We Would Love
to Keep in Touch!
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| Fr. Jean Stern, M.S., author and long-time La Salette Archivist in our Rome General House, a convert from Judaism who lost his family in a World War II concentration camp. |
My childhood was spent in an environment which allowed me to experience a world where God was neither mocked nor worshiped, but was, for all practical purposes, ignored and forgotten. Then I looked into the face of war and was a first-hand witness to what becomes of this so-called adult world when it is left to its own wisdom.
The apparition of La Salette with its distinctive signs — the words, the tears of the Virgin, etc. — seemed to me to be the echo or the image of heavenly realities. It helped me to realize that God does not remain indifferent to the tragedies brought about by humanity's proclaimed self-sufficiency.
La Salette can help us grasp the Word of God
La Salette did not reveal the heart of God to me, or that his Son had wept on Jerusalem. The Gospel had already told me this. But La Salette helped me to grasp the living, throbbing Word of God. This is why, in spite of a psychological and cultural background almost diametrically opposed to that of a 19th century alpine village, I have no difficulty recognizing the present day relevancy of La Salette.
The true paths leading to the mystery of La Salette are many. Neither one single idea nor even a series of ideas will ever adequately express the contents of an experience that is vital, concrete. And La Salette belongs to the order of the concrete. For some, it will mean primarily reconciliation; for others, the missionary calling, or the victimary spirit and reparation; for some others it will mean the tender solicitude of our Father who is in heaven. All these various aspects complete one another and need not be opposed one to the other...
We must return to the concrete fact of La Salette… Many of our confreres of the past as well as those of the present have lived or are now living deeply this mystery of La Salette, even if they (may) have never confided this intimate life to others. I am speaking out in favor of the apparition…
We are sinners like everyone else…
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| Statue of Our Lady of La Salette in the Chapel of Light, La Salette Shrine, Attleboro, MA. |
True, we may at times stress secondary elements to the detriment of essentials, and lose sight of the over-all interests of the Church, but there is here no cause for scandal: we are sinners like
everyone else; we have shortcomings that call for a constant vigilance and a never-ending effort toward renewal.
Let us be assured of one point, however: if our Congregation wishes to contribute its modest share in the service of the Church, it will be absolutely essential, among other things, that it remain faithful to its origins whose memory it must jealously keep alive.
Our special character and purpose
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| Bp. Philibert de Bruillard, Bp. of Grenoble, who proclaimed the veracity of the Apparition and founded the La Salette Missionaries. |
In fact, Vatican II’s document on religious life reminds us: “It serves the best interests of the Church for communities to have their own special character and purpose. Therefore loyal recognition and
The divine intention manifested by the apparition, as well as its spiritual content are certainly of much greater importance than the apparition itself. In any case, the apparition does not pertain to the domain of theological faith.safekeeping should be accorded to the spirit of the founders, as also to all particular goals and wholesome traditions which constitute the heritage of each community” (Perfectae caritatis, #2b)…
…(This is) the foundation on which our Congregation rests and on which its aggiornamento will be based: the “specific intention”… of Bishop Philibert de Bruillard, our founder… The Congregation should never lose sight of this indispensable point of reference…
Our mission before all else consists in bringing back to Christ those who have abandoned him. This is a common sense assertion to which everyone should readily subscribe.
An older mountaintop view of the Holy Mountain
of La Salette in France and the sea of clouds.
(Republished with permission from the La Salette Publication,
Reconcilare, Vol. Ill, # I, Nov. 25, 1965, pgs. 52-53)