The Apparition
of La Salette
Our Blessed Mother had been
speaking French to the children, but Melanie,
not knowing the meaning of the French word for potatoes, turned toward Maximin
to ask him if he knew what " pommes-de- terre" meant, upon which
"The Beautiful Lady",
continuing to speak, said: Ah!
you do not understand French,
my children well! wait, I will say it in different way". Then speaking in
the local dialect, she said: — "If you have wheat, it is not good to sow
it; all that you sow the insects will eat. What comes up will fall into dust
when you thresh it. — There will come a great famine. Before the famine comes,
the children under seven years of age will be seized with trembling and they
will die in the hands of those who hold them; the walnuts will become
worm-eaten, the grapes will rot." Our Blessed Mother then confided a separate secret to each of the children,
neither of them knowing what had been said to the other, yet each remarked Her
moving lips. Having entrusted these secrets.
Our Lady
continued:
"If they are converted,
the stones and the rocks will be changed into heaps of wheat, and
the potatoes will be self-sown."
She then said: — "Do you
say your prayers well, my children?"
"Oh, no, Madame, not
very well,' they replied.
"Ah! my children, you
must be sure to say them well, morning and evening; when you
cannot do better, say at
least an Our Father and a Hail Mary. But when you have time,
say more. — There are none
who go to Mass but a few aged women, the rest work on Sunday all the summer; and in
winter, when they know not what to do they go to Mass, only to mock at religion. During Lent
they go to the meat market like dogs."
"Have you ever seen
wheat that is spoilted, my children?" Maximin replied: "No, Madam, I
have never seen any." "But, my
child, you must surely have seen some once, with your father, near Coin. — The master
of the field told your father to go and see his ruined wheat. You were both
together. You took two or three of the
ears into your hands and rubbed them and they fell all into
dust. On your return home,
when you were still half an hour's distance from Corps, your father gave you a
piece of bread and said to you: 'Here, my child, eat some bread this year at least; I don't know who
will eat any next year, if the wheat goes on like that'."Maximin replied: "Oh!
yes, Madame, I remember now. For the moment I did not recall."
DAY TWO
O sorrowful Mother, why those tears shed in
the wild solitude, on the rock
which thou madest for a while thy earthly throne?
My child, happy would I be, if my grief should
inspire you with a heart-felt sorrow for your sins, and with a firm resolution
to lead a better life! The land of your heart, as the Prophet says, is made
desolate, because of your love for the world and its empty pleasures, because
of your forgetfulness to meditate upon the most important truths of faith,
i.e., your last end, together with the dreadful consequences, both here and
hereafter, of your thoughtlessness. Retire into solitude and there my
Son will speak to your heart, and will breathe
into your soul the proper means of securing your salvation.
O Mother, the motives that urge me to mingle
my tears with thine are innumerable. I will not resist Jesus' call any longer. Henceforth,
with thy powerful aid, my thoughts, words and actions shall correspond to the
wishes of the Divine Heart of Jesus.
Practice
Recite ten Hail Marys and
ten invocations to Our Lady of La Salette
to ask for a deep hatred of sin.
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