourish us (especially in the Eucharist), to protect us.

Stone rejected, Cornerstone, Good Shepherd: see how these are not just names but relationships with God the Son.

Some might say, “The Lord is my friend,” not as an equal, of course, but as one who truly cares about us. This is part of the La Salette message.

Think about it. Who is Jesus for you? Who are you for him? Most importantly, do you feel how deeply you are loved? And do you respond in kind?

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

Holy Easter 2021

“Christ died for our sins, he was buried and he was raised on the accordance with the scriptures” (1Cor 15,3-4)

“If they are converted....” (Our Lady of La Salette)

Dear brothers,

like last year, this year again Easter greetings from the General Council and from myself reach you in your communities and in your places of pastoral work, as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of calming down. On the contrary, it continues to rage with varying degrees of intensity all over the world, sowing fear and uncertainty about the future, and putting a strain on the health, social and economic systems of our various countries.

In different ways, we all feel involved in this phenomenon which is changing our way of conceiving and seeing the world, society, interpersonal relationships and our own life. We are in fact experiencing a true “Copernican” revolutionregarding the values around which we are called to build the near future, ours and that of the world, in the hope that it will be better than the present one. From the centrality of doing and efficiency, we are rightly passing to the centrality of the person with his or her rights to be respected and the duties to be implemented.

Consequently, even religious life is not entirely exempt from this ongoing great change. Far from the frenetic pace of life that characterized our condition as religious and priests, suddenly limited in our movements and our ministries, we discovered, throughout this year, the importance of interpersonal relationships, made above all of small gestures of welcome and listening to others, of attention and mutual services, of generous gratuity and shared time. We have also experienced, together with the challenge of living the faith in community..., the beauty of the rediscovered taste for personal and community prayer life, accompanied by the effort to "keep up to date" the way of being present to the people of God entrusted to our pastoral care.

I hope that this experience, unwanted but imposed by force and without warning by the adverse circumstances that we know, will be transformed into a "Kairós", in a favorable time of grace for all of us and will help us to pick ourselves up and get back on track with responsibility, determination, enthusiasm and without fear by profoundly renewing our way of living our fidelity to follow the Lord in the light of the message of the weeping Mother of La Salette.

It will be a missed opportunity if, once this "pandemic storm" has passed, things go back to the way they were before in our personal and community religious life and even in our pastoral ministry without leaving any trace of its passage and the stimuli that it fostered. Pope Francis has stated that from this pandemic, one either comes out better or comes out worse..., and in any case never the same as before. There is no other way. If this is true for everyone, much more it must be true for us, missionaries of La Salette.

Together with the whole Church, we too will be called to renew our "religious" language, which often appears worn out and obsolete, made up of abstract and empty words and therefore unable of communicating with freshness and incisiveness the richness of the Gospel and the joyful witness of our religious life to today's world. It is a challenge that confronts us all personally and from which none of us can easily escape.

We should come out of this unusual and in many ways painful experience renewed and heartened at all levels. This is my wish for each and every one of us.

There is no Easter of Resurrection without the narrow passage of suffering, the cry of abandonment and death experienced on Good Friday. Only in this way does Easter become the celebration par excellence of hope that does not deceive and of the explosion of new life offered to all and inaugurated by the risen Christ.

We all know that the message of La Salette is essentially an Easter message made up of strong calls to conversion, to personal commitment, to review and renew one's relationship with God and with the Church, but also of promises of a fullness of life enlightened and purified by that dazzling light which emanates from Christ, crucified and glorious at the same time, hanging on the chest of the Beautiful Lady. For this reason, together with St. Paul, we too can strongly and loudly affirm: "The risen Christ is our hope" (1 Cor 15).

The Paschal Mystery, of death and resurrection, of suffering and rebirth, also accompanies this year the two La Salette missions in Africa and the Region of Myanmar.

In Mozambique the situation does not seem to have improved from what was reported in the Christmas letter. In fact, it continues to be critical and seems to have gotten out of control of local and national police forces. Recently some news agencies have reported horrific crimes against children in the Cabo Delgado region, which is in the hands of unscrupulous jihadist groups. At the moment, Father Edegard is working in the city of Pemba assisting and as companion to the many refugees who are from the parish of Nangololo and other regions. In close collaboration with the Provinces of Brazil and Angola, the GC plans to restructure the community as soon as possible and to reorganize its pastoral presence in the diocese. The diocese, after the recent transfer of Bishop Luiz to another charge (in Brazil), is headed by an apostolic administrator in the person of Bishop Juliasse, auxiliary bishop of Maputo. While waiting for the new bishop, with whom we will discuss the future of the La Salette presence in the region, we keep this community and its future development, as well as the persecuted people it serves, constantly in our prayers.

In Tanzania, we are in the process of purchasing a house and an adjacent piece of land in view of the opening of a first vocation promotion program and a formation house for young people who wish to become part of our religious family. The plan of the GC, supported by the community of Rutete, is to begin the formation program in the current Marian Year or at the latest at the beginning of 2022. I place this project with great confidence under the protection of the Beautiful Lady of La Salette, our Mother and Patroness. At the same time I entrust it to the attention and prayers of the entire Congregation. 

On behalf of the Congregation, I would like to express our spiritual closeness and solidarity with our confreres in the young Region of Myanmar who are experiencing a moment of great bewilderment and concern for the fate of the democratic process in the country, abruptly interrupted by the recent military coup (February 1). We hope that the state of war established by the military, which caused the understandable popular uprising and unfortunately the death of so many innocent people, will end soon and that justice and respect for democratic rules properly restored will prevail over the hatred and divisions now present in the country. In this context of uncertainty and fear for the near future, the four new priestly ordinations that took place on March 19, feast of St. Joseph, are a great sign of hope for the country, the Region and the Congregation. We thank the Lord for the gift of their vocation. Enlightened and guided by our charism, they will certainly work to foster paths of reconciliation in the country, which is thirsting for peace and justice, with their words and above all with the witness of their lives.

May this Holy Easter, with its overwhelming load of light and new life, lead us ever more to integrate our existence as human being and as religious into that of the Risen Christ and to allow us to communicate life in fullness through his Spirit!

May the Resurrection of Christ encourage us to give reason always and without fear to this faith and this hope which must animate our life as Christians and religious everywhere and in every situation!

To our elderly or suffering brothers, to those who are immersed in pastoral work, to the young religious, to the novices and to those who are in formation, as well as to the sisters of La Salette and to the many La Salette Laity who, animated by the charism of reconciliation, work with us in the field of evangelization and charity, I address also in the name of the General Council, my best and most Christian wishes for a         

Happy and Holy Easter of Resurrection!

Fraternally yours,

Fr. Silvano Marisa MS

Superior General