Items filtered by date: April 2025

PPP 2017 - Week 1

            This past Sunday, our Congregation began our largest PPP assembly ever! Close to 70 attendees, translators and facilitators have come to the Holy Mountain from nine provinces and regions including Angola, Brazil, France, Italy, Madagascar, Myanmar, Philippines, Poland and the United States.  This year’s PPP assembly is also the first time our congregation is uniting together with our sisters of La Salette to experience what will be a tremendous month of spiritual renewal as our women and men prepare to profess their perpetual vows.

            The first week of our PPP was an amazing opportunity for all of our participants to come together from all over the world and unite as a La Salette family.  Participants were encouraged to tell their stories.  Each sister and brother shared their individual vocation story with one another.  In doing so, many participants enjoyed the challenge of listening and understanding each other's story in unfamiliar languages.  This challenge became was far from being a barrier - this challenge was an opportunity to really work on getting to know one another in genuine sincerity.  This first week of our PPP also included a presentation on the spirituality of the Holy Mountain by Fr. Joe Bachand and a presentation on understanding the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette through biblical text by Fr. Celeste and Fr. Anthony Skalba.

            All of our PPP participants have quickly bonded and are enjoying in each other's brotherhood and sisterhood as all continue to learn more about each other - one’s customs, cultures, traditions and commonalities.  Some of our participants have commented that it feels as if they have been together much longer than simply one week.  The coming three weeks plus will continue to provide great insights and experiences for each participant as they continue in their spiritual journey in preparation for their perpetual vows.  This coming week, the PPP assembly will be making a visit to Coin, as well as visiting the homes of Maximin and Melanie in Corps and the SNDS community in Gap.  Please keep all of our participants and volunteers in your prayers during this month of our PPP assembly.

Manuel Crespo MS

Rain for These Roots
(Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23)
A parable is a comparison. It can be a short saying, or it can be, as in today’s Gospel, fairly long and detailed.
Jesus compares those who hear his word to seeds planted in a variety of soils. Isaiah compares God’s word to water. The two images dovetail perfectly, and remind me of 1 Corinthians 3:6, where St. Paul writes, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.”
We can discern also a sort of parable in our text from St. Paul. He contrasts suffering with the glory that is to come. We might see suffering as preparing the soil for planting, a tedious, painful process, recalling God’s word to Adam: “By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat.”
The Beautiful Lady of La Salette was addressing people who were no strangers to the “sweat of their face.” Theirs was a hard life; in 1846 they had little to show for it. They were staring famine in the face.
For the most part they would fit into the third group identified by Jesus, the seed sown among the thorns of worldly anxiety. Rain had a lot to do with the famine—too much when less was needed, too little when it was needed most, resulting in the loss of both staple crops, wheat and potatoes.
Mary wept genuinely over her people’s suffering, but did not hesitate to make the connection to their lack of faith. Could the failure of the earth to produce its fruits make them realize their own failure to produce the fruits of a Christian life?
Still, all of today’s readings are a source of hope. Jesus knows that there will be rich soil; Isaiah knows that God’s words will accomplish its purpose; Paul knows that glory awaits the faithful.
Fr. Michael Cox, M.S. wrote a book in 1956, with the title Rain for These Roots, about the significance of Mary’s apparitions at La Salette, Lourdes and Fatima. He drew the title from the last words of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins: “Lord of life, send my roots rain!”
We can easily make the comparison between rain and Our Lady’s tears. They are a parable without words.

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?

