Where shall we look for the beginning of this beautiful story of La Salette? Perhaps we should go back to Nazareth or Bethlehem, when a young girl Mary said YES to God's invitation. Or maybe we could trace some other signs at Canna in Galilee, when mother of Jesus asked his Son for help or at the foot of the Cross when Jesus asked his mother to be the mother of all children of God. Wherever we look we can always find her care and concern for all those who seems lost without love and peace in their hearts.
On
Saturday, September 19th 1846, two shepherds, Maximin Giraud, eleven
years old and Melanie Calvat, almost fifteen, saw a "Beautiful
Lady". That time they didn't know who she was, they just thought
she was a great saint. She had appeared suddenly in the ball of light
"as though the sun had fallen on the spot" and
then she vanished leaving children with the message beyond their
understanding and the great mission for which their were to young to fulfill.
The Beautiful Lady spoke
to children: "Come near, my children, do not be afraid. I am
here to tell you great news. If my people do not obey, I shall be
compelled to loose the arm of my Son. It is so heavy that I can no
longer restrain
it. How long have I suffered for you! If my Son is not abandon you,
I am obliged to entreat Him without ceasing. But you take no heed of
that. However much you pray, however much you do, you will never be
able to make up to me what I have endured on your behalf.
I have given you six
days to work. The seventh I have reserved for myself, yet no one will
give it to me. This is what causes the weight of my Son's arm to be
so crushing. The cart drivers cannot swear without bringing in my
Son's name. These are the two things which make my Son's arm so heavy.
If the harvest is
spoiled, it is your own fault. I warned you last year by means of the
potatoes. You pay no heed. Quite the contrary, when you discovered
that the potatoes had rotted, you swore, you abused my Son's name.
They are going to continue to spoil, and by Christmas this year there
will be none left. Melanie
was intrigued by the expression pommes de terre. In local dialect,
potatoes were called las truffas. She turned to Maximin for help. But
the Lady said; "Ah! You do not understand , my children? Let
me find another way to say it. Using the local dialect, she
repeated what she said about the harvest, and then she continued: "If
you have wheat, it will do no good to sow
it, for what you sow the vermin will eat, and whatever does grow will
fall 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 who hold
them. The rest will do penance through the famine. The grapes will
rot and the nuts will be worm-eaten.
At
this point the Beautiful Lady, confined a secrets, first to Maximin
and then to Melanie. Melanie no longer heard the Lady's voice
although her lips were still moving. She noticed that Maximin was
listening attentively. Then she, in turn, was able to hear words that
Maximin could not hear.
Finally, they both heard
the Lady's voice again:"If my people are converted, the
the rocks and stones will become mounds of wheat and it will be found
that the potatoes have been self-sown.
Do you say your
prayers well, my children? The
children answered with one voice: Not too well, Madame,
hardly at all. Ah! my children, it is very important to do so, at
night and in the morning. When you don't have time, at least
say an "Our Father..." and "Hail Mary..."; and
when you can, say more.
Only few rather
elderly women go to Mass in the summer. Everyone else works every
Sunday all summer long. And in winter, when they don't know what else
to do, they go to Mass only to scoff at religion. During Lent, they
go to the butcher shop like dogs.
My children, haven't
you ever seen spoiled wheat? No, Madame-declared
Maximin. But the Lady replied: But you, my child, must have seen
it once near coin with your Papa. The owner of the field said to your
Papa, "Come and see my spoiled wheat." The two of you went.
You took two or three ears of wheat in your hands. You rubbed them
together, and they crumbled to dust. Then you came back from Coin.
When you were only a half-hour away from Corps, your Papa gave you a
bit of bread and
said: "Here, my son, eat some bread, this year anyhow. I don't
know who will be eating any next year if the wheat continues this
way." "It's very true, Madame. Now I remember. Until now I didn't,"-admitted
Maximin.
The
Beautiful Lady concluded: " Well my children, you make it
known to all my people." She began to walk and Maximin
stepped aside to let her by. The Lady crossed the brook and climbed
the little hillock. Without turning toward them, she repeated; "Please,
children, be sure to make it known to all my people."
She
looked up at the sky, then down to the earth. Facing south east 'she
melted into the light.' The bright light vanished. Melanie ventured a
remark: "It was perhaps a great saint? "
"If only we had known, we would asked her to bring us with
her," said Maximin.
Initial disbelief in the apparition soon gave way. In the glen where the episode had taken place a spring began to flow and miraculous cures associated with it's waters began to multiply. Bishop Philibert de Bruillard of Grenoble began a canonical inquiry of the children and the miracles. After 5 years on September 19th, 1851, he issued the document: "We judge that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds on September 19th, 1846 on a mountain of the Alpine chain, situated in the parish of La Salette, of the archpresbitery of Corps, bears all the characteristics of truth, and that the faithful have grounds for believing it to be undeniable and certain." The Devotion to Our Lady of La Salette was therefore authorized. The mission of two children was accomplished and the new mission of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette began.
