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A Grace Called La Salette: a story for the world, contains outstanding pages-probably the best ever written-on the spirituality of La Salette and the religious meaning of the apparition. Father Jaouen ably demonstrates the coherence of the various elements of the discourse and of the vision reported by the witnesses, as well as their agreement with the Gospel taught by the Church.He had been trained for this task at the theological school of the Saulchoir, an institution directed by French Dominicans. Thanks to that training he gave an accurate and balanced interpretation of the warnings voiced by the Lady of the apparition, warnings which have deeply scandalized so many people. According to them, the apparition reflects an unbiblical understanding of God and Christ in presenting the image of a vengeful Christ while reserving for Mary the exercise of mercy.Such objections reflect a radical misunderstanding of the message of La Salette. La Salette does not place the origin of Mary's mercy in herself but in the God who mandated her to pray for us without ceasing. More so, other objections raised against the Christology of the message do not stem solely from a superficial reading of that mes-sage reported by Maximin and Melanie. Their roots go deeper. They arise from a view of Christ's work which reduces his role to that of prophet of the philosophers. According to the New Testament, Jesus is in reality the Messiah of Israel who accomplishes the mission his Father has given Him not simply by teaching, exhorting, protesting against abuses, but also by offering Himself for people and incorporating them into His body. This process necessarily demands from us a response which in the final analysis consists in taking this word of Jesus seriously: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (Matt 16:24). The mercy of Jesus must be read in the light of the cross which, un-fortunately, we too easily dismiss.The message of La Salette can only be grasped in this light. As Father Jaouen points out, the tears shed by the "beautiful Lady" of the apparition place before us the tragic situation of a people who, forgetting Christ and his cross, loses its identity, wastes away and becomes prey to the powers of darkness, not by virtue of an arbitrary decree, but by the nature of things. When oneness with Christ is lost, the baptized person is delivered up to the forces of evil. "If my Son is not to cast you off, I am obliged to entreat Him without ceasing."The present edition, from the foreword to chapter twelve inclusively, reproduces the text of the third edition, the last to appear in Father Jaouen's lifetime and, consequently, the last for which he bears responsibility. We hope that a direct contact with an author who was a master theologian, who had acquired an excellent knowledge of documentary sources, and who was a priest quickened with a deep piety toward Our Lady of La Salette whom he loved to invoke as the Lady of Compassion will help the reader to know better the grace bestowed upon the world on September 19, 1846.Fr. Jean Stern, M.S. Archivist, Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette Rome, 1981
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