"...Jesus did not make all these rules..."

Jesus answered: "It is not everyone who can accept what I have just said..."

Notice that Jesus did not back pedal.

I received this email a couple days ago after sending out an email explaining some of the basic canon laws concerning the sacrament of matrimony:

"My question is..... Jesus did not make all these rules, the clergy made all these dogma of faith. All too restrictive and pushes away people to the church. Here comes pope Francis who wants to include all. In the ministry, lectors etc, I reserve my opinion.;)"
(The statement in red is erroneous, but read on anyway because I don't make the dogma of faith a central part of this writing.)

My answer is this:
Jesus made all these rules and never backed away from them.  The rules about marriage appear in Matthew,chapter 5 and chapter 19.  Notice that when his listeners start to negotiate the matter, Jesus tells them that there are some who can take it and some who can't.  None can if they try to do it by themelves.  It is only possible with the gift of God.  Period.  Pope Francis can't change that, and he knows it. 
5 Jesus said: ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

7 They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss [her]?”

8 He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

9 I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.”

10 [His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted.”  (Mt 19)

These are the Jesus rules for marriage.  He also left us with the rules for how to treat strangers, how to pay laborers, how to pray, how to live our lives in obedience to His Father, how to serve one another, etc.  You want rules?  Read the Bible.  You want to negotiate the rules for your own comfort?  Read the New York Times.

God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ listened to prayers which were presented to them begging for a mitigation of punishment.  We have the example of Abraham negotiating for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah; we have the example of Moses praying for God to show mercy to His people in the desert after they were caught worshipping an idol; we have numerous examples of Jesus listening to prayers for the forgiveness of sins and the curing of the lame, etc.

In the above examples, and there are many more in Sacred Scripture, we see God granting merciful justice in response to valid and sincere petitions for help and forebearance.

NOWHERE is there an example of God the Father or His Son Jesus Christ granting a mitigation of their commands for doctrinal or moral obedience...nowhere...even at the cost of seeing people turning their back on Them and walking away. 

Think of the story of Jesus in the Synagogue of Nazareth where His people sought to kill Him; think of the accusers of the adulteress who walked away in shame; think of those who walked away from the "Eat my flesh and drink my blood" statement; think of the followers of the "Way" who were expelled from the Temple;  think of the many times St. Paul was bodily removed from the synagogues of the places to which he brought the Good News.  

You don't see any signs of God negotiating to make things easier, do you?

His covenant, the New and Everlasting Covenant is sealed in the blood of His Son and countersigned in our blood, nothing less.  Just ask any martyr.

Moreover, let's take the example of the Mother of Jesus leaving "her people" a message about the rules: "If you do not obey I will be forced to let fall the arm of my Son.  It is so heavy I can hardly restrain it."

Mother Mary does not negotiate the terms of the consequences of the falling of the Arm of her Son.  She says plainly and forcefully:

"If the harvest is spoiled, it is your own fault. I warned you last year by means of the potatoes. You paid no heed. Quite the contrary, when you discovered that the potatoes had rotted, you swore, you abused my Son's name. They will continue to be spoiled, and by Christmas time this year there will be none left. If you have wheat, it will do no good to sow it, for what you sow the vermin will eat, and whatever part of it springs up will crumble into dust when you thresh it.

A great famine is coming. But before that happens, children under seven years of age will be seized with trembling and die in the arms of those holding them. The others will pay for their sins by hunger. The grapes will rot and the walnuts will become worm-eaten."

The clergy does not have the authority to talk like that.

In conclusion, listen to our Holy Mother at La Salette talking to us after pointing out the cursing by using the name of Jesus; the lack of Mass attendance and the lack of fasting during Lent:

"If the harvest is spoiled it is your own fault."  

I think I see a couple of "clergy" rules in there, right?

My point in all of this is this:

The Bible as we know it is at least 3,000 years old from its first words.  About 1,800 years old in its present form.  It tells us about what God wants us to know about Him.  Who He is and what He expects from us and what He promises to do for us and what He expects us to do for Him in return.  During all this time, from chapter 3 to this day, people have turned their backs on Him, All the while blaming Him for their defection.  It never seems to be our fault, to hear us tell it.

