The Blessed Virgin at La Salette chose children to be the
confidants of Her heavenly message, in order to imitate the
wise ways of God, who leaves the proud in darkness, who
communicates Himself to the humble, who uses weak in-
struments in order to better manifest His power, to test our
faith and to add to the merit of our obedience. Mary shows
Herself to shepherds to honor the modest and simple life of
the fields so despised today. She appears on a mountain to
tell us that the way to find Her is to get closer to heaven, re-
nouncing the vile interests and vain noises of the earth. She
chooses the day before the feast of the Seven Sorrows, be-
cause it is a sorrow that She comes to announce. (Note: the Church
celebrated this feast on the Sunday following September 15.) Finally, She ap-
pears at a dried-up spring to teach us that the cause of Her
affliction is to see the fountain of grace dry up in our souls,
and that if we want to accept Her Heart as our refuge, we can
still find our first life.
PRAYER
O Virgin, in whom God did such great things because of Your
abasements, obtain for me the grace to become little in my eyes, so
that I may participate in Your ineffable secrets. I want to establish my
soul in peace and in a detachment that will allow You to always
manifest to me the will of God over me. Make my heart, dried up until
now by the fire of passions, quench its thirst only at the pure sources
of virtue and the sacraments.
Novena to
Our Lady of La Salette
Day One – Reflections
Day Two – The Tears of Our Blessed Mother
Everything transpires sorrow, everything weeps in Mary ap-
pearing to the little shepherds. First She hides Her face in Her
hands, then She sheds sensitive tears. She wears the insignia
of the Passion, each of Her words is a moan, and finally She
leaves a spring as an inexhaustible emblem of Her tears.
Let us not remain strangers to tears of which we are all the
authors. It is cruel to make one’s mother weep; but it is more
cruel to be insensitive to her tears. Let us consider in what
way and for how long we make Mary weep, and let us prom-
ise here and now to console Her.
PRAYER
O afflicted Mother, if I had seen Your tears flowing, I would have
gathered them like precious pearls. Happy is the ground that has
drunk them, how can I not kiss it with love! But, ungrateful as I am,
they flow every day on my sins, these blessed tears, and, harder than
a rock, I do not add my own. Obtain for me, good Mother, by the merit
of Your sorrows, the grace not to renew it, and may my heart,
fertilized by Your tears, produce fruits of penance and salvation.
The Virgin Mary complains that the name of Her divine
Son is profaned. How could She be insensitive to this, She
who measures the majesty of the blasphemed God, the
nothingness of the blasphemer and the treasure of wrath
that this crime heaps upon societies.
Let us examine whether we have never forgotten our-
selves to the point of blaspheming, either by murmuring
against Providence or by defiling the holiest of Names.
Have we never given rise to any blasphemy? Have we al-
ways understood that blasphemy is sacrilege, impiety, in-
gratitude, folly, a social plague, a diabolical sin and the
gravest of crimes?
PRAYER
O Mother of the fear of God, I make amends to You for all the
blasphemies which, by offending Your dear Son, have filled Your
Heart with bitterness. Render to God, by Your praise, as much
honor as this crime may have taken from Him. At Your feet, I
declare myself the implacable enemy of blasphemy. I will avoid
everything that could lead those around me to it. I will punish it
severely in those who are subordinate to me. I will work by all
means to extirpate it from my Homeland, on which it has already
brought too many curses.
Day Three – First Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
BLASPHEMY
God gives us six days for work and reserves the seventh for His
worship. Is He too demanding, He to whom all time belongs,
who does not owe us even one hour! How ungrateful, how fa-
tally careless, to deny Him His day, to violate it by stingy
work, to lose it by distancing ourselves from the holy services,
to defile it by sinful or dangerous amusements! In this way,
faith is extinguished, humanity degrades itself like a beast of
burden, society devotes itself to all kinds of misfortunes.
If we still love God and our country, let us stop the wrath of
heaven by forming a holy crusade, under the banner of Mary,
for the restoration of the Lord’s Day.
