It's been 168 years since Our Lady visited the shepherd children in the Alps of France.
Here's the whole story:
"Weep no more, Madam..."
- Written by Fr. Dennis Loomis, M.S.
Even if Mary had not uttered a single word, everything was eloquently expressed by her tears.I recently heard a story about a toddler just four years of age. He lived next door to an old man who had just lost his wife to whom he had been married for many years. One day, the child saw the man sitting on his front porch, weeping. Without hesitation the little boy walked over to the older gentleman, and gave him a long hug. Afterwards when his mother asked him what he had said to the old man, the boy replied, "I couldn’t say anything! I just helped him cry."
A woman crying
We appropriately attach great importance to the words that the Beautiful Lady of La Salette addressed to Melanie and Maximin on September 19, 1846. Following the apparition, it was remarkable that these two unschooled children would be able to repeat, word-for-word, her formal French, despite the fact that they only knew their native dialect!But her words do not tell the whole message! Her simple message, wonderful and poignant – "God is full of compassion for his people" – begins long before any word was spoken. Everything she wished to say was expressed so well her tears. They echoed the tears of God – similar to those made by her Son when he wept over Jerusalem because its people were soon to undergo great trials (Luke 19:41). His were not tears of anger or condemnation, but rather tears of love and compassion. Mary’s own tears were over “my people” and the great trials they were about to experience.
Tears of compassion
In our ministry as reconcilers, we must also be people of compassion. The message of La Salette is the message of the Gospel. In order to be witnesses of Christ and his “ambassadors of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:20), there is no better way than to share with others the love and compassion of our God.Compassion is the ability to share in the suffering of others – to be present to them in their struggles and witness a special kindness to those who suffer. This expression of compassion is at the heart of our faith. In a very real sense, the example of Our Lady of La Salette and her sincere sharing of her tears of sorrow with the two children demands our response. We in turn are to go out and, much like the little boy embracing the older man, share in the sorrows of all her people in the name of Mary and her loving Son.
This is very good news
Mary’s tears are tears of consolation but they are much more than that. They are also the prelude to an invitation that still persists today: "Come near, my children, do not be afraid..." For the Good News of the Gospel is very good news; namely that God loves us more than we could ever imagine.The world in which we live needs to hear this message of hope and healing, and we must fearlessly and unhesitatingly share it with others.
(Reprinted with permission and translated from the La Salette publication, Les Annales, from the article entitled: “Ne Pleurez Pas, Madame”, Dec. 11, 2007, pg. 7)
Another Aspect of Reconciliation
- Category: Reflections on Faith
- Written by Fr. Bernie Baris, M.S.
The Church gave Our Lady of La Salette the title of "Reconciler of Sinners" because her message at La Salette is an invitation to reconciliation.Reconciliation means “being one with” or “mending whatever divides” or “being open and receptive to God”. Saint Paul implores us: "…we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). Often, we think of reconciliation only in the context of the Sacrament of Reconciliation: we ask for and are granted forgiveness for whatever separates us from the love of God.
At La Salette, Mary gave concrete examples of how the local people of 1846 were separated from God. She mentioned some of the sins of those times. Today the list of transgressions could be somewhat different; for example, in those days pornography via the internet did not exist and our tendency to consumerism was not as prevalent.
However, God's people, then and now, still abandon the gift of faith. In 1846, there was a deep movement of anti-clericalism in all of Europe. Today, maybe the problem is more serious. There is certainly a deep indifference towards religion.
Another Aspect – Open Hands
(Father Baris cares for the poor in Haiti. If you wish to help "Hope for Haiti" call 508-222-0027)
Fr. Bernie Baris Moves to Holy Mountain 
Fr. Baris standing at the actual site of the La Salette Apparition in France (photo: Kenneth J. Souza, Anchor Staff)BREWSTER, Mass. — As a seminarian at La Salette Seminary in East Brewster, Father Bernard Baris, M.S., remembered singing in the choir for the first official Mass celebrated at Our Lady of the Cape Parish on Christmas Eve in 1962.“Father Joseph A. Nolin, who was the founder of the parish, didn’t have a choir… so he asked some of the seminarians to come and sing for the midnight Mass,” Father Baris told The Anchor. “I came from the seminary here along with some of my other classmates — including Father André Patenaude (‘Father Pat’) — to sing for that first Mass. Standing up in that choir loft inside a church that wasn’t even finished yet, I never thought I’d someday return here to become pastor.”
In 1997, Father Baris was indeed named pastor of Our Lady of the Cape Parish, a place he’s called home for the past 17 years.
Moving to the Holy Mountain in France
Now at age 71, when many priests are beginning to think about retirement, Father Baris is preparing to enter a whole new phase of his ministry by becoming the director of the International Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in France, built on the original site in the French Alps where the Blessed Mother appeared to Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat on Sept. 19, 1846.
Thankks for a great read
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