Items filtered by date: April 2019

Wiping away Every Tear

(5th Sunday of Easter: Acts 14:21-27; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:31-35)

When we see someone crying, our first instinct is, often, to wonder what is the matter and, perhaps not often enough, to wonder whether we can or should do something to ease the pain or grief that lies behind the tears. 

Those who are sometimes puzzled or even offended by Mary’s words at La Salette need to remember the tears that accompanied them. One and the same sorrow is at the source of both.

In today’s gospel Jesus offers the ultimate key to consoling the disconsolate. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” If only we could all live this new commandment perfectly! Not only would we do everything in our power to respond to all the suffering around us and in the world at large, but we would likewise devote our best efforts to eliminating the root causes of so much unhappiness.

Like Paul and Barnabas in the second reading, we would recognize that “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” But these hardships are different from the suffering that leads to despair. They are endured out of love, and in the midst of them the disciples of Jesus can support one another. More than once Jesus made it clear that his disciples could not expect an easy life.

Mary at La Salette wept for—and with—her people as she looked on their sins and hardships. Moved by the same love that moved her Son, she responded in her maternal way. She cannot make all our troubles disappear, but she offers a way through them, a way of trust, of hope, of faith.

No one person can do everything, but each can do something, however simple, in communion with the Lord, to "make all things new." 

The best-known English hymn to Our Lady of La Salette has the refrain:

I long to dry thy tears,
To make thy message known,
Of penance, prayer and zeal,
Until God calls me home.

One way to dry her tears is to look through her eyes on her people’s suffering, and then do our part to “wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Published in MISSION (EN)

Why Don’t they Get it?

(4th Sunday of Easter: Acts 13: 14, 43-52; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:27-30)

Have you ever had the experience of knowing something to be true but being unable to convince others? To you it is perfectly clear, but everyone looks at you as though you were speaking a foreign language, and you wonder, “Why don’t they get it?”

This was the experience of Paul and Barnabas. They went to the synagogue, eager to share with their Jewish brethren the fantastic news that the Scriptures had been fulfilled and the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. There was initial interest—we are told that almost the whole city gathered to hear them. Paul’s preaching was clear, logical, verifiable. Why didn’t they understand?

At La Salette, Mary addressed a similar situation when she said: “You take no heed!” Her people were oblivious to her concern for them, and to the ways she had tried to make them aware of the consequences of neglecting their faith.

So she did what she had to do to get their attention. She came, she wept, she spoke, sometimes even harshly—whatever it might take to make her people see what she saw.

The Church has often been in the same situation. We Christians have such Good News to share, but there are obstacles to faith. Secular society has little respect for believers. Scandals in the Church make it difficult to hear the Shepherd’s voice above the outcry. Rivalries among Christians distract them from the Christ they all strive to serve. In the case of Antioch in Pisidia, jealousy on the part of the synagogue leaders led to rejection of Paul’s preaching; then came opposition and, finally, persecution.

At the time of the Apparition, among the chief obstacles to the practice of the faith in France was the anticlericalism inherited from the French Revolution. Besides that, life was hard for so many. But Our Lady of La Salette chose not to stand by and watch her people bring destruction on themselves.

Her tears, her words and even her choice of witnesses, were to make sure that we “get it,” so that we might stand among the multitude shepherded by the Lamb of God to springs of life-giving water.

Published in MISSION (EN)

Guilty as Charged?

(3rd Sunday of Easter: Acts 5:27-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19)

A question often quoted in Christian sermons asks, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would they find enough evidence to convict you?” The Apostles, in today’s reading from Acts, sought no defense against the charges brought against them. They admitted their guilt, and they left the court “rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” 

When we see how Mary at La Salette described the behavior of her people, we would have to conclude they could easily have pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the accusation of being Christian.

Earlier, in Acts 4:18, the Apostles had been forbidden to speak in the name of Jesus. At that time, Peter had answered: “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.” Now, in Chapter 5, though they are found guilty of again speaking “in that name,” they are released, but with a warning which includes flogging. The verse immediately after our reading adds: “And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus.”

