WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT SEPTEMBER 19?

One of the favorite personal stories that was told from the head table during a plenary session of the Rencontre at La Salette was the following.  It was told by the leader of the Presentation for the day.  he was talking about some ritualistic behaviors that would take place at his home when he was growing up.  Since he was born and brought up in a household where Our Lady of La Salette was the Queen, there was always something going on for September 19.  His big question at the time was, "Why September 19?"  He would always get an answer, but bright boy that he was [still is], he kept nagging for a better answer for a long time in life. Why September 19?  Why the 19?  Finally, one day his mother, in exasperation told him, "I don"t  know.  Go ask the Blessed Virgin why she does things.  So, he went to the Queen and asked.  Imagine his disappointment when she didn't give the the answer he wanted right then and there.  Now, Our Boy is not easily deterred.  He kept asking and, he says, after many years, he finally got the answer.  September 19, 1846 is the only day in their lives that Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud were together, working at the same place at the same time.  So, as Father Adilson tells it, Our Mother, Mary struck while the iron was hot.  He has lived all his life in the company of Our Lady of La Salette and he is happy with her answer.  I am too.

So that was September 19, 1846.  It has been 165 years and the work still goes on.  Much of it starts in a family and stays there.  Father Adilson comes from such a family.  So does my spouse.  So do I. My father was a La Salette seminarian in Hartford Connecticut.  My mother and her siblings were all baptized by La Salette Missionaries in Holyoke, Massachusetts.  Her father, my grandfather worked for the La Salette Missionaries as the cabinet maker and maintenance overseer for fifty years.  The same school that we all attended for over 70 years...three generations.  We are not alone.  It is the grace of La Salette.  It is no wonder that we are known for the grace of our generous and warm hospitality.  We can't help it.  With Mary as the head of household, how else can you be?  We're all family.   I am comfortable with September 19.  I am glad that Mama Mary waited for these two children to work together.  It makes the story so powerful that it warms the heart of the entire world.  So, that's what I did today.  I played with Melanie and Maximin in God's sandbox.  God blessed the 19th.
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We also went to visit Father Maurice Cardinal, MS.  He is doing fine.  He is in a convalescent home.  A nice one.  Clean.  Fresh smell.  Kind staff.  Maurice has founded a new parish.  I get the feeling that they may never let him go.  I also know that he has something to say about that.  He is scheduled to leave on Saturday, and he is not about to negotiate that away.  We respected his dignity and didn't take a picture of his face with a patch of his left thigh grafted onto his face.  We also respected his dignity by refraining from asking if they took the skin from the top or the...  He is doing well.  He also doesn't mind my correcting myself about his age.  I've been telling you that he is 86.  He proudly states that he is 87, going on 88 in December.  I stand corrected.  I did tell him one thing that I want you all to know...This is one of God's creatures who, at 88, is not old.
One last thing:  He appreciates our prayers.  He is also praying for all of us.  I assured him that it is mutual.  I know that I am right.  
Kadakayo amin iti Isabela.  Naoneg unay koma ti utangyo a naimbag a nakem kenni Father Maurice.  Pangaasiyo, iloaloanyo isuna tapno nasayaatto ti tungpalanna.  Arakupenatayo amin isuna iti nakemtayo tapno mariknana ti ayattayo, uray no adayo ti pagyananna.

BIENVENUS -- BENVENUTI -- WELCOME -- DOZO...AVETE OMNES

THE POWER OF A CRYING MOTHER
IL POTERE DI UNA MADRE CHE PIANGE
LE POUVOIR D'UNE MERE EN LARMES
EL PODER DE UNA MADRE QUE LLORA

Most of you will be getting this sometime on September 19.  I have been reviewing the documents that were submitted to me by the reverend Vicar General.  One of them is a simple "welcome" in the name of the Superior General and the General Council of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.  It is the simple language of this gentle, firm and sincere welcome that is impressive to me.  The moment of welcome has long gone.  Or has it?  A warm welcome never abandons the one to whom it is sincerely offered.  It defines the relationship and relationships never end.  They just change.  Welcomes too, by their nature do not end.  They change; they wear thin.  They never end.
Please do as I did.  Reread this one.  There is a rule of life in it.  The tall man in blue on the left extended it.  He is a good and valiant messenger.  Here is what he wrote.  The original French first and the translation (mine, unauthorized) follows.
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Soyez les bienvenus!