PRAYER
O Protectress of Christendom, give her back the happy times when
Sunday was worthily sanctified. I deplore having so far been too
insensitive to the forgetfulness of this sacred day. From now on, I want
to make sure that it is respected around me and that I myself spend it
in prayer, good reading and holy works.
Day Four – Second Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
THE DESECRATION OF SUNDAY
The Holy Church, knowing both the need and the horror that
we have of penance, exhorts us to practice it by depriving
ourselves of certain treats every Friday, the whole of Lent,
Advent, the days of the Four Seasons, etc. The Virgin Mary
Herself has reiterated everywhere Her calls to “Prayer and
Penance.” At La Salette, our good Mother said, weeping, “On
Fridays people run to the butcher shop like dogs…” To this
desire of our Mother, who could count the disobedience com-
mitted through indifference, disregard of divine calls, human
respect or blind apathy?
God, who considers Himself despised, in the person of the
Church His Bride, threatens us through the lips of His Mother
to withdraw His protection and treat us as pagans.
Let us examine whether we are observing and enforcing the
practice of penance in our midst, and let us make all reforms
on this point that are compatible with real needs.
PRAYER
O Queen of the Church, You cannot be insensitive to such a general
violation of her wise laws. Obtain for me the courage to be always
faithful Catholic and to close my ear to the excessive delicacies of my
flesh. I have sinned a lot, so I am in great need of penance. I want at
least to accept the one I would not have had the generosity to inflict
on myself and to embrace with love the little crosses that Providence
sends me for my salvation.
Day Five – Third Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
THE VIOLATION OF THE DAYS OF ABSTINENCE
Our Lady at La Salette not only reproaches us for faults
against God, but She also deplores the abuse we make of His
own benefits: “I have suffered such a long time for you, who
do not take it into account… You will never be able to repay
the trouble I have taken for you.” If we only knew, indeed, all
the love She has for us, all the favors She obtains for us, all
the misfortunes She removes from us while we think nothing
of it! How many times would divine justice have struck us, if
Mary had not interposed Her motherly Heart!
Let us not harden our hearts any longer, for Mary’s protec-
tion can be both the subject of our sweetest hope and of our
most severe condemnation.
PRAYER
O Mother of Mercy, until now I have not been able to recognize Your
assistance. Without You, I acknowledge it, hell would have been my
home for a long time. I don’t want to be deaf to Your call anymore, it
is enough to tire Your patience and to irritate the justice of Your Son. I
want to be from now on the most faithful and the most grateful of
Your servants.
Day Six – Fourth Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
THE INDIFFERENCE AND INGRATITUDE OF MEN TOWARDS HER.
A mother’s threats are the strongest proof of her love, be-
cause they are the last resource and the supreme effort of
her heart. Mary threatens like a mother, shedding tears;
but by showing us the misfortunes that She could not
spare from our hardening, She opens the door by which it
would still be possible for us to escape: “If My people DO
NOT WANT to submit, I am FORCED to let go the hand of
My Son.”
Many of Mary’s threats were fulfilled within the first year
after the Apparition: grape disease, potato disease,
cholera, etc. All these threats were a warning: the Virgin
Mary hoped that our conversion would appease God’s
anger. Alas! Humanity has turned a deaf ear, and a torrent
of sins floods the earth and spreads a multitude of misfor-
tunes. We have arrived at the day of great vengeance. With
God, it is never too late. If we convert, we will obtain
mercy and forgiveness. God has promised us this through
the mouth of His Most Holy Mother.
PRAYER
O Mother of Divine Fear, imprint in the depths of my heart a
salutary fear of the judgments of Your Son. Make me understand
that fear is the beginning of true wisdom. May your maternal
threats be salutary to me. What a terrible misfortune if I
condemned myself to have You as my only refuge and the most
precious pledge of my salvation.
Day Seven – The threats of Our Mother at La Salette
“If they are converted,” Mary said to the little shepherds,
“the stone, the rocks will turn to wheat; the potatoes will be
found sown by themselves.” The goodness of God and His
sweet Mother reaches down to our weaknesses. Seeing us so
insensitive to the desires of invisible and eternal goods,
They try to win us to duty by the lure of material rewards.