At La Salette, on the other hand, the Beautiful Lady states that her people, in moments of anger, “cannot swear without throwing in my Son’s Name.”

In Revelation we read today, “I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever." 

The whole universe praises the Father and the Son, except for “my people.” Mary complains on God’s behalf: “I gave you six days to work; I kept the seventh for myself, and no one will give it to me.”

Let us be clear. The message of La Salette is not limited to religious practices; their origin lies in a relationship of respect and love. This is what gave the Apostles courage in the face of persecution.

In the longer version of today’s Gospel, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” If with Peter we may honestly answer, “You know that I love you,” and live accordingly, then yes, we are guilty of being Christians.

Published in MISSION (EN)

Telling the Story

(2nd Sunday of Easter: Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-19; John 20:19-31)

“Write down what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.” Jesus says this to John in the first chapter of Revelation and, quite naturally, we assume it refers to the prophetic visions that will be described in the ensuing chapters.

But there are three parts to the assignment, the first of which is “what you have seen.” May this not refer to John’s Gospel and Letters?

The opening of 1 John insists on this: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

On September 20, 1846, a Sunday evening, Baptiste Pra, Mélanie’s employer, invited Pierre Selme (whose sick shepherd Maximin had replaced for just six days), and Jean Moussier (another man of the same hamlet, Les Ablandens) to come to his house. They asked Mélanie to tell them again what the Beautiful Lady had said to her and Maximin on the mountainside the day before. More importantly, they wrote it down!

They were not well educated, but they were able to translate into French the parts spoken in the local dialect. It was not quickly done. Why did they do this? The only reasonable explanation is that they felt it was important to do so. 

They gave their document a curious title: “Letter Dictated by the Blessed Virgin to Two Children on the Mountain of La Salette-Fallavaux.” This shows they understood that this was to be passed on to others. We mean exactly the same when we speak of the message of La Salette.

But let us look at our Gospel. While we may not think that one passage is more important than another, Thomas’s story—absence, refusal to believe, ultimatum, profession of faith—is well worth telling.

It is also a message. And lest we miss that point, John adds: “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” 

The La Salette story serves exactly the same purpose.

Published in MISSION (EN)

The Empty Tomb

(The Easter Vigil offers seven Old Testament readings, a New Testament reading, plus the Gospel. The Easter Sunday Mass also has options to choose from.)

All four Gospels speak of women going to the tomb on Sunday morning and finding angels there instead of the body of Jesus. In Luke the angels say to the women, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.”

The empty tomb is one of the most powerful symbols in all the Scriptures, probably because a tomb is usually so absolute, so final. When Jesus rose from the dead, he gained a double victory. He conquered death; death is no longer the end, and therefore it has lost its power to inspire despair. At the same time, he overcame sin once for all.

For our part, we need to enter into that triumph by continually accepting the salvation acquired for us. This is easier said than done, which explains why so many private revelations, including La Salette, draw us back to this truth.

We have been set free. We are no longer imprisoned by or entombed in sin. In Romans 6, St. Paul wrote: “We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him… For sin is not to have any power over you.”

The message of La Salette is addressed to people who have yielded to the power of sin by turning away from the love of God. Even today, the title of Mary as “Reconciler of Sinners” is validated as pilgrims visiting La Salette shrines throughout the world turn back to God. This is no easier today than it was in 1846. It takes a powerful grace to turn a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. But Mary’s tears at La Salette can soften the hearts of those who might otherwise resist her words.

St. Paul writes: “Death is swallowed up in victory;” and, in another place, “You too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.” In this way we acquire a new self-image. Yes, we are still sinners, but we are not defined by our sin. 

Rather, we are defined by the supreme moment in the life of Jesus, his resurrection. His triumph is our triumph. His empty tomb is our empty tomb. 

Alleluia!

Published in MISSION (EN)
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