(P. Silvano Marisa, vicaire général MS)

C’est   une honneur ainsi qu’un grand plaisir pour moi de donner à vous tous, laics salettins et Soeurs de La Salette, la bienvenue ici au sanctuaire, au nom du P. Dennis Loomis, Supérieur Général de la Congrégation et de son Conseil.
Par votre presence ici vous voulez dire à haute voi que la spiritualité salettine, avec son charisme de réconciliation,  qui est tout d’abord  un don de Dieu, vous affecte et elle  est fort importante pour votre chemin de chrétiens.
Vous etes ici pour vous ressourcer au niveau de l’esprit bien sur, mais aussi, j’espère, en vue de votre ministère et mission dans le monde.
Les Missionnaires de La Salette qui ont organisé cette rencontre savent  très bien que l’esprit   qui découle de l’apparition n’est pas un patrimoine exclusif à eux, mais ça appartient à l’Eglise en tant que telle et donc à tout homme et à toute femme de bonne volonté. 
Ils sont fiers de votre présence et ils y tiennent à vous dire un grand merci pour votre engagement au niveau  de la mission de l’Institut et de l’Eglise  partout dans le monde.
Touchés par le message de la Vierge en pleurs nous tous sommes invites à accueillir dans nos vies l’invitation que la Belle Dame  a fait à Maximin et Mélanie: “Avancez, mes enfants, n’ayez pas peur, je suis ici pour vous conter une grande nouvelle” et encore.”et bien, mes enfants, vous le ferez passer à tout mon peuple”.
Oui, si aujourd’hui nous sommes ici à La Salette, c’est parce que la Vierge nous a rassemblés des quatre coins du monde autour d’Elle pour nous parler de tout l’amour dont le Père de Jésus Christ nous aime et pour faire de nous des témoins crédibles de cet amour au milieu de nos frères les hommes. 
Appelés à partager la meme spiritualité des MS, vous etes appelés, au meme titre, à partager leur mission, à savoir leur ministère de réconciliation dans le monde par la parole, l’engagement  et le témoignage personnel aux differents niveaux ( familial, social, politique aussi bien qu’écclésial). 
Ensemble nous sommes engagés dans l’Eglise et le monde d’aujourd’hui à preparer  et faciliter la venue du Royaume de Dieu. N’est ce pas là la mission que la Vierge a confiée  en 1846 à Maximin  et à Mélanie et par eux à nous tous?
Je vous souhaite un  très agréable séjour sur la sainte montagne bénie par la présence de Marie ainsi qu’une profitable session de travail pendant les jours à venir.

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It  is an honor and a pleasure for me,  on behalf of Fr. Dennis Loomis, Superior General of the Congregation and its Board, to give you all, laity and Salettinians as well as Sisters of La Salette, a warm welcome to the sanctuary.

By your presence here you say in a loud voice the Salettinian spirituality, with reconciliation as its charisma, which is a gift from God, is very important to your way of life as Christians.

You are here to revisit and draw anew from a refreshed source for the enrichment of your mind, of course, but I hope for your ministry and mission in the world as well.

The Missionaries of La Salette who organized this meeting are well aware that the spirit that comes from the Apparition is not their exclusive hegemony, but it belongs to the Church first and thus to every man  and to all women of good will.

They are proud of your presence and they like to say a big thank you for your involvement in the mission of the Institute and of the Church throughout the world.

Affected by the message of the Virgin in tears we are all invited to receive the invitation in our lives that “La Belle Dame” gave to Melanie and Maximin: "Come, my children, do not be afraid, I'm here to tell you great news ", and more. " well, my children, you will go to all my people. "

Yes, if today we are here in La Salette, it is because the Virgin has brought us together from around the world to tell us about all the love the Father of Jesus Christ has for us.  This makes us credible witnesses of this love among our fellow men.

Called to share the same spirituality of The vowed Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, you are called, in the same way, to share their mission and their ministry of reconciliation to the world by word, commitment and personal witness to the various levels (family, social, both political and ecclesial).

Together we are committed to the Church and the world today to prepare and facilitate the coming of the Kingdom of God. Is this not the mission that Our Lady has entrusted in 1846 to Melanie and Maximin and by them to us?

I wish you a pleasant stay on the holy mountain blessed by the presence of Mary and a profitable work session in the days to come.

May God bless us all on this blessed anniversary day of the visit if Our Lady to us.  We dedicate our lives to it.  She and her Son give us the strength and zeal to accept the invitation.

165 AND STILL AS BEAUTIFUL AS EVER! QUANT' È BELLA!

MIRAD, HERMOSA COMO SIEMPRE!
SHE'S GORGEOUS, RIGHT?

