Our Lady of La Salette

By Bob Connor

In the Roman Catholic faith, there is recognition of appearances on the earth of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, at various places over the centuries. There have been thousands of reported “sightings,” but the best known ones were at these locations: Lourdes, France; Fatima, Portugal; Knock, Ireland; Medugorje, Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and “Our Lady of Guadalupe” which occurred just outside of Mexico City and is the most well-known apparition in the Americas.

You see the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in every place from huge stained-glass windows in churches (like the one at St. Ambrose Catholic church on Mangum Road), to statues, to pictures, to emblems and airbrushed paintings affixed to all sorts of vehicles. No, Catholics do not “worship” Mary. Worship is reserved for the Trinity alone. However, Catholics do honor her as the Mother of Christ, the Queen of Heaven, and the first among the saints. And, we often seek her intercession with God to help us with our needs and to give thanks.

It is not required of Catholics to revere these “apparitions” as they are called. It is not a part of the dogma of the church. However, reverence for the various apparitions of Mary is very widespread in the faith and millions of devotees make pilgrimages to these sites every year.

There is an apparition that - while not well-known in this part of the world - reveals powerful imagery and messages. It was 162 years ago this September 19 in the year of 1846 that two peasant children were tending cattle in the French alps near a village named La Salette-Fallavaux. Mélanie and Maximin, 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 was fourteen.

A globe of light appeared to them and 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 some sort of tiara or crown on her head. Hanging from her neck was a large crucifix adorned with a small hammer and pincers, and with a brilliantly shining figure of Christ on the cross.

The whole effect was as if she were made of light. But, the lady was crying. Yes, the Mother of Christ, the Queen of Heaven was crying. Why?

It was because people were not keeping the Sabbath – they were not giving God His day. They were working on Sunday – not going to church. Also, they were blaspheming God and her son by taking their names in vain. Of course, these were violations of two of the Ten Commandments. Mary was afraid that the wrath of God and her son would be leashed upon the earth as punishment. And, she was crying over it all.

A crucifix is a cross that has the corpus (body) of the crucified Christ mounted on it. The crucifix that Mary was wearing is extremely interesting to me. First, it is the only apparition that I know of in which she was wearing any sort of crucifix at all. Second, it was a very unusual crucifix. It was very large and had an emblem of a hammer on one end of the crossbeam and pincers (pliers or tongs) on the other end. What in the world can these represent?

The hammer represents evil. It represents all of the sins of humanity that put the nails into Jesus. Every time a person does an evil deed, it is like he or she is hammering another nail into Jesus. The opposite of evil is good as represented by the pincers. Every time we do a good deed, it is like pulling a nail out of Jesus.

Of course one must still seek reconciliation with God for committing evil (sin). You cannot simply “wipe out” a sin by doing a good deed. There has to be more – an honest seeking of forgiveness and a penance. But, good deeds always help.

So, this September 19 (which also happens to be my wife’s birthday), you can, perhaps, find a way to celebrate “Our Lady of La Salette Day.” Do a good deed – avoid evil. There is an order of La Salette missionaries throughout the world who will be celebrating with you. There are a few here in the Houston area, and there is a huge shrine in Attleboro, Massachusetts. There is a council of the Catholic Daughters of the North Americas at St. Ambrose church here in Houston named for “Our Lady of La Salette.”

Perhaps, we can thank Mary for the warning. Apparently, a lot of people did something right since the world is still here. Yes, many “work on Sunday” out of necessity and don’t watch their language when angry; but, just maybe there are enough prayers being broadcast to heaven and good deeds being performed around the world to tip the balance in the right direction. Or, maybe it is just to the pure mercy of God that we owe our continued existence as a species.

Remember, Moses on Mount Sinai was so upset by the sinning of the Israelites that he threatened to wipe out mankind entirely and start over. But, Moses talked Him out of it, and the Israelites survived to complete their journey to the “land of milk and honey.” God is, above all, compassionate and forgiving.

If you can handle dire predictions of punishments in store if mankind does not “straighten up its act”, as revealed by Mary during this apparition, then check out the web pages below for details. It just might “scare the hell out of you.” It requires a great deal of faith to comprehend what the “secrets” and predictions are all about and how they fit into the fluid relationship of God with his all-to-human creations. Give it a try!

And, to the apparition of “Our Lady of La Salette,” we say, “Happy 162th Anniversary!"

The Secrets of La Salette:

http://www.catholicplanet.com/catholic/lasalette.htm

Some Web pages available for more information:

http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/approved/appariti/lasalett.html

(the description of the apparition in this article was summarized from this page)

http://www.apparitions.org/lasalette.html

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09008b.htm

http://www.lasalette.org/english/about_us.html

http://www.lasalette-shrine.org/

Bob Connor is a continuing education teacher at St. Ambrose Catholic Church. You can reach him at bobconn@earthlink.com