Laity Gathering

Preparation 3 - Novena Prayers & Reflections:

Preparing the International Encounter of

La Salette Laity (Month of August 2011)

Instructions: Each day of the novena there is a theme, a Bible reading, hymns, litanies, intercessions, and a question for group or personal reflection. The idea is to finish the novena prior to the encounter in France. The novena is a spiritual preparation and a way of journeying with all the participants.

DAILY INVOCATION

LEADER: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

ALL: AMEN.

LEADER: Together, we pray . . . .

Opening prayer for each day

Dear loving Mother, Our Lady of La Salette, you tearfully pleaded and appealed to us to be reconciled with God, with one another, with all of creation and with all of humanity. We humbly pray that you intercede on our behalf that God may grant us the grace to follow you in the spiritual journey to a reconciled life and a reconciling way of life by “keeping, treasuring, and pondering all things in our hearts”. We entrust ourselves, La Salette Fathers, La Salette Brothers and La Salette Lay Associates to your maternal care, honoring you as our inspiration in becoming faithful Stewards of the Charism, Spirituality, and Mission of Reconciliation.

Third Day:
The hammer and Pincers -
Choose Life so you may live

(Silent reading and moments of reflection)

Dearly Beloved: For you are my offspring ~ Acts 17:28…I knew you even before you were conceived ~ Jeremiah 1:4-5…I chose you when I planned creation ~ Ephesians 1:11-12…You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book ~ Psalm 139:15-16…I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live ~ Acts 17:26…You are fearfully and wonderfully made ~ Psalm 139:14…I knit you together in your mother's womb ~ Psalm 139:13…And brought you forth on the day you were born ~ Psalm 71:6… Your Loving Father, Almighty God.

LEADER: This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.

For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land. (Deuteronomy 30,19-20)

ALL: O God, you created us to be in relationship and call us to live in one sacred community. May we celebrate the strands of God's life and love that bind us together as one human family. We give thanks for the gifts of creation, and for the gift of technology. May we use the technology we have wisely and for the good of all life and the glory of God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pause . . . .

PRAYER REFLECTION 1:

LEADER: Out of your energy of love, came heat and light for our warmth and growth.

ALL: Out of our energy production and use, comes both progress and harm.

LEADER: Out of your energy, came sacrifice and self giving love.

ALL: Out of our energy use, comes greed and self interest.

LEADER: Out of your energy, came creativity freedom and inspiration.

ALL: Out of our energy we compromise these gifts with complacency violence and stupidity.

LEADER: Lord, eyes we have, but see not. Lord, ears we have, but hear not. Lord, minds we have, but will not. Lord, hearts we have, but care not. Lord, life we have, but live not.

ALL: Lord, teach us to look with your seeing, to hear with your hearing, to commit with your willing, to feel with your feeling, to care with your heart and to live in your love. AMEN, AMEN, AMEN.

PRAYER REFLECTION 2:

RESPONSE: We choose. We choose Life.
We choose God’s Reconciling Love!

LEADER:

» We choose a world of justice where God’s resources are cared for and shared fairly where we conserve creation for future generations where all people can live in peace. ®

» We choose. We choose God, for God is justice. We choose a world of peace where God’s children no longer destroy each other, where everyone is treated with respect for their uniqueness where lasting peace is built on God’s love. ®

» We choose. We choose God, for God is peace. We choose a world of love where God’s love is known to all the children of the Earth where everyone can feel accepted by their brothers and sisters where God’s purpose for the world is finally revealed. ®

Make it right/make it count moment

DO I CHOOSE LIFE IN THE WAY I LIVE
OR THE WAY I RELATE TO PEOPLE?

DAILY INVOCATION

LEADER: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

FOURTH DAY:
Famine, Children Dying,
Mother Earth is sick

(Silent reading and moments of reflection)

Dearly Beloved: I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me ~ John 8:41-44…I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love ~ 1 John 4:16 …And it is my desire to lavish my love on you ~ 1 John 3:1…Simply because you are my child and I am your father ~ 1 John 3:1 … I offer you more than your earthly father ever could ~ Matthew 7:11… For I am the perfect father ~ Matthew 5:48 … Your Loving Father, Almighty God.

PRAYER REFLECTION 1:

LEADER: The Dance of God -- “This universe was created to an expression and extension of the dance of God—so all can share in the dynamic joy of movement, love, vitality, harmony and celebration .

ALL: Electrons, protons, and neutrons—light, gravity, and motion—galaxies suns and planets—water, snow, ice, and vapor—winter, spring, summer or fall—planets, animals, male and female----nations, tribes, clans, families, and individuals—art, sport, business, government, science, agriculture—every facet of creation had a role in the dance.

LEADER: But we humans broke with the dance. We stomped on the toes of other dancers, ignored the rhythm, rejected the grace, and generally made a mess of things.

ALL: God sent Jesus into the world to model for us a way of living in rhythm of God’s music of reconciling Love, and ever since, people have been attracted to the beauty of His steps and have begun rejoining the dance.” Everything is a face of the mystery. The universe is an inexhaustible celebration of the Mystery: THE BLESSED TRINITY.