No Fear
(Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10: 26-33)
When I ask people what their favorite part of the La Salette message is, most quote the opening words, “Come closer, children, don’t be afraid.”
We see Jeremiah surrounded by enemies, and yet his confidence in the Lord is unshaken. The source of that confidence goes back to the first verses of Chapter 1, the moment when God called him to be a prophet. Jeremiah wasn’t so sure. “I am too young,” he said. God answered, “To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.”
Just before today’s Gospel passage, Jesus has been telling tells his Apostles to expect persecution and betrayal even from their own families. And then he tells them, more than once, “Do not be afraid.”
Few of us have the power to dispel the fears of another. We can say “Don’t worry,” but the worrier is rarely convinced. The reason is simple: we are incapable of inspiring the same confidence as Jesus or the Beautiful Lady.
St. Paul makes it clear where our Christian confidence comes from. In reflecting on human sinfulness, he points out that God’s grace has “overflowed.” Grace is far more powerful than the transgression.
The Church is sometimes accused to being obsessed with sin. We begin the Mass with a penitential rite. We spend forty days of Lent each year focusing on our sinfulness. We encourage people to confess their sins regularly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our Lady of La Salette, like the prophets, seems to dwell on the sins of her people.
That is true; but by showing sinners how far they have strayed, Mary, the prophets, and the Church are inviting them to turn back. By being reminded of our sins, we are invited to remember God’s grace.
If ever you find yourself keeping your distance from God because of your sins, remember this: no one (not even you) is beyond the Lord’s power to save, no one is beyond God’s willingness to forgive.
Don’t stay away. Come closer, don’t be afraid.

What Matters
(Trinity Sunday: Exodus 34:4-6 & 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18)
The theme of today’s readings is unmistakable: God’s mercy and compassion, his immense love for the world. The same God who reveals himself as Father, Son and Spirit, reveals himself as “slow to anger and rich in kindness,” a phrase that recurs several times in the Scriptures.

God is “slow to anger.” This does not mean that he is indifferent to sin. In fact, the verse omitted from the first reading describes God also as “not declaring the guilty guiltless.” Moses acknowledges that his is a “stiff-necked people.” Paul reminds the Corinthians to mend their ways. Even John’s Gospel acknowledges the possibility of condemnation, just two verses after proclaiming that “God so loved the world.”
If God didn’t care about sin, Our Lady would have had no reason to appear at La Salette. She came because our sins matter.

There is a difference between sins and crimes. While most crimes would probably also be sins, not every sin is a crime. Failure to respect the name of Jesus, or observe Lenten abstinence, or keep the Sabbath rest, or attend Sunday Mass—none of these is a criminal act, and yet Mary complained about them in tears.
Crimes are defined by society and punished by society, because they matter to the well-being and good order of society.
In Psalm 51 David prays, “Against you, you alone have I sinned.” What about Uriah, whom he caused to be killed? What about Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, whom he seduced? Did he not sin against them? There is no doubt that he committed crimes against them, because these things mattered to the society in which he lived.

Yes, these crimes were also sins, because they mattered to God, even more than to society.
Sin is not only a question of breaking a commandment. It is a violation of the relationship we are called to have with God, a relationship that matters deeply.
In many ways, the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette demonstrates that what matters to us (famine, death of children) matters to God.
That should prompt us to wonder whether what matters to God really matters to us as well.

The Gift
(Pentecost: Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13; John 20:19-23)
Jesus had told his disciples to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) This is why they were “all in one place together,” but they cannot have known what to expect. Then, suddenly, many things happened all at once—wind! fire! the ability to speak in new tongues!

We speak of the “gift” of tongues. It is not so much a gift to the person who receives it, but it is “for some benefit” to the Church. In theology, this kind of gift is called a charism.
Apparitions and miracles are referred to as “charismatic events,” because they are a gift to believers. They serve to reinforce our faith, or increase our devotion and commitment, and thus they benefit the whole Church.
The charism of La Salette was carefully studied in the 1970’s, and came to be identified with Reconciliation. This gift is not unique to La Salette, but is given through La Salette in a unique way.
Today’s Gospel provides an excellent illustration. Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
At La Salette Shrines and in La Salette ministry generally, people are reminded of the importance and the value of the gift that is the Sacrament of Penance, as well as the gift of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation with our neighbor. Reconciliation is thus a focal point.

But Reconciliation is not unique to La Salette. The Missionaries of the Precious Blood, for example, see it as their charism also, but it doesn’t “belong” to them either. It belongs to the Church, which received it when Jesus reconciled the world to the Father, “making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:20).
The uniqueness comes from the different perspective, the prism through which the charism is received and reflected. This, too, is a gift of the Spirit.
In our case the gift and charism of Reconciliation is filtered through the event, the message and the Beautiful Lady of La Salette.