Above all, they want us to understand that the only remedy
for all the evils that overwhelm humanity is the conversion
of our hearts. When souls ask God for forgiveness, apply
themselves to loving Him and serving Him by observing His
commandments, God will immediately intervene and save
humanity by a miracle as great as His Love. Let us raise our
hopes and desires to God alone, and may our powerful
Mother, Reconciler of sinners, obtain for us sincere contri-
tion for our sins and the generosity to do penance and re-
form our lives.
PRAYER
O Mother of holy hope! You know well our weakness, and You know
well the way of our heart. Make us worthy of the promises You make
to us. Give us enough generosity to help our brothers and sisters by
sacrificing ourselves for their salvation, but above all, raise our
hearts to desire the treasures of Heaven.
Day Eight – Promises of the Most Blessed Virgin
This was the recommendation that Mary repeated several
times to the little shepherds, after Her speech. It tells us
enough that Her visit was addressed to all of us. This mission
of apostle of La Salette belongs to all of us. Mary repeats to
us: “Pass this on to My people.” Let us all learn from this
great event. Let us make ourselves capable of communicat-
ing our convictions to our brothers and sisters, of dispelling
the clouds of their minds, of combating the self-serving ob-
jections of the impious. Let us spread devotion to La Salette
with all our strength, so that the healing waters of this
source of mercy, represented by the miraculous spring on
the mountain, may pour forth in streams of conversions over
all mankind.
PRAYER
Our Lady of La Salette, who has visited us, by the immeasurable
extent of Your mercy, do not allow the multiplied attempts of Your
love to be rendered vain by the spirit of darkness.
Multiply Your wonders of mercy and by them the number of
believers, and bring us into the fulfillment of Your desires. Amen.
Day Nine – “Pass this on to all of My people.”
Day One – Reflections
The
Blessed
Virgin
at
La
Salette
chose
children
to
be
the
confidants
of
Her
heavenly
message,
in
order
to
imitate
the
wise
ways
of
God,
who
leaves
the
proud
in
darkness,
who
communicates
Himself
to
the
hum
-
ble,
who
uses
weak
instruments
in
order
to
better
manifest
His
power,
to
test
our
faith
and
to
add
to
the
merit
of
our
obedience.
Mary
shows
Herself
to
shepherds
to
honor
the
modest
and
simple
life
of
the
fields
so
despised
today.
She
appears
on
a
mountain
to
tell
us
that
the
way
to
find
Her
is
to
get
closer
to
heaven,
renouncing
the
vile
interests
and
vain
noises
of
the
earth.
She
chooses
the
day
before
the
feast
of
the
Seven
Sorrows,
because
it
is
a
sorrow
that
She
comes
to
announce.
(Note:
the
Church
celebrated
this
feast
on
the
Sunday
following
September
15.)
Finally,
She
appears
at
a
dried-up
spring
to
teach
us
that
the
cause
of
Her
affliction
is
to
see
the
fountain
of
grace
dry
up
in
our
souls,
and
that
if
we
want
to
accept
Her
Heart
as
our
refuge,
we
can
still
find
our
first life.
PRAYER
O
Virgin,
in
whom
God
did
such
great
things
because
of
Your
abasements,
obtain
for
me
the
grace
to
become
little
in
my
eyes,
so
that
I
may
participate
in
Your
ineffable
secrets.
I
want
to
establish
my
soul
in
peace
and
in
a
detachment
that
will
allow
You
to
always
manifest
to
me
the
will
of
God
over
me.
Make
my
heart,
dried
up
until
now
by
the
fire
of
passions,
quench
its
thirst
only
at
the
pure
sources
of
virtue
and
the
sacraments.
Novena to
Our Lady of
La Salette
Day Two – The Tears of Our Blessed Mother
Everything
transpires
sorrow,
everything
weeps
in
Mary
appearing
to
the
little
shepherds.