Here and now I say with the Weeping Mother at La Salette, it is our fault, because we turn our back to His extended Hand of Grace. It is our fault when we subtract our soul from His presence in His Church by blaming her rules rather than to see Him in her call to obey His rules.

If you can't help yourself from crying at funerals, then you shouldn't to come to mine because I don't allow crying at my funeral.

Peace to you all.

THE SPIRIT OF LA SALETTE - IMMACULATE CONCEPTION - HOLYOKE

CELLE QUI PLEURE

Ever since I received the news of the transfer of the Immaculate Conception parish in Holyoke, Massachusetts from the La Salette Missionaries to the bishop of the diocese of Springfield, I have been thinking of the sorrow and the disappointment of the faithful who carry one hundred years of history, culture and tradition about the parish in their hearts.  I live in Southern California.  I, my siblings, my mother and a large number of my maternal forebears were all products of the Immaculate Conception school and the spiritual life of the parish.  It is impossible to disconnect our lives from this history.
I want to make this a celebratory review because the call for the departure of the missionaries makes me all the prouder of my family's connection to this "Mission Outpost" of the La Salette Missionaries.  I say "Outpost" purposely, and pointedly.  I say it that way because Missionaries are, by their vocation, movers and shakers, and settlers and builders.  By vocation, missionaries are called to preach, teach, establish, found and turn over a ready to be driven product.  Missionaries are never more at home than when they are in unknown territory.  Missionaries are never more eloquent than when they struggle to communicate in a second or third language.  Missionaries are never more satiated than when they cope with strange cuisine.  Missionaries are never happier than the day they finally understand that "Yes, I'll try my best" means "NO."
Here are some thoughts that I have been sleepless over for the last few nights.
1. Immaculate Conception was founded to serve Franco-Americans.  It did that very well.  Some forty years ago, Holy Rosary Church, only about one fourth of mile away, was dismantled and the weepers and mourners were as much Franco-American as any other national group.  The missionaries of La Salette, children of the Mother who told them to "Make this known to ALL my people" had made good on their promise.
2. It has been quite a while since the Franco-American community has diminished and the Puerto Rican community has grown.  The missionaries had just the right guy in the wings.  Father Tom Reilly, MS came to the parish and blessed it with his liguistic ability to handle French, Italian, Spanish and English.  [I am sure that his Franco-American patois was not very great.]  Now, that's making it known to ALL my people.
3. The main lobby of the old Immaculate Conception school is perhaps no longer the exhibit hall of the priests who had studied and graduated from the school.  At least one of them was related to me, or so his brothers said.  Henri Durand was a paratrooper chaplain during the War.  René Brisebois also served as a chaplain during the War.  Maurice Rondeau was a dear friend who sadly enough, died young.  There were many more, but I can only remember those three off hand and a fourth that I will carry only in my heart.
4. For those of you who doubt that this was a mission parish, I present the greatest missionary of them all to serve us, Julien Marie Ginet, MS.  He took the church from very humble beginnings and made it a monument to God's glory.  Working people made it happen.  It didn't matter whether they were Franco-American or not.  The people of this blue collar ward made it happen.  Fr. Ginet was a tough Frenchman.  He was from a section of France very near La Salette.  He left there, came to North America and never returned to his home country.  He stayed here on orders from Our Mother Mary to make it known to ALL her people.
5. This tough Frenchman saved my grandfather's emotional life.  When my grandfather lost his right hand in an industrial accident at the old Lyman Mills his psychological health was deeply impaired.  I think that it is after this that his eldest son also died from a nasty set of circumstances.  Not violence.  Lack of medical expertise and technology.
Fr. Ginet started to visit the family every Saturday night to play Parchesi.  One Saturday, so the story as I heard it, goes, Fr. Ginet told my Grandfather, "Joseph, take your tool box and come to the rectory after the daily Mass on Monday morning."  It's a longer story than this, but suffice it to say that Joseph followed the pastor's command.  From that moment until about 1949, some 50 years, Joseph worked at the parish center as a carpenter and cabinet maker.  Yep, he taught himself how to do it without his dominant hand.
6. During and after Father Ginet, missionaries from far away places on the globe came to Immaculate Conception.  There was William Breault, MS who came after a stint in Madagascar.  There was Joseph Labonté, MS who had spent time in Burma before the white people were told to leave from there.  There were some priests who came from the La Salette mission in Saskachewan.  All of these dedicated men gave everything that they had to the apartment house dwelling blue collar population of the "Flats."