(Seventh Sunday of Easter: Acts 1:12-14; 1 Peter 4:13-16; John 17:1-11. NOTE: The Ascension readings are different.)
Jesus’ last extended discourse in John’s Gospel ends with a long prayer, which includes these words: "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”
Over time, alas! the situation deteriorated. Some scholars claim that when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, it lost its fervor. Many became Christians because there was now a material advantage in doing so—like being a card-carrying member of the Party in Communist countries.
Be that as it may, Christianity in France in 1846 had certainly lost its fervor. A Beautiful Lady appeared on a mountain in hopes of restoring it. She used the words, “my people,” reminiscent of Jesus’ words, “those whom you gave me.” She, too, prayed for them, as she said, “without ceasing.”
In those days there was little material advantage in being a Christian. Observing the Day of Rest, for example, seemed counter-productive in a world where there was much poverty, complicated by the prospect of famine. There certainly was none of the rejoicing “to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ,” recommended by St. Peter.
We can wring our hands and bemoan the state of religion in today’s world, but that is not helpful. We can join Mary in praying “without ceasing” for a discovery of faith, or a return to faith, or a deepening of faith.
The list of names in the Acts of the Apostles gives us hope, especially as Mary was among those gathered in prayer. There is a very long unwritten list of those who have been and continue to be faithful disciples. Our Lady came to La Salette to draw others back to discipleship.
In a recent homily, Pope Francis said: “Whenever Mary puts Jesus in the midst of his people, they encounter joy.”
Mary appeared in tears in that isolated spot in the Alps. But she retains her title, “Cause of our Joy.” And think of her joy when her people welcome her Son back in their midst!

(Sixth Sunday of Easter: Acts 8:5-17; 1 Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21)
Our Gospel text begins with, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments;” and ends with, “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
We are accustomed to the comforting message of God’s unconditional love. But here it seems Jesus is placing a condition on his love, namely, the keeping of his commandments. This might trouble us, especially when we are particularly conscious of our sinfulness. Could we ever be completely cut off from God’s love? The answer, of course, is an emphatic No.
But a similar concern arises when people first hear the message of La Salette. After calling the children to her, Our Lady said: “If my people refuse to submit, I shall be forced to let go the arm of my Son. It is so strong and so heavy, I can no longer hold it back.”
What to make of this? It is unthinkable that Mary is trying to prevent an angry Jesus from inflicting punishment on us. He is the Savior; he took our guilt and punishment on himself.
Many attempts have been made to explain away the obvious meaning of Our Lady’s words. Early accounts of the Apparition sometimes have “hand” instead of “arm,’ and “hold up” instead of “hold back,” but that seems to make little difference.
Isaiah 5:25 has this: “Therefore the wrath of the Lord blazes against his people, he stretches out his hand to strike them... For all this, his wrath is not turned back, his hand is still outstretched.”
Like the prophet, the Beautiful Lady uses an image familiar to her “audience.” Unfortunately that was a time and a world when harsh physical discipline and domestic violence were common. Had she appeared in our time and world, no doubt she would have used a different image.
It would be interesting to speculate what that image might be. It would have to be striking enough to get our attention and strong enough to convince today’s “audience” of the urgency of turning back to God.
Once that goal is achieved, there is no fear. “Perfect love casts out fear,” leaving “great joy.”

Dear fathers, Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings!
On the fourth day of the Regional Ad Instar Capituli Meeting of Myanmar ( 11 May 2017), the Election of the Regional Superior and his Council has been done:

Fr. David Kyaw Kyaw Lwin , MS - Regional Superior
Fr. Philip Mahka Naw Aung, MS - Regional Vicar
Fr. Jerome Saw EIPHAN, MS - Second Assistant

I remember you that the new Region’s name is "Mary, Mothter of Mission" = Maria, Mater Missionis.

Note: in the photo from left to right (Jerome, David, Philip)

Thank you for your prayers!

Belarmino, ms