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Think of What is Above

(18th Ordinary Sunday: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21)


All the readings today caution us against greed and trusting in our possessions. St. Paul succinctly summarizes these thoughts : “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

And yet, half of the message of Our Lady of La Salette is very much concerned with the things of earth: worm-eaten walnuts, rotting grapes, blighted, but potentially abundant, wheat and potatoes and, worst of all, the death of young children.

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The Law of Reconciliation


(15th Ordinary Sunday: Deut. 30:10-14; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37)

We have a choice between two Responsorial Psalms today. Psalm 69 invites us to turn to God in times of trouble; Psalm 19 sings the praises of the Law of the Lord. Both speak to a La Salette heart.

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In Our Own Language

(Pentecost Sunday: Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13 OR Romans 8:8-17; John 20:19-23 OR John 14:15-26)

Untitled 1A parchment page depicting Pentecost from a Sarum Missal, painted between 1310AD and 1320AD.After the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon them, the Apostles addressed an international audience, speaking Aramaic while people of different nationalities heard them speaking in their own languages. This, of course, was the work of the Spirit, a unique sign.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this sign had continued to our own day? But this particular manifestation of the gift of tongues seems to have been reserved to that one event. Today missionaries spend a long time learning languages in order to preach the Gospel.

At international gatherings of La Salette Missionaries, I have often provided simultaneous translation, and I am keenly aware of how inadequate that can be at times. Finding the right turn of phrase on the fly is always a challenge.

Mary spoke two languages at La Salette. She started in French, and then at a certain point saw that the children were confused. She said, “Oh, you don’t understand? I’ll say it another way.” The rest of her discourse was in the local dialect, except for the final command to “Make it known.”

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Wiping away Every Tear

(5th Sunday of Easter: Acts 14:21-27; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:31-35)

Wiping away Every TearWhen we see someone crying, our first instinct is, often, to wonder what is the matter and, perhaps not often enough, to wonder whether we can or should do something to ease the pain or grief that lies behind the tears.
Those who are sometimes puzzled or even offended by Mary’s words at La Salette need to remember the tears that accompanied them. One and the same sorrow is at the source of both.

In today’s gospel Jesus offers the ultimate key to consoling the disconsolate. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” If only we could all live this new commandment perfectly! Not only would we do everything in our power to respond to all the suffering around us and in the world at large, but we would likewise devote our best efforts to eliminating the root causes of so much unhappiness.

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Easter – a Moment of Reconciliation

(Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9)


Easter is the moment of reconciliation. It is the moment when we were reconciled to God through Jesus. God saw that Jesus was obedient to his faith, even though it led to a brutal death on a cross, and God validated everything about Jesus and raised him back to life – to a life will never end.

Jesus fell in love with us

Jesus Loves MeJesus loved God and was faithful to God’s will; Jesus fell in love with us too and represented all our needs to God. The moment God blessed Jesus for his life and work, he also blessed our lives and pulled us into a reconciled relationship. Because of Jesus, nothing can separate us from God’s heart; Nothing that we have said or done can ever keep God from caring for us.

All has been reconciled, and Jesus has come back from the dead so he can help us reconcile with one another. The cloths at the burial site point to this reconciliation. Jesus was not hastily taken away. His burial cloths had been cared for and neatly set aside. They were no longer needed, and reconciliation helps us put everything back in its proper place.

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A New Day and a New Life


The evangelist John describes the familiar scene of the Resurrection for us to reflect upon:

“On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, ‘They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.’

“So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.

“Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (John 20:1-9).

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Good Friday – Blood, Water, and the Cross


The Passion of Christ as it is found in our four gospels is not only a recital of events in the final moments of the life of Christ on earth. It is also a paranesis, a preaching, a living example given to the world of the total gift of himself that Christ gave to the world.

All for Love of Us

For anyone even somewhat gifted with words it is possible, on a given Good Friday, to elicit tears by recalling the hiss of flailing whips drawing red stripes on the back of Christ, the spray of spittle assaulting his face, the brutish swat of hands slapping his head. Pity, heart-felt pity surfaces in the soul of any sensitive listener. Indeed, this scenario would draw compassion from any sensitive person no matter who the victim might be.

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She Who Weeps

(Palm Sunday: Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Luke 22:14—23:56)


The outline of the Passion is the same in all four Gospels but there are details that are unique to each one. For example, Luke alone records Jesus’ encounter with the weeping women on his way to Calvary. He tells them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children.” A similar painful image is used by Our Lady of La Salette: “Children under the age of seven will be seized with trembling and die in the arms of those who hold them.”

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God’s Free Gift

(2nd Sunday of Lent: Genesis 15:5-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28-36)


In the discussion of the value of faith and works, no text is more essential than Genesis 15:6: “Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.” St. Paul commented on it at length in Romans 4.

Psalm 143:2 pleads, “Do not enter into judgment with your servant; before you no one can be just.” Abram’s faith, therefore, is not a proof of his righteousness before God; but the Lord “credited” it to him, as if to say, “It’s not perfect, but it will do.”

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Either/Or



(6th Ordinary Sunday: Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 6:17-26)

All the readings, including the Psalm, contain a sort of ultimatum. Place your trust in God and you will thrive; if not, you will wither. Unless you love God’s law, you will be blown away like chaff. The only way to be sure of our salvation is to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Woe to you if you are rich, filled, laughing and well spoken of.

In the message of La Salette, either we refuse to submit or we are converted.

The Gospel passage stands out from the rest, however, because it does not contain the element of choice that they imply. The urgent option is not whether to be rich or poor.

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