This is the center piece of the exhibit hall in which there was a collection of statues and images of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This exhibit was meant to give meaning to the fact that Mary has many names and many children all over the world.  She is The Woman of Women.  She is Black, Brown, Yellow and Red.  She is Caucasian, Asian, Indigenous and Aboriginal.  We know that women all over the world are mothers.  They all have different names, but they are all recognized by the one that they wear as a badge of honor, Mama.  The same is true of the Mother of Mothers, God's Mother, Our Mother, Mary.
Saturday, the 17th of September, 2011 was a very significant day at the Southern California parish of St. Christopher.  It was a day when the entire parish celebrated the 165th anniversary of the Apparition of Our Mother Mary at La Salette in France.  The thought above is one that was carefully elaborated and developed by the homelist, Father Arlan Intal, MS of the Province of Our Mother of Hope, based in the Philippines.  He was very effective in his delivery.  He even kept everyone so interested for the length of his reflection that there was not a single twitch from anyone in the pews during the entire thing.
There was another very serious point of reflection made by the good father.  He pointed out that in 1846 just as now, Mary's suffering and hardship-stricken sons and daughters often cry out, "Lord, where are you now?  You see that I am sick;  you know that I am short of resources; you see my baby hungry; where are you, Lord?  Why do you abandon me?  This is an age-old attitude.  It is one that Mary came to La Salette to change.  She came to La Salette crying bitterly because her sons and daughters were bringing suffering to to her and her Son by their foul lives.  She came to remind us that if we suffer, it is because we partake of the evil of sin.  She came to show us that we are not the only ones suffering.  She and her Son are right alongside us suffering.  When we cry out, "Lord, where are you now?" the answer, according to the Weeping Mother of God and of us humans, "I am right here, beside you, suffering with you so that you do not have to carry the entire burden."  Know that, My People; believe that, My People and your lives will be made better.
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El día Sabado, 17 Septiembre inicio una temporada de celebración para todos que viven la espiritualidad Saletina.  Aquí en Alta California, USA uvo una celebración muy viva con baile foclorico, dramatizaciones de historias bíblicas y una muestra publica de differentes caracterizaciones de la Virgen Maria, particolares a varios lugares a travez del mundo.  Continuan estas cosa manana, accompaniadas de buena comida apreciada in varios paises de l'Ámerica Latina.  Ereis invitados.
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Come parte della celebrazione del anniversario de l'Apparizione a La Salette, abbiamo creato un centro per la esibizione dei quadri presentati dalle delgazioni presenti a La Salette durante le settimane scorse.  Pongo questo bramito in Italiano perche è l'imagine della gente Romana che ha causato piu reazione fra tutte le foto.  La seconda era quella della Svizzera e la tercera, quella grande al centro, fatta da un giovane de 17 anni negli Stati Uniti.  Vedremo se la opinione sara diversa domani.  Francamente, non lo credo.  Comunque, se cambia, ve lasciero sapere.  La festa celebrativa, in ogni modo, e un raggio de luz nella la vita della parrochia.
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For the Alumni of the La Salette schools, there is not too much to report.  There is however a need for prayers that has been expressed by the few who came.  One of the alumnae who came had a companion who is facing a challenging life change, so keep her in mind.  Mention her nickname to Mama Mary for good measure.  It is Addie.


In the next day or two we will be going to spend a few moments with Father Maurice Cardinal.  He is still in recovery stages from his surgery, but he is doing quite well for the situation in which he finds himself.  We will let you know how he is doing.


We now leave you in peace.  

SEE [OBSERVE], JUDGE, ACT

This is a challenge.  We had a presentation yesterday that was very deep and very provocative.  It had to bring us to a place where we might be a little uncomfortable, but where there are some truths that we don't normally touch in our lives with regard to the Blessed Mother at La Salette.  We were directed to remember that what brings us to appreciate the beauty of a person is not so much what we see as it is the combination of at least the three basic dimensions mentioned above in the title.  The first one is to see.  For many of us, seeing is believing.  We even have a State in America that has the motto, "show me."  What we were asked to consider yesterday was that seeing was just the beginning.  Seeing has to be asccompanied by an act of the mind that helps us to know what it is that we are seeing.  So, in the fact of the Apparition, we  have the children seeing.  More than seeing, they are processing what it is that they are seeing and the object of their seeing is deepened into observation.  They see light; they see a crying lady; they see that she is crying; they see the roses; they see the crucifix; they see her sitting and then standing.  They observe that she is beautiful; they observe that she is friendly; they observe that no person could have passed between them and her while she was talking.  These are the first steps of a truly deep human experience.  After they see her leave, then they pass to the other parts of this human experience.