First
She
hides
Her
face
in
Her
hands,
then
She
sheds
sensitive
tears.
She
wears
the
insignia
of
the
Passion,
each
of
Her
words
is
a
moan,
and
finally
She
leaves
a
spring
as
an
inex
-
haustible emblem of Her tears.
Let
us
not
remain
strangers
to
tears
of
which
we
are
all
the
authors.
It
is
cruel
to
make
one’s
mother
weep;
but
it
is
more
cruel
to
be
insensi
-
tive
to
her
tears.
Let
us
consider
in
what
way
and
for
how
long
we
make
Mary weep, and let us promise here and now to console Her.
PRAYER
O
afflicted
Mother,
if
I
had
seen
Your
tears
flowing,
I
would
have
gathered
them
like
precious
pearls.
Happy
is
the
ground
that
has
drunk
them,
how
can
I
not
kiss
it
with
love!
But,
ungrateful
as
I
am,
they
flow
every
day
on
my
sins,
these
blessed
tears,
and,
harder
than
a
rock,
I
do
not
add
my
own.
Obtain
for
me,
good
Mother,
by
the
merit
of
Your
sorrows,
the
grace
not
to
renew
it,
and
may
my
heart,
fertilized
by
Your
tears, produce fruits of penance and salvation.
The
Virgin
Mary
complains
that
the
name
of
Her
divine
Son
is
pro
-
faned.
How
could
She
be
insensitive
to
this,
She
who
measures
the
majesty
of
the
blasphemed
God,
the
nothingness
of
the
blasphemer
and the treasure of wrath that this crime heaps upon societies.
Let
us
examine
whether
we
have
never
forgotten
ourselves
to
the
point
of
blaspheming,
either
by
murmuring
against
Providence
or
by
defiling
the
holiest
of
Names.
Have
we
never
given
rise
to
any
blas
-
phemy?
Have
we
always
understood
that
blasphemy
is
sacrilege,
impiety,
ingratitude,
folly,
a
social
plague,
a
diabolical
sin
and
the
gravest of crimes?
PRAYER
O
Mother
of
the
fear
of
God,
I
make
amends
to
You
for
all
the
blasphemies
which,
by
offending
Your
dear
Son,
have
filled
Your
Heart
with
bitterness.
Render
to
God,
by
Your
praise,
as
much
honor
as
this
crime
may
have
taken
from
Him.
At
Your
feet,
I
declare
myself
the
implacable
enemy
of
blasphemy.
I
will
avoid
everything
that
could
lead
those
around
me
to
it.
I
will
punish
it
severely
in
those
who
are
subordinate
to
me.
I
will
work
by
all
means
to
extirpate
it
from
my
Homeland,
on
which
it
has
already
brought
too
many curses.
Day Three – First Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
BLASPHEMY
God
gives
us
six
days
for
work
and
reserves
the
seventh
for
His
wor
-
ship.
Is
He
too
demanding,
He
to
whom
all
time
belongs,
who
does
not
owe
us
even
one
hour!
How
ungrateful,
how
fatally
careless,
to
deny
Him
His
day,
to
violate
it
by
stingy
work,
to
lose
it
by
distancing
our
-
selves
from
the
holy
services,
to
defile
it
by
sinful
or
dangerous
amusements!
In
this
way,
faith
is
extinguished,
humanity
degrades
it
-
self
like
a
beast
of
burden,
society
devotes
itself
to
all
kinds
of
misfortunes.
If
we
still
love
God
and
our
country,
let
us
stop
the
wrath
of
heaven
by
forming
a
holy
crusade,
under
the
banner
of
Mary,
for
the
restoration
of the Lord’s Day.
PRAYER
O
Protectress
of
Christendom,
give
her
back
the
happy
times
when
Sunday
was
worthily
sanctified.
I
deplore
having
so
far
been
too
insensitive
to
the
forgetfulness
of
this
sacred
day.
From
now
on,
I
want
to
make
sure
that
it
is
respected
around
me
and
that
I
myself
spend
it
in
prayer,
good
reading
and
holy works.
