Fr. Joseph Whalen MS - LaSalette Prayer

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF LaSALETTE - SEPTEMBER 19th  http://www.straphaeloil.com/daily_updates
 
Mélanie and Maximin, the two children privileged to see Mary in 1846, came from the town of Corps near Grenoble, in a poor part of south-eastern France. Maximin Giraud was eleven years old at the time and Mélanie Calvat fourteen. On Saturday 19 September, they were looking after their employer's cattle, high up on the pasture above La Salette, a village near Corps, when they saw a wonderful apparition of Mary. A globe of light opened to reveal a resplendent woman seated on a stone with her head in her hands. The children later described her as very tall and beautiful, wearing a long, white, pearl studded, sleeved dress, and a white shawl, with a tiara of light on her head. Hanging from her neck was a large crucifix adorned with a small hammer and pincers, with a brilliantly shining figure of Christ on it. The hammer indicates the sins of humankind, which drove the nails into Jesus' hands and feet. The open pliers recall how these nails are mercifully removed and remind us of our obligation to repent of our sins and become reconciled with Christ, her son. The whole effect was as if she was made of light.

Speaking tearfully she told them that unless people repented she would be forced to let go the arm of her Son because it had become so heavy. Mary went on to complain that she had to pray ceaselessly to her Son for them, but the people still worked on Sundays and blasphemed her Son's Holy Name. She also spoke of coming punishments for these sins, including crop blights and famine. She asked that people start obeying the Second and Third Commandment, namely to cease using her Son's name in vain and keeping holy Sunday, the Lord's day. Then she crossed the brook, walked slowly to the top of the hill and rose more than a yard in the air. There she turned and gazed in the direction of Rome and said once again: "Very well, my children, make this known to all my people." She confided a secret to each of the children, which they were not to divulge, although eventually these secrets were made known to Pope Pius IX.

Finally she asked the children to spread her message before disappearing. When the children returned home they told their story, an account of which was taken down in writing the next day. They faced much opposition in making known Mary's message, but they maintained their story with resolution. The local Bishop too faced quite a degree of opposition in investigating the apparition, and it was only after four years, and having set up two commissions of inquiry, that Mgr de Bruillard, as bishop of Grenoble, approved of devotion to Our Lady of Salette, in the following terms.

The Virgin having told us the reasons for God's anger, all our sins, especially sins against the Second and Third Commandments. She asked that this message of conversion and reconcilliation be made known to all people and that we turn from sin and back to Almighty God. The apparition in La Salette, September 19, 1846 was approved: November 16, 1851.

"We declare that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds, on September 19, 1846, on a mountain in the Alps in the parish of La Salette, bears in itself all the marks of truth and that the faithful are justified in believing without question in its truth. And so, to mark our lively gratitude to God and the glorious Virgin Mary, we authorise the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette."

The La Salette message is timeless, although Our Lady spoke these words over 160 years ago, her message is as relevant today as it was in 1846.

"My children, you will make this known to all my people." September 19, 1846