They make a judgment that they have to talk about it to the adults in their lives.  This is not a judgement about the quality of the person whom they had just seen.  It was a judgment about what they were going to do.  They had to process the value of the experience that they had just had.  All of us do this just about every day of our lives.  We do it about trite and banal things.  We seek meanings about the advertising storm that surrounds us every day.  We seek meanings in the ways that people dress and we know that, for instance, to go to a job interview without paying attention the dress protocol required will cost us the job.  The reason is simple, the symbols will tell our story more effectively than our words.  That is why we constantly look for congruence in our presentation of self.  We want to be sure that what we look like is consonant with what we say and the way that we act.  This is what made Mary so credible to the children.  Everything about her spoke about everything else. Her words, her looks, her clothes and the decorations of her person were so powerfully united and connected that she communicated her inner beauty, her depth of goodness and her absolutely pure truth.  When Maximin and Melanie put all that together, they could not be otherwise than convinced that what they had seen was worth retelling.  Not just reported, but narrated and communicated from the depths of their hearts.  The beauty, the goodness and the truth of the experience are so powerfully compelling that in our day and age, we are still telling the story of the Beautiful Lady with strong conviction and with our lives dedicated to the truth that Mary came to tell us.  

We, like the two children have seen.  In fact, we are seeing every day.  The beauty of the Lady does not leave us.  Her goodness is always with us.  We hear her voice calling us and inspiring us to act in response to her Son's wishes.  We have judged ourselves as needing to be beautiful and good just as she and her son are.  So we dedicate our lives to the task of bringing the Message to all corners of the earth.  We are grateful that we have been called to see the beauty and the goodness of Our Mother.  A beauty that even bitter tears could not take away.  For her to call us and take away our fear is a great grace for us.  It makes it easier for us to accept her challenge to go and tell her story, OUR story to the rest of her people.  So here we are.  Back home.  Four days away from the anniversary of her visit to us.  Let us have a chat with her to see how we are doing.  Let us ask her for the grace to keep dedicating ourselves to her more and more strongly every day.  Through our love for her and her Son, we will bring good into the world and then we too will be beautiful.  Yes, even me!

SOME NEWS AND SOME COMMENTS

I'll bet that you never saw this one before.  This is in the museum of the Basilica at La Salette Shrine in the Alps of France.  Someday I may get over being so intensely engaged in another pursuit that I will write a good 5 or 6 hundred word reflection about this picture.  I have some more to let you see anyway, so don't worry, I won't run out very soon.
This is striking because the artist puts the accent on the words of our blessed Mother at La Salette when she said that  the "...Arm of my son is getting so heavy that I can hardly hold it back any more.  If you don't submit, I will be forced to let go the arm of my Son."  You can see from the date on the picture that it is not extremely old.  It is however one of a kind and it shows a level of inspiration that is deep and rare.  This is also one of those times when an artist captures not only the mystery of the prophetic message of La Salette, but also succeeds in capturing the picture of the meaning of Moses' arms being held by Hur and Aaron when they had to hold up his arms so that the Israelites could carry the day in the battle that raged below.  Because of this team effort Joshua was able to wipe out the Amelekites and the Israelites were able to proceed on their way.  [Exodus, chapter 17]
La Salette is all about a team effort.  Mary helping us by protecting us against the retribution of her Son.  Mary interceding for us, telling us that unless we convert ourselves we will no longer be the recipients of God's mercy.  It is such a difficulty for her to see her Son coming to the end of His patience, that she can't hold her motherly tears back.  She comes to a place that is already being afflicted with bad harvests.  The people blame God for their misfortune.  Mary comes down and in very baldly black and white words, spoken in the local dialect, tells the world that it is not God's fault when things go bad for us.  It is we who introduce evil into the world.  It is God who created everything good and it is God who supports everything in creation by his goodness.  He even gives us His mother as our mother to see to it that we recognize His goodness.  What more can we ask for?  It's up to us.  She's there doing her part.  She's there holding up the arms of her Son so that we can win the battle against the evil that we practice with so much ease.  She's the driving force behind our reconciliation with her Son.  How can we not say "yes" to her echo of her Son's order, "Go and make disciples of all nations...teaching them all that I have commanded you..."
[Mt 28, 19 - 20]
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News:  Thank you to Father Joven Junio, MS, pastor of St. Christopher parish in Moreno Valley for the kind thoughts, prayers and blessing.
Thank you to Justa Kubarii for her gentle email wishes and prayers.  She keeps comparing the view here with the view from her home land, Palau, a South Pacific Island.  One thing is sure, one or the other, it's all God's Country.
Keep your eyes open for changes and updates at the www.Lasalette.org site.  
Also, don't forget to visit www.portalsalette.com.br/index.php for your "You Tube" of events that have been taking place here.