Day Four – Second Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
THE DESECRATION OF SUNDAY
The
Holy
Church,
knowing
both
the
need
and
the
horror
that
we
have
of
penance,
exhorts
us
to
practice
it
by
depriving
ourselves
of
certain
treats
every
Friday,
the
whole
of
Lent,
Advent,
the
days
of
the
Four
Seasons,
etc.
The
Virgin
Mary
Herself
has
reiterated
everywhere
Her
calls
to
“Prayer
and
Penance.”
At
La
Salette,
our
good
Mother
said,
weeping,
“On
Fridays
people
run
to
the
butcher
shop
like
dogs…”
To
this
desire
of
our
Mother,
who
could
count
the
disobedience
committed
through
indifference,
disregard
of
divine
calls,
human
respect
or
blind
apathy?
God,
who
considers
Himself
despised,
in
the
person
of
the
Church
His
Bride,
threatens
us
through
the
lips
of
His
Mother
to
withdraw
His
protection and treat us as pagans.
Let
us
examine
whether
we
are
observing
and
enforcing
the
practice
of
penance
in
our
midst,
and
let
us
make
all
reforms
on
this
point
that
are
compatible with real needs.
PRAYER
O
Queen
of
the
Church,
You
cannot
be
insensitive
to
such
a
general
violation
of
her
wise
laws.
Obtain
for
me
the
courage
to
be
always
faithful
Catholic
and
to
close
my
ear
to
the
excessive
delicacies
of
my
flesh.
I
have
sinned
a
lot,
so
I
am
in
great
need
of
penance.
I
want
at
least
to
accept
the
one
I
would
not
have
had
the
generosity
to
inflict
on
myself
and
to
embrace
with
love
the
little
crosses
that
Providence
sends
me for my salvation.
Day Five – Third Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
THE VIOLATION OF THE DAYS OF ABSTINENCE
Our
Lady
at
La
Salette
not
only
reproaches
us
for
faults
against
God,
but
She
also
deplores
the
abuse
we
make
of
His
own
benefits:
“I
have
suffered
such
a
long
time
for
you,
who
do
not
take
it
into
account…
You
will
never
be
able
to
repay
the
trouble
I
have
taken
for
you.”
If
we
only
knew,
indeed,
all
the
love
She
has
for
us,
all
the
favors
She
ob
-
tains
for
us,
all
the
misfortunes
She
removes
from
us
while
we
think
nothing
of
it!
How
many
times
would
divine
justice
have
struck
us,
if
Mary had not interposed Her motherly Heart!
Let
us
not
harden
our
hearts
any
longer,
for
Mary’s
protection
can
be
both
the
subject
of
our
sweetest
hope
and
of
our
most
severe
condemnation.
PRAYER
O
Mother
of
Mercy,
until
now
I
have
not
been
able
to
recognize
Your
assistance.
Without
You,
I
acknowledge
it,
hell
would
have
been
my
home
for
a
long
time.
I
don’t
want
to
be
deaf
to
Your
call
anymore,
it
is
enough
to
tire
Your
patience
and
to
irritate
the
justice
of
Your
Son.
I
want
to
be
from
now
on
the
most
faithful
and
the
most
grateful
of
Your
servants.
Day Six – Fourth Complaint of Our Blessed Mother:
THE INDIFFERENCE AND INGRATITUDE OF MEN TOWARDS HER.
A
mother’s
threats
are
the
strongest
proof
of
her
love,
because
they
are
the
last
resource
and
the
supreme
effort
of
her
heart.
Mary
threatens
like
a
mother,
shedding
tears;
but
by
showing
us
the
misfortunes
that
She
could
not
spare
from
our
hardening,
She
opens
the
door
by
which
it
would
still
be
possible
for
us
to
escape:
“If
My
people
DO
NOT
WANT
to submit, I am FORCED to let go the hand of My Son.”
Many
of
Mary’s
threats
were
fulfilled
within
the
first
year
after
the
Apparition:
grape
disease,
potato
disease,
cholera,
etc.
