Deepertruth: Journey with Mary as we Travel to France La Salette in 1846

The following day, which was September 19th, the two shepherds met in the ravine, and climbed the mountain together, driving their cattle towards “Le Planeau”. The first reading for the Mass of that day reads in part, “You shall do no servile work in the time of this day, because it is a day of penance, that the Lord your God may be merciful unto you. Every soul that is not afflicted on this day, shall perish from among his people.” (Book of Leviticus, Chapter 23.)

It was also the day before the third Sunday in September, the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin. In the Holy Office for this Feast, we find these words: “To whom can I liken or compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What example can I show you to comfort you, O virgin daughter of Sion? For great as the sea is your downfall, who can heal you?”

The two children, going up the mountain towards the Planeau did not know anything about all this, but before evening they were destined to see that same Virgin in tears; and when they came down from the mountain, they would still be children, but very special children who carried a heavenly message with instructions to make it known to the whole world.

The morning of that day passed the same as that of the day before. They meditated during the ringing of the Angelus. After having eaten their lunch, the two shepherds decided to construct what they called in their dialect a “paradis”. They gathered stones to make the four walls, put a large stone for the first floor, built the walls up, and ended with a second stone which was large enough for a roof. Below, they said, would be their living quarters, and the upper part was Heaven. They decorated it with flowers, and tired out but happy with their work, they laid down on the grass and went to sleep.