La Salette Spirituality is God-centered and Paschal

Editor: In this second of three articles, Fr. Charles Novel, M.S. (1912-1980), a true man of letters, with a Doctorate in Theology and in Sacred Scripture, reflects on a total of six major characteristics of the La Salette spirituality

Our spirituality must be God-centered

Holy Trinity by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), on lime wall, Leipzig, Germany; photo: nevsepic.com.uaMary's actual, contemporary role in the reconciliation of sinners relates us, therefore, to a wider vision of faith: the charismatic insight on the History of our Reconciliation. This insight presupposes a profound knowledge of our Reconciliation's inner reality; it requires the kind of light that only biblical, patristic and theological studies can shed.

The La Salette viewpoint on Salvation History hinges on God's salvific plan of Love as described by Saint Paul in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians: the Father’s plan of salvation; fulfillment through Christ; inheritance through the Spirit.

Our spirituality is therefore God-centered: our primary concern is to seek God's glory. Living human beings are the glory of God, said St. Irenaeus. In our perspective, the glory of God is the reconciliation of that living human being; it is our own reconciliation and that of all our sisters and brothers. And this reconciliation is authored by God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

By the same token, Mary asks us to really care about humanity, to concern ourselves with what one could call theological anthropology. She wants us to delve into the heart of humanity whom God has created and destined to divine sonship; we are to gauge the horrendous enormity of humanity's rebellious refusal of God's love; we are asked to look with pity upon humanity's misery and downfall and to see it for what it is: the wages of sin.

Close to the Virgin Reconciler, we become conscious of our sinful state; we grow hungry for peace; we feel the pangs of a desire to be united once again with God in the bonds of religion.

Ours must be a pascal spirituality, accentuating co-redemption

The Virgin Reconciler of La Salette brings to our mind the whole Mystery of Christ, the Word of God made human, who died and has risen, to whom has been given the name that surpasses all names: that of Lord— for he alone is Savior.

Mary the Reconciler ushers us into the heart of the Christian Mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. She reminds her people of the sacredness of Sunday, the Easter of the People of God, the Sacrifice of the Christian Passover. Guiding our steps toward the Pascal road, Mary shows us the way along the path of faith and conversion.

Mary as Co-Redemptrix, lifting up the arms of her SonOur religious life, said to be Christian life pushed to its perfection, takes on a livelier sense when seen in the white light of the Passover. We can always consider the self-denial-and-sacrifice quotient in our religious vows: but there also appears the aspect of liberation, of fulfillment, of one's symbiosis with the risen Christ...

... by way of the royal path of the Cross...

The theme of co-redemption running through our spirituality must be understood in the context of the Passover. In the lives of each one of us, we encounter the mandatory presence of the Passion of Christ. It cannot be otherwise: it was precisely in the death and resurrection of Christ that God revealed the fullness of his love and holiness.

We behold a Reconciler in action, at La Salette. Driven by her merciful love, acting on the strength of her compassion, Mary's intervention draws its efficacy from a vital contact with her Son's Passion.

When a World is as steeped in sin as ours, there is absolutely no way except the sacrifice of achieving reconciliation: the entire gamut of penance, atonement, attempted conversion, etc., becomes necessary. It is at this juncture that one should introduce the “Victim leitmotiv” expounded by Fr. Giraud.

Christ did not come into the World to be served but to serve, to lay down his life as a “ransom of reconciliation” for the multitude (Mark 10:45; Matthew 20:26). And God, set on reconciling us with himself, reduces (his Son) to sin personified, (that is, according to a likely translation, to a sacrificial victim for sin).

Mother and child, center section of tryptic, Vatican MuseumsThe entire Church is co-redemptive. But whereas Mary takes part in the act of redemption itself, the Church participates in the application of this act and of its merits to all who benefit from it. Each one of her members is endowed with the power to suffer and to merit on behalf of his fellow human beings. Every member is called upon to accomplish in his flesh, for the Body of Christ which is the Church, that which is lacking in the Passion of Jesus Christ.

We should carefully observe that it is not solely by her prayers, but also by her merits and her suffering that the Church cooperates in the Mystery of Redemption and, therefore, in our reconciliation. This truth is forcefully underscored at La Salette.

Furthermore, the Church is equally co-redemptive in the fulfillment of her threefold function: that of teacher, sanctifier and ruler. These three modes of participation in the mission of Christ correspond to the Church's triple means of transmitting the Savior's grace in our spatio-temporal frame of existence.

Such is the wide-open, broadminded interpretation we should adopt with regard to the penitential spirit we La Salette missionaries pledge ourselves to apply in our prayer life, in our acceptance of penance and atonement, as well as in our apostolic works.