The Apparition
The most beautiful Lady crossed the
stream, and after two more steps, without turning back towards us, who were
following Her (for we were drawn to her by her brilliance and even more by her
kindness which elated me, which seemed to melt my heart), she repeated to us:
“AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL
PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE”
Then, She walked on up to the place
where I had gone to see our cows. Her
feet touched nothing but the tips of the grass and without bending them. Once
on the top of the little mound, the beautiful Lady stopped, and I hurried to
stand in front of Her to look at Her so, so closely, and try and see which path
she was most inclined to take. For it was all over for me. I had forgotten both my cows and the masters
I worked for. I had linked myself forever and unconditionally to my Lady. Yes,
I wanted never, never to leave Her. I followed Her with no other motive and
fully disposed to serve Her for the rest of my life.
In the presence of my Lady, I felt I
had forgotten paradise. I thought of nothing more but to serve Her in every way
possible; and I felt I could have done
everything she could have asked me to do, for it seemed to me that She
had a great deal of power. She looked at
me with a tender kindness which drew me to Her. I could have thrown myself into
Her arms with my eyes closed. She did not give me the time to do so. She rose
imperceptibly from the ground to a height of around four feet or more; and,
hanging thus in the air for a split second, my beautiful Lady looked up to
Heaven, then down on the earth to her right and then her left 4, then She
looked at me with Her eyes so soft, so kind and so good that I felt She was
drawing me inside Her, and my heart seemed to open up to Hers.
And as my heart melted away, sweetly
gladdened, the beautiful face of my good Lady disappeared little by little. It
seemed to me that the light in motion was growing stronger, or rather
condensing around the Most Holy Virgin, to prevent me from seeing her any
longer.
And thus light took the place of the
parts of Her body which were disappearing in front of my eyes; or rather it
seemed to me that the body of my Lady was melting into light. Thus the sphere
of light rose gently towards the right.
I cannot say whether the volume of light decreased as She rose, or
whether the growing distance made me see less and less light as She rose. What
I do know, is that I was a long time with my head raised up, staring at the
light, even after the light, which kept getting further away and decreasing in
volume, had finally disappeared. I take my eyes from the firmament, I look
around me.
I see
Maximin looking at me, and I say to him:
“Maxi, that must have been my
father’s Good Lord, or the Holy Virgin, or some other great saint”
And
Maximin throws his arms into the air and says: “Oh! If only I'd known!”
Novena in Honor of Our Lady of La Salette
SEVENTH DAY
Who would imagine, O loving Mother,
that man is so wicked and so careless about his own welfare, as to turn into a
deadly poison for his soul what God, in His infinite mercy, intended for his salvation,
and for his greatest happiness. And yet, this is exactly what we learn from one
of thy maternal reproaches: "They go to Mass," sayest thou,
"only to scoff at religion!" Alas! How many Catholics are there, who
keep entirely away from the church? And if they do go, their evil dispositions
make them all the more guilty. How many poor sinners are there, who, instead of
going to the sacred fountains of the Sacraments to quench the fire of their
unruly passions, scornfully disdain these divine gifts and sacrilegiously
profane them! Would to God that, with thy all powerful help, I should never
defile my soul with a sacrilege! My confessions shall always be as sincere as I
would have them when my last day comes. Henceforth my respectful behavior in
assisting, at Mass, will prove my tender love and my profound esteem for this
holy Sacrifice.
Practice
Attend Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion.
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