PRAYER REFLECTION 2: John 2: 1-5

RESPONSE: Take of your shoes for where you stand is Holy. The earth is a burning bush; the Earth is Holy ground!

LEADER:

» All universe is aflame with the presence of God and only those who see take off their shoes! ®

» We live on a wondrous spinning jewel; so fragile and precious is she. Oh earth, beautiful one! Oh earth, awesome and good! Gentle planet, giving all; Oh earth, our home! ®

» There is a circle in the universe, a circle holding all. It is a holy embrace. It is a holy embrace holding all. It is an arm of love. It is a arm of love holding all. We’re in a holy embrace, a holy embrace holding all. ®

» Some people never look and see the miracles in the sky, The magnificence of a sunrise Or clouds drifting by. They miss the glory of a sunset , The lovely rainbow colors And what could have more splendor than a starry night to view. ®

» And I thank you Lord for eyes to see All the beauty and the wonder You placed in the sky for me. I stand in awe of your presence as I gaze at the marvels your display ®

» For no human hand could ever form such a grand and glorious array. No artist’s brush could ever paint all the beauty that I see. No poet’s words could ever describe what that beauty means to me. Life is sacred, life is holy. Spirit flows through everything. Living Earth breathing ®

LEADER: In Exodus 10: 12-20: This is an overwhelming plague that surrounds, smothers, and otherwise destroys the economy of Egypt along with the lives, or life styles, of its citizens. Pharaoh describes this plague as 'death'. It means death politically for him, and death financially for those of wealth, and death for the citizens of Egypt in their broken lives.

RESPONSE: Lord, heal our land.

LEADER:

» We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding of the cosmos. We have become estranged from the movements of the earth. We have turned our backs on the cycles of life. ®

» We have sought only our own security. We have exploited simply for our own ends. We have distorted our knowledge. We have abused our power.®

» On our knees we pray with a weary heart for the earth,

our home. Waters spoiled with waste, air unsafe to breathe, chemicals in the soil. ®

» On our knees we pray for the animals, species longing to live. Habitats destroyed; forests, waters, fields. Where will they birth their young? ®

» On our knees we pray for the future of the children of earth. How are they to live in a poisoned world?® In Exodus 10: 12-20: This is an overwhelming plague that surrounds, smothers, and otherwise destroys the economy of Egypt along with the lives, or life styles, of its citizens. Pharaoh describes this plague as 'death'. It means death politically for him, and death financially for those of wealth, and death for the citizens of Egypt in their broken lives. ®

(Make it right/Make it count moment)

DO I UNDERSTAND HOW ECOLOGY IS RELATED TO RECONCILIATION AND TO THE QUALITY OF LIFE
OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS?

Be Grateful…Be a Blessing…Be Life-giving

Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves

so that He Who gives Himself totally to you

may receive you totally.
May your being be filled with the beauty and wonders of Life.
May God’s Loving Presence in the whole universe

be your courage and strength from day to day
May your heart be full of gratitude …
May your life be a blessing and life-giving

to all of humanity and to all of creation.

:: Next Day ::

A Grace called La Salette

On Saturday, September 19, 1846, a “Beautiful Lady” appeared to two children, both from Corps, in the French Alps: Maximin GIRAUD, eleven years old, and Melanie CALVAT, almost fifteen, who were watching their herds on the slope of Mont Planeau (alt. approx. 6,000 ft.), not far from the village of La Salette. In a little hollow, they suddenly noticed a globe of fire —“as though the sun had fallen on that spot.” Within the dazzling light they gradually perceived a woman, seated, her elbows’ resting on her knees and her face buried in her hands.

The Beautiful Lady rose, and said to the children, in French:

Come closer, my children; don’t be afraid. I am here to tell you great news.

She took a few steps towards them. Maximin and Melanie, reassured, ran down to her and stood very close to her.

The Beautiful Lady wept all the time she spoke. She was tall, and everything about her radiated light. She wore the typical garb of the women of the area: a long dress, an apron around her waist, a shawl crossed over her breast and tied behind her back, and a close-fitting bonnet. Along the hem of her shawl she wore a broad, flat chain, and from a smaller chain around her neck there hung a large crucifix. Under the arms of the cross there were, to the left of the figure of Christ, a hammer and, to the right, pincers. The radiance of the entire apparition seemed to emanate from this crucifix, and shone like a brilliant crown upon the Beautiful Lady’s head. She wore garlands of roses on her head, around the edge of her shawl, and around her feet.

The Beautiful Lady spoke to the two shepherds, first in French, in these words:

If my people refuse to submit, I will be forced to let go the arm of my Son. It is so strong and so heavy, I can no longer hold it back. How long a time I have suffered for you! If I want my Son not to abandon you, I am obliged to plead with him constantly. And as for you, you pay no heed! However much you pray, however much you do, you will never be able to recompense the pains I have taken for you.

