FATHER NORMAN BUTLER

LETTER TO THE SALETTINIAN FAMILY

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

INTERNATIONAL DAY LAY SALETTINIANS

Tell those who are discouraged

"Be strong, fear not! Here is your God! "

He comes to save them.

                      Isaiah

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Salettinian Family:

We are about to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of La Salette! And as part of the celebrations, we celebrate today the International Lay Salettinian Day! This initiative began in the First International meeting of Lay Salettinians last year, was confirmed by the General Chapter of the Missionaries in April and now we make a date with joy. Celebrate Salettinian identity with activities to deepen our spirituality and to make known the gracious appearance of the Beautiful Lady.  To all of you, Congratulations!

Our spirituality is Christocentric. Mary of La Salette wants to take us to her Son Jesus. She speaks of "my son", wearing a large crucifix on her chest and is surrounded by the Easter light of Her Son. Mary cries over the separation between faith and life, a separation that harms the human person in the depths of his being. She asks for prayer, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation which act as means able to reestablish the link between our daily life and the source of meaning and joy: Jesus, the way, truth and life. This Jesus, the only Savior, we are disciples and missionaries, and stresses again and again in the Document of the Message.

The joy of every mother is to see her children happy, able to bring life to a personal, material and spiritual level of happiness. So it is with our mother of La Salette: "If they are converted, the rocks will turn into heaps of wheat." It is wheat that feeds the body and it is wheat that becomes Eucharist where Jesus is present as our Bread of Life.

That personal prayer and sacramental celebrations of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, combined with actions to promote reconciliation are visible signs this is the month of  Salettinian conversion linking faith and life for our good and that of the world.

Hugs,

Fr. Norman MS