One Message of Mercy

Third Sunday of Lent

La Salette Laity Reflection by the Laity of Our Lady of the Cape

When considering today’s gospel of the Samaritan woman along with the Marian Apparition at La Salette, we find different voices, yet one simple message.  “Come back. Be reconciled. God loves you.”
At the well, Jesus meets a woman who is spiritually thirsty, wounded, and searching. At La Salette, Mary appears on a mountain, with tears in her eyes, grieving over a people who have drifted from God.  The encounters are similar.
God goes where people are hurting. The well was a place of daily survival. In 1846, the mountain of La Salette was home to hard working people.  
God meets people not in comfort, but in need. Sin is recalled, but mercy is greater.  Jesus names the Samaritan woman’s broken relationships.  Mary at La Salette names the sins of her people. Neither condemns. Both invite conversion and healing. 
The encounter creates missionaries.  The Samaritan woman becomes a joyful witness, sharing God’s message with others.  La Salette Missionaries and Laity today continue that same mission: to carry God’s mercy into a thirsty world.  
Both reveal the heart of God through Christ’s compassion and Mary’s tears.
The experiences of the Samaritan woman and of Mary at La Salette both call out sin, indifference, and forgotten prayer, but more importantly both offer hope, reconciliation, and blessing. Mary does not speak for herself at La Salette; she leads people back to her Son, the source of living water.