The famous New York diamond dealer, Harry Winston, heard about a wealthy Dutch merchant who was looking for a certain kind of diamond to add to his collection. Winston called the merchant, told him that he thought he had the perfect stone, and invited the collector to come to New York and examine it.

The collector flew to New York and Winston assigned him a salesman to meet him and show him the diamond. When the salesman presented the diamond to the merchant he described the expensive stone by pointing out all of its fine technical features. The merchant listened and praised the stone but turned away and said: “It’s a wonderful stone but not exactly what I want.”

Winston, who had been watching the presentation from a distance, stopped the merchant going out the door and asked, “Do you mind if I show you that diamond once more?” The merchant agreed and Winston presented the stone. But instead of talking about the technical features of the stone, Winston spoke spontaneously about his own genuine admiration and what a rare thing of beauty it was. Abruptly, the customer changed his mind and bought the diamond.

While he was waiting for the diamond to be packaged and brought to him, the merchant turned to Winston and asked, “Why did I buy it from you when I had no difficulty saying no to your salesman?”

Winston replied, “That salesman is one of the best men in the business and he knows more about diamonds than I do. I pay him a good salary for what he knows. But I would gladly pay him twice as much if I could put into him something that I have and he lacks. You see, he knows diamonds, but I love them.” (Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D., How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life, Berkeley, by arrangement with G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1989, pgs. 34-35)

That story illustrates one of the single greatest principles of persuasion: People are far more persuaded by the depths of your beliefs and emotions than any amount of logic or knowledge you possess.

The preceding anecdote could be a modern parable. Harry Winston had a gift. One could say that diamonds were his ‘charism.’ He could have been taken up with rare coins, stamps or shells but his passion was the beauty and splendor of diamonds. That love was a gift. His whole life was transformed by gems. He converted that love into a livelihood because he was able to communicate some of his ‘obsession’ on to others. He was able to sell diamonds because he loved them.

Reconciliation is truly a gem of a Charism

Reconciliation can be passed on only by people who love it, who communicate their love of it to others.

A charism is pure grace, pure gift. It is a love endowment and the result of a choice by God and bestowed on a person or group of persons to fulfill a special mission within the Church. It is a call and a sending. It is not a specific work or ministry, but a spirit, a conviction, an inspiration, an attitude by which a given life and calling are lived out, by which a given ministry or service is accomplished.

When we say, for example, that reconciliation is the charism of the Missionaries of La Salette, we do not mean that all La Salette persons are committed to a very defined and limited ministry. We mean that whatever ministry they are engaged in, whatever life they have embraced, they live and serve in a spirit of reconciliation.

The charism of a congregation, then, is a founding grace given to a person or a group of persons. Often, that grace is given to one person, the founder, and he or she gathers people together who, in their prayer, daily work and ministry to the Church, will be guided by that special founding grace. Sometimes this charism is given to many people who become the expressions of that grace in the life of a foundation.

The charism of an Order may also come to a founder (or founders) through a founding experience. We may assume that for our own Congregation, the apparition of Our Lady at La Salette was a founding experience. Mary did not found the Congregation but her apparition became the occasion of its founding.

Reconciliation as a charism

The title given to Our Lady of La Salette – Reconciler of Sinners – describes the reason for her apparition on the Holy Mountain. The first written testimony applying the title of “Reconciler of Sinners” to Our Lady of La Salette dates back to September 6, 1848 in a document called the Perrin Manuscript. Father Louis Perrin was Pastor of the parish of La Salette from 1846 to 1852. This title was used in relation to the Confraternity of Our Lady of Seven Dolors founded within the parish in May, 1848, by Father Perrin and his priest-brother, Jacques-Michel, who served as his temporary assistant. This is the origin of the title as we know it, but the substance of it — conversion, return to the will of God — is therein aptly described.

Clearly, the ministry of reconciliation is the work of the universal Church and of every baptized person. Indeed, every ministry in the Church belongs to the entire Church. The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette have received the charism of reconciliation from the very words of Our Lady’s message at La Salette. The message was pronounced by the Lady but its root origin was the Son himself. The grace of La Salette is the grace of reconciliation, the standing invitation to return to the Father. The ministry exercised by the Missionaries and those who are associated with them is a service performed for the entire people of God. Through the witness of their lives and their various works, the Missionaries labor for the return of every member of the people of God to conversion and peace.

Communities foster La Salette studies and participate in programs and efforts which are undertaken to promote a better understanding and a deepening of our spirit (La Salette Rule, Capitular Norm #4).

Following Mary at La Salette

Reconciliation is an idea as well as an ideal. Concretely it is most often applied to individuals in specific situations. Whoever would perform this ministry needs to examine the manner, style and spirit with which Christ himself exercised it in the gospels and how Mary performed it at La Salette on that Saturday afternoon in 1846. A study of Christ’s own ministry of reconciliation in the gospels would be too great an undertaking. It is indeed, a complete journey through the New Testament.

In a more limited way, I will read through the beautiful Lady’s discourse at La Salette and try to derive from her words some guidelines for living out the mystery and exercising the ministry of reconciliation. Since the charism is the moving force behind the ministry we can hope to see how the Mother of God exercises that charism and thus find a model to emulate and footsteps to follow. She lives the charism we constantly strive to bring into our lives.

(from Face of a Reconciler: Bringing the La Salette Charism to Life by Fr. Normand Theroux, M.S., pgs. 2-5)