I could go on, but I won't.  I have made my point.  The La Salette missionaries should not be bathed in our tears these days.  They should be celebrated and thanked for the apostolic success that, by the Grace of God, they have shown the Church.  They have done valiant work for God and God's flock over one century.  There are other vineyards to be cultivated where the La Salette Missionaries are dearly needed.  Let me name just a few, off the cuff; Bolivia, Argentina, Haiti, the great Canadian Tundra as well as Eastern Europe and many countries in Africa.  Lest I forget, the inner cities of the United States of America, its jails and prisons as well as its hospitals and universities.  

Therefore, thank God for the La Salette Missionaries.  For many of us, they made us who we are.  Why cry over that?  They gave the Church a couple dozen good priests just from Immaculate Conception alone.  Why cry over that?  They took care of the growing Puerto Rican community in difficult times.  Why cry over that?  
Remember, it is the missionary's vocation to be the John the Baptist of the Church...he prepares the way and then gets out of the way.

Come to think of it, isn't that something like we are all called to do?  Even Jesus came to give us the way, teach us how to walk it, pass the way on to others and then go home to where we all belong.  So, when I get called back home, you now know that you do not have to cry for me.

165th ANNIVERSARY OF LA SALETTE CELEBRATED

Celebration of the 165^th Anniversary of the Apparition  of Our Lady of La Salette

 La Salette Alums and friends

St. CHRISTOPHER PARISH, Moreno Valley, CA

“MAKE THIS  MESSAGE KNOWN TO ALL MY PEOPLE”

“Wow, this is marvelous to see all the ethnic communities in the parish come together to celebrate  this spiritual event…first time ever,” commented by a parishioner.

Yes, on Sept. 17, all the ethnic communities of St Christopher parish in Moreno Valley came together to celebrate the 165^th anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to two cowherds, Melanie and Maximin, in the French alps near the village of La Salette on September 19, 1846. The parish is administered by the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.

LITURGY OPENS THE EVENT…

Native American bringing gifts to the altar

The Eucharist is very central in the message of our Lady of La Salette. As a prelude to the Liturgy, a video of the story of the apparition was played before the mass began.

The Event began with Mass in which members of the different ethnic communities of the parish participated. The first and second readings were read by two children in Tagalog (Filipiono language) and Spanish respectively. As this was being read, the English translation was projected on the screens in front of the faithful.

Fr. Arlan Intal, MS, delivered a very inspiring homily after which he and the other La Salette Fathers renewed their vows as religious and prayed the Consecration to our Lady of La Salette in front of the image of our Lady.

The prayers of the faithful were read in different languages by the Adults: English, Tagalog, Spanish, African (Sierra Leone, Africa), Slovak, Native American and French.) The English translations were also projected on the screen.

 A group of young people who were dressed colorfully in their traditional ethnic costumes presented of the Gifts of Bread and Wine with liturgical movements.

DISPLAY OF  MARIAN IMAGES BY THE ETHNIC COMMUNITIES…

A very important part of the celebration was the display of Marian images brought by the different ethnic communities: A Japanese Madonna, African, Filipino, Hispanic, to name a few.  One of the most emotionally powerful images is this one.

Collection of cultural expressions of La Salette Apparition
expressed by the delegates to the First International Gathering
of Salettinian Lay People at La Salette, France, Septembeer 1 - 10, 2011

ETHNIC FOODS AND ENTERTAINMENT…

The multicultural celebration of Eucharist and prayer continued with an international cuisine and entertainment provided by the ethnic communities. This was an occasion for getting to know one another as well as enjoying the ethnic dances and songs.  

The drama of the Prodigal Son  presented by the Drama Ministry of the Parish concluded the  entertainment, so appropriately with the message of our Lady of

La Salette: Conversion and Reconciliation

We are sure that our Lady was looking down on us with glee on this day. Indeed this memorable celebration was an occasion to make our Lady’s message known to ALL her people at St. Christopher’s Church.

The Father of the Prodigal Son