Our Lady of La Salette and Saint Joseph Catholic Church
Parish Priest: Canon Michael Cooley
14 Melior Street, London SE1 3QP
020 7407 1948
e-mail: lasalette.melior@gmail.com
Walk with Me Prayer
Lord God, our light and our
salvation,
we praise you for your gifts of life and faith.
We thank you for the desire
that you have planted in our hearts,
our yearning to see your face.
Help us to meet you in prayer,
to walk in your ways,
and to speak to others of our joy
and consolation in your presence.
Give us faithfulness in this present
life
so that we may come to know
and praise your beauty,
with all our brothers and sisters,
in the life to come.
We make this prayer through
Christ our Lord.
Amen
The Apparition and the message of Our Lady of La Salette
The
apparition of La Salette happens on September 19th 1846 on Saturday at 3 o'
clock in the afternoon of a beautiful, clear autumn day, the Virgin Mary
appeared to Maximin Giraud, age 11, and Melanie Calvat, age 14, on a mountain
near the town of La Salette, some 1800m high in the French Alps.
The
two children had first met the day before while tending cows on the slopes.
After their meagre lunch at midday; they were overcome by fatigue and
fell into a deep sleep. Suddenly Melanie awoke and, not seeing the cows,
called to Maximin: Memin, come and see where the cows might have strayed.
They quickly climbed the hill in front of them and with relief saw the cows
grazing on the opposite side of the knoll.
Returning
to pick up their knapsacks, the two children stopped in their tracks when
they saw a very bright light blazing over the bench of stones where they had
sat for lunch. The radiance parted and revealed a woman seated on the stones,
her elbows on her knees and her face buried in her hands. They realized at
once that she was weeping. They were frightened but the Lady rose and
reassured them:
"Come
near, my children, don't be afraid. I am here to tell you great news".
They
hurried to her side while she took a few steps towards them.
Over
a shining white dress the Lady wore a full length golden apron. Along the
border of her white kerchief were roses of all colours and on a fine gold
chain a crucifix more radiant than anything else in the vision. On the left
of the crucifix hung a miniature hammer and on the right, pincers. Her
headdress was white and crowned with a diadem of roses of many hues. Her
shoes were sparkling white with a square gold buckle. Around each slipper
were tiny roses that were not crushed as she stood and walked on the tips of
the blades of grass.
The
Lady was so resplendent in light that the noonday sun faded in comparison.
Her face was exceedingly beautiful yet profoundly sad. Tears fell down her
cheeks all the while she spoke. With rapt attention the children listened to
the Beautiful Lady:
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.
How
long a time I have suffered for you! If I want my Son not to abandon you, I
must plead with him without ceasing. And as for you, you pay no heed! However
much you pray, however much you do, you will never be able to repay the pains
I have taken for you.
I
gave you six days to work; I kept the seventh for myself, and they will not
give it to me. This is what makes the arm of my Son so heavy. And then, those
who drive the carts cannot swear without bringing in my Son's name. These are
the two things which make the arm of my Son so heavy.
If
the harvest is ruined, it is only on account of you. I let you know last year
with the potatoes. You paid no heed. Instead, when you found the potatoes
spoiled, you swore, and brought in my Son's name. They are going to continue
to spoil, and by Christmas this year there will be none left.
The
Beautiful Lady had been speaking French but Melanie, not knowing the French
word for potatoes, turned towards Maximin to ask him if he knew what pommes
de tere meant.
The
Lady interrupted:
Don't you understand, my children?
Let
me find another way to say it.
Then
speaking in their local dialect, she continues: If you have wheat, you must not sow it.
Anything you sow the insects will eat, and whatever does come up will fall
into dust when you thresh it.
A
great famine is coming. Before the famine comes, children under seven will be
seized with trembling and they will die in the arms of the persons who hold
them.
The
rest will do penance through the famine, the walnuts will become worm eaten,
the grapes will rot.
The
Lady then confided a separate secret to each of the children. Although each
child noticed her lips moving, neither of them heard what was being said to
the other. Having entrusted these secrets, she continued:
If
they are converted, rocks and stones will turn in to heaps of wheat, and
potatoes will be self-sown in the fields.
Then
she asked: Do you say
your prayers well, my children?
Hardly
ever, Madame.
Ah!
My children, you must say them well, at night and in the morning, if you were
to say only an Our Father and a Hail Mary, when you can't do better. When you
can do better, say more.
In the summer
only a few somewhat elderly women go to Mass, the rest work on Sundays all
summer long. In the winter, when they don't know what to do, they go to Mass
only to make fun of religion. In Lent they go to the butcher shop as dogs do.
Have you ever
seen wheat gone badly, children?
No,
Madame.
But
you, my son, surely you must have seen it once with your father in the field
of Coin. The owner of the field told your father to go and see his spoilt
wheat. And then you went, and you took two or three ears of wheat in your
hands, you rubbed them together, and it all crumbled into dust. On your way
back home when you were no more than a half-hour away from Corps, your father
gave you a piece of bread and said to you: Here, my son, eat some bread while
still have it this year, because I don't know who will eat any next year if
the wheat continues this way."
Oh,
yes. I remember. Just then, I didn't recall.
Well,
my children, you will make this known to all my people.
Then
she crossed the brook, walked slowly to the top of the hill and rose more
than a metre in the air. There she turned and gazed in the direction of Rome and said once again:
Very
well, my children make this known to all my people.
Then
she vanished. The light alone remained but in an instant it too disappeared.
That
evening the children returned home and told their masters what they had seen
and heard. Soon, the whole town wanted to hear the story and the children
were to tell it again and again.
After
five years of careful study and investigation the Bishop of Grenobe, in whose
diocese the event had taken place, gave his approbation in a formal
declaration, which stated, in part: We judge that the Apparition of the
Blessed Virgin to two shepherds, September 19, 1846, on the mountain in the
French Alps, in the parish of La Salette ... shows all the signs of the truth
and the faithful have grounds for believing it indubitable and certain.
The
first Catholic Mission at London Bridge - Webb Street, the Chapel, dedicated to Our Lady
and Saint Patrick - was opened by Bishop Nicholas Wiseman on the
20th March 1848. A new site for a church had to be found before Webb Street and its chapel were overtaken by the
enlargement of the railway station. The church in Melior Street, a few yards away, was opened on the
second of May 1861, and dedicated to Our Lady of La Salette and Saint Joseph.
At
the spot where Maximin and Melanie saw the lady weeping there is a statue, a
large basilica and accommodation for pilgrims. At Melior Street of London, United Kingdom, we have a statue, a beautiful
church and a parish house.
The
message from Our Lady of La Salette has not changed: "Find a place for
God in your life, otherwise things will get out of hand".
Pope
John Paul II wrote about La Salette on 6th May
1996.
"The
message of La Salette was given to two young shepherds in a period of great
suffering. People were scourged by famine, subjected to many injustices.
Indifference or hostility toward the Gospel message worsened. As she
appeared, bearing upon her breast the likeness of her crucified Son, Our Lady
showed herself to be associated to the work of salvation, experiencing
compassion for her children...
La
Salette is a message of hope - a hope sustained by the intercession of her
who is the Mother of all peoples... The arm of Mary's Son will not weigh
upon, will not condemn, the people who walk humbly in the pathway of the
Lord. Christ will take the outstretched hand into his own and lead to new
life the sinner reconciled by the grace of the Cross...
At
La Salette, Mary clearly spoke of the constancy of her prayer for the world:
she will never abandon the people created in the image and likeness of God,
those to whom it has been given to become children of God. May she lead to
her Son all the nations of the earth".
Pope
John Paul II
May 6, 1996
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