We Would Love
to Keep in Touch!
Weeping Mother of La Salette by Arcabas (Jean-Marie Pirot, 1926–2018)A women once wrote: “ La Salette lives in our hearts. It is a message that is branded into my soul and torments me. . . I had an expectation that the Virgin at La Salette would have something very important to say to me.
“What do Mary's words mean for us today? I see again in my mind's eye the picture of a child dying of starvation and, like panels in a gallery, I see this world of ours with its injustices, inequalities, famines and its Third World. We discussed all these things with our young people, then with our adults, and we sought earnestly how we should respond and what we might do to help.
“At Mass we pledged to take whatever action we can. As for me, as I reflect on all these human tragedies, I can no longer bear to hear again the Beautiful Lady's reproach: “As for you, you take no heed of it.” At night I can still hear those children crying for food. Yes, we must respond, we must promise our help, and there is not a moment to lose.
“But then, when see the fine meals, the pretty rooms, the latest fashions and we overhear the young ladies' unthinking remarks, the latest gossip, the arguments among these well-to-do people, I become sick at heart. I feel like a stranger in their midst. Yet I must learn to live fully in the place where Providence has placed me, to live as a child of God.
“Our recent Prayer Vigil had as its theme ‘The Joy of Being Saved’, and after making that message my own, I am indeed happy to share it with others and let that joy be seen in my face. Mary at La Salette shows us the way. But I have spoken at length about myself, while in reality I am insignificant. But, however little, I can still offer myself and my talents to the Lord., and it is with joy that I say ‘Yes’ to Christ’s call.”
Mary’s call to an involving mission
Jesus feeding the hungry, a painting on the wall of the Cafeteria of the La Salette National Shrine, Attleboro, MA.The author of these lines was a twenty-year-old lady employed in a home for gravely handicapped persons. I do not know her name, but I do know this: on this mountain where Mary speaks unceasingly to her people, many are the pilgrims who have felt that same call to cooperate with her. Indeed, how should we respond to Mary's appeal, if not by a wholehearted ‘Yes’? And how can we truly heed her call if not by taking concrete action?In a world which is falling asleep because the injustices are so widespread and overwhelming that the poor are without a voice; in a society divided by quarrels among the well-to-do, when they should be uniting to help their fellow humans and do so without discrimination, is it not for us Christians to shake off this torpor, to awaken this world of ours, to speak out and demand justice and to promote unity among all God’s people?
“I cannot be silent!”
On May 10th, 1980 in the confines of the Sahel desert, Pope John Paul II cried out:
The La Salette Cross and the Shrine panorama on the Holy Mountain“I cannot be silent when my brothers and sisters are threatened. I become here the voice of those who have no voice, the voice of the innocent, who died because they lacked water and bread; the voice of fathers and mothers who saw their children die without understanding, or who will always see in their children the after-effects of the hunger they have suffered; the voice of the generations to come, who must no longer live with this terrible threat weighing upon their lives. I launch an appeal to everyone!“Let us not wait until the drought returns, terrible and devastating! Let us not wait for the sand to bring death again! Let us not allow the future of these peoples to remain jeopardized for ever!”
Man does not live by bread alone, but he does need bread to live. Jesus willed to make bread the very sign of his presence amongst us: “This is my body, given for you. . . I was hungry and you gave me food; whatever you did for these least brothers, you do for me!” (Luke 22:19 and Matthew 25:35a, 40b).
The Virgin in tears does not cease not repeat to us: “You take no heed of it! You take no heed of it!”