As we have seen, Our Blessed Mother is concerned with the spiritual and temporal well-being of her children. Her many titles and apparitions indicate that she desires the ultimate good for each of us – eternal salvation. And so, on September 19, 1846, she appeared to 14 year old Melanie Mathieu and 11 year old Maximin Giraud, two young cowherds from the parish of La Salette in the French Alps. Our Lady appeared to them in a bright light, seated, with her head in her hands, and spoke to them beseechingly. She told them that if unless people repented, crops would fail, there would be a famine and much misery would enter the world. She beseeched the children to tell the people that she could not hold back the hand of her Son much longer. She appealed to all the people of God and delivered this message:
“I make an urgent appeal to the earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Saviour of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends.”
The Basilica of La Salette was built on the site of Mary’s apparition in 1879.
For Reflection:
Reread Mary’s message to the children. What suggests that it is a prophetic word? Do you consider yourself to be a “true follower of Christ,” and a child of Mary? If so, what instruction is Our Lady giving to you through these words? How can you begin to follow through? Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate your heart and mind and journal your insights.