I gave you six days to work;
I kept the seventh for myself,
and no one will give it to me.
This is what makes the arm of my Son so heavy. And then, those who drive the carts cannot swear without throwing in my Son’s name. These are the two things that make the arm of my Son so heavy.

If the harvest is ruined, it is only on account of yourselves.
I warned you last year with the potatoes. You paid no heed.
Instead, when you found the potatoes spoiled, you swore, and threw In my Son’s name.
They are going to continue to spoil, and by Christmas this year there will be none left.

Melanie was intrigued by the expression, pommes de terre. In the local dialect, potatoes were called las truffas. She looked inquiringly at Maximin, but the Beautiful Lady anticipated her question.

Don’t you understand, my children? Let me find another way to say it.

Using the local dialect, she repeated what she had said about the harvest, and then went on:

If you have wheat, you must not sow it. Anything you sow the vermin will eat, and whatever does grow will fall into dust when you thresh it. A great famine is coming. Before the famine comes, children under seven will be seized with trembling and die in the arms of the persons who hold them. The rest will do penance through the famine. The walnuts will become worm-eaten; the grapes will rot.

At this point the Beautiful Lady confided a secret to Maximin, and then to Melanie. Then she went on:

If they are converted, rocks and stones will turn into heaps of wheat, and potatoes will be self-sown in the fields.

Do you say your prayers well, my children?

“Hardly ever, Madam,” the two shepherds answered candidly.

Ah, my children, you should say them well, at night and in the morning, even if you say only an Our Father and a Hail Mary when you can’t do better.
When you can do better, say more.

In the summer, only a few elderly women go to Mass. The rest work on Sundays all summer long. In the winter, when they don’t know what to do, they go to Mass just to make fun of religion. In Lent they go to the butcher shops like dogs.

Have you never seen wheat gone bad, my children?

They answered, “No, Madam.”

The Beautiful Lady then spoke to Maximin.

But you, my child, surely you must have seen some once, at Coin, with your father. The owner of the field told your father to go and see his spoiled wheat. And then you went, and you took two or three ears of wheat in your hands, you rubbed them together,and it all crumbled Into dust. While you were on your way back and you were no more than a half hour away from Corps, your father gave you a piece of bread and said to you: “Here, my child, eat some bread while we still have it this year; because I don’t know who will eat any next year
if the wheat keeps up like that.”

“Oh, yes,” answered Maximin, “now I remember. Just then, I didn’t remember it.”

The Beautiful Lady then concluded, not in dialect, but in French:

Well, my children, you will make this known to all my people.

Then she moved forward, stepped over the stream and without turning back, she gave the injunction:

Very well, my children, make this known to all my people.

The vision climbed the steep path which wound its way towards the Collet (little neck). Then she rose into the air as the children caught up to her. She looked up at the sky, then down to the earth. Facing southeast, “she melted into light.” The light itself then disappeared.

On September 19, 1851, after “a precise and rigorous investigation” of the event, the witnesses, the content of the message, and its repercussions, Philibert de Bruillard, Bishop of Grenoble, pronounced his judgment in a pastoral letter of instruction. He declared that “the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds, September 19, 1846, on a mountain in the Alps, located in the parish of La Salette, ... bears within itself all the characteristics of truth and that the faithful have grounds for believing it to be indubitable and certain.”

In another pastoral letter, dated May 1, 1852, the Bishop of Grenoble announced the construction of a Shrine on the mountain of the apparition, and went on to add:

“However important the erection of a Shrine may be, there is something still more important, namely the ministers of religion destined to look after it, to receive the pious pilgrims, to preach the word of God to them, to exercise towards them the ministry of reconciliation, to administer the Holy Sacrament of the altar, and to be, to all, the faithful dispensers of the mysteries of God and the Spiritual treasures of the Church.

“These priests shall be called the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette; their institution and existence shall be, like the Shrine itself, an eternal monument, a perpetual remembrance, of Mary’s merciful apparition.”

The first priests imbued with the spirit of the Apparition and who devoted themselves to the service of the pilgrims, felt from the beginning the call to and the need for religious life. Six of them pronounced their first vows on February 2,1858, in accordance with their provisional Constitutions, adapted in 1862 to include Brothers. From that time, Fathers and Brothers have constituted one religious family. The first General Chapter, in 1876, framed the Constitutions, and gave the Congregation a clearly apostolic thrust. The “Laudatory Decree” (1879) and the Decree of Approval (1890) placed the Institute directly under the authority of the Holy See, which in 1926 gave final approval to the Constitutions.

And now most recently, over a period of several years, our religious family has undertaken the revision and updating of its Constitutions and Capitular Norms, in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, and in keeping with papal exhortations and directives regarding the renewal of Religious Life in the modem world. This work is the fruit of prayer and meditation, of the fidelity and experience of the communities and members of every province. Here, then, are presented the Constitutions of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, and the Capitular Norms. They are the means by which the Spirit which gives life to the Church calls us, day by day, to the perfection of love in Christ, in the service of all his people, to the glory of God the Father.

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