Our Lady of La Salette VI

The Seers of La Salette

Melanie Mathieu, 14 & Maximin Giraud, 11

"It is not the healthy who are in need of a physician, but they who are sick. For I have come not to call the just, but sinners." Mark 2:17

The words of our Saviour as recorded by the Apostle Mark, apply for all time, for those to whom He personally spoke as well as those reading His words in the present day. At La Salette, in 1846 our Lord sent his Blessed Mother to these two children with a message for the entire world. As often happens, the Lord chooses the simple to confound the powerful and wise. This was certainly the case with the two french La Salette seers. Melanie and Maximin certainly represent the people of France at this time in history - lacking in faith, religion and proper catechesis. Neither of these two seers have been canonized, nor have they even been declared venerable. In fact, their lives after seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary were not examples of heroic virtue as we have seen with the seers of Lourdes and Fatima.

However, these two uneducated children, in thier simplicity did in fact complete the mission given them by Our Lady of La Salette: "You will make this known to all my people." They weren't given her message because they were holy, but rather to call us to holiness. Mary appeared at this time of irreligion with a social message, not a personal message for these children. The parish priest at Corps, the parish nearest to La Salette stated it best:

"Many people would like to see the children more mystical, at least more perfect. But the Blessed Virgin has left them thier own natures and there is nothing we can do about it. What has been confided to them, it seems to me, can be compared to an orange in a jar. The orange does not change the jar, will not make of it crystal if it is simple glass. But the jar lets us see the orange just as it is."

Melanie and Maximin consistently throughout thier lives recounted the message without embellishments nor did they change a single word. They did not contradict themselves nor each other, despite several interrogations conducted separately and by many clerics and prelates. They faithfully and with great love repeated the words of the Lady; "If my people will not obey..." The seers warned the world that if they continued to work on Sundays and to take the Lord's name in vain, uttering all sorts of blasphemies which were common at this time (anyone who learns colloquial french will know this even now) that their crops would be destoyed, there would be a famine and they would "...atone for thier sins with hunger." But "...if they would convert, the very stones will change to wheat and the potatoes will sow themselves."

More on the seers of La Salette in the next posts. May Mary's prayers go with you always!