All
these
threats
were
a
warning:
the
Virgin
Mary
hoped
that
our
conversion
would
ap
-
pease
God’s
anger.
Alas!
Humanity
has
turned
a
deaf
ear,
and
a
torrent
of
sins
floods
the
earth
and
spreads
a
multitude
of
misfortunes.
We
have
arrived
at
the
day
of
great
vengeance.
With
God,
it
is
never
too
late.
If
we
convert,
we
will
obtain
mercy
and
forgiveness.
God
has
promised us this through the mouth of His Most Holy Mother.
PRAYER
O
Mother
of
Divine
Fear,
imprint
in
the
depths
of
my
heart
a
salutary
fear
of
the
judgments
of
Your
Son.
Make
me
understand
that
fear
is
the
beginning
of
true
wisdom.
May
your
maternal
threats
be
salutary
to
me.
What
a
terrible
misfortune
if
I
condemned
myself
to
have
You
as
my
only
refuge and the most precious pledge of my salvation.
Day Seven – The threats of Our Mother at La Salette
“If
they
are
converted,”
Mary
said
to
the
little
shepherds,
“the
stone,
the
rocks
will
turn
to
wheat;
the
potatoes
will
be
found
sown
by
them
-
selves.”
The
goodness
of
God
and
His
sweet
Mother
reaches
down
to
our
weaknesses.
Seeing
us
so
insensitive
to
the
desires
of
invisible
and
eternal
goods,
They
try
to
win
us
to
duty
by
the
lure
of
material
re
-
wards.
Above
all,
they
want
us
to
understand
that
the
only
remedy
for
all
the
evils
that
overwhelm
humanity
is
the
conversion
of
our
hearts.
When
souls
ask
God
for
forgiveness,
apply
themselves
to
loving
Him
and
serving
Him
by
observing
His
commandments,
God
will
immedi
-
ately
intervene
and
save
humanity
by
a
miracle
as
great
as
His
Love.
Let
us
raise
our
hopes
and
desires
to
God
alone,
and
may
our
powerful
Mother,
Reconciler
of
sinners,
obtain
for
us
sincere
contrition
for
our
sins and the generosity to do penance and reform our lives.
PRAYER
O
Mother
of
holy
hope!
You
know
well
our
weakness,
and
You
know
well
the
way
of
our
heart.
Make
us
worthy
of
the
promises
You
make
to
us.
Give
us
enough
generosity
to
help
our
brothers
and
sisters
by
sacrificing
ourselves
for
their
salvation,
but
above
all,
raise
our
hearts
to
desire
the
treasures of Heaven.
Day Eight – Promises of the Most Blessed Virgin
This
was
the
recommendation
that
Mary
repeated
several
times
to
the
little
shepherds,
after
Her
speech.
It
tells
us
enough
that
Her
visit
was
addressed
to
all
of
us.
This
mission
of
apostle
of
La
Salette
belongs
to
all
of
us.
Mary
repeats
to
us:
“Pass
this
on
to
My
people.”
Let
us
all
learn
from
this
great
event.
Let
us
make
ourselves
capable
of
commu
-
nicating
our
convictions
to
our
brothers
and
sisters,
of
dispelling
the
clouds
of
their
minds,
of
combating
the
self-serving
objections
of
the
impious.
Let
us
spread
devotion
to
La
Salette
with
all
our
strength,
so
that
the
healing
waters
of
this
source
of
mercy,
represented
by
the
miraculous
spring
on
the
mountain,
may
pour
forth
in
streams
of
con
-
versions over all mankind.
PRAYER
Our
Lady
of
La
Salette,
who
has
visited
us,
by
the
immeasurable
extent
of
Your
mercy,
do
not
allow
the
multiplied
attempts
of
Your
love
to
be
rendered
vain
by
the
spirit of darkness.
Multiply
Your
wonders
of
mercy
and
by
them
the
number
of
believers,
and
bring
us
into
the
fulfillment
of
Your
desires.
Amen.
Day Nine – “Pass this on to all of My people.”
