Mary in the Liturgy of the Church

Concilium Allocutio September 2012
By Fr. Bede McGregor O.P.
Spiritual Director to the Legion of Mary

Mary in the Liturgy of the Church

The portrait of Mary in the Handbook of the Legion is rooted in Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church. It is also guided by the writings of the saints, especially St. Louis Marie de Montfort, the major tutor of the Legion and St. Bernard who is one of the major influences in the teaching of St. Louis Marie de Montfort. But there is another profound source of Marian spirituality and life for the Legion and that is the Liturgy of the Church. We come to know and celebrate the mystery of Mary in her feasts throughout the liturgical year. The way the church prays is a sure way of knowing what the Church believes. Lex orandi Lex credenda or put more simply the prayer life of the universal church is based on what she believes. The liturgy is a sure and solid way of appropriating what God has revealed to us about Mary. That is why all the feast days of Our Lady in the Liturgy are so important to legionaries.

So, for this meeting of Concilium in September, I would like to dwell a moment on three feasts of Our Lady that occur this month. First is the Nativity of Our Lady. Not by chance but by providence the birth of the Legion coincides with the vigil of this lovely feast day of the birthday of Our Lady. So the spirit of the Legion must be the spirit of this feast day. What is the spirit of this feast? An antiphon of the Divine Office puts it succinctly: ‘Your birth, O Virgin Mother of God, proclaims joy to the whole world.’ Joy must characterise any person who lives and works in union with Mary because she marks the beginning of a new era of grace and salvation. St. Augustine sums it up well: ‘With greatest exultation our earth should rejoice at the birth of such a Virgin. Eve brought us tears; Mary brings us joy. Eve wounded our human nature, Mary has healed it; the faith of Mary has compensated for the unbelief of Eve. Eve brought mourning into the world, Mary has brought singing - “My soul magnifies the Lord.” If the Legion is called to be a special presence of Our Lady wherever it is established it must be marked by a spirit of joy and the offer of grace and redemption to all.

St. John Damascene also puts it thus: “Come one and all - let us joyfully celebrate the birth of the joy of the entire world. This day is the beginning of the world’s salvation. Mary is that virginal door from which and through which God is about to make his bodily appearance on earth.”

The second feast is that of the Most Holy Name of Mary. The theme of the name of Mary is a favourite one of St. Louis Marie de Montfort. He writes: ‘Just as the salvation of the world began with the Hail Mary so the salvation of each individual is bound up with it. Just as the utterance of this Name brought to a dry and barren world the Fruit of Life so too will reverently pronouncing the Holy Name of Mary in prayer cause the Word of God to take root in the soul and bring forth Jesus the Fruit of Life. The Hail Mary is a heavenly dew which waters the earth of our soul and makes it bear its fruit in due season.’ The constant invoking of the name of Mary is one of the reasons why the Rosary is so precious a prayer to the Legion.

The third feast is that of Our Lady of Sorrows. Over the centuries there have been several different lists of the sorrows of Mary. But the greatest suffering and sorrow of Mary is expressed in those succinct words of the Gospel of St. John: ‘By the cross of Jesus stood his Mother.’ Inseparable from the Passion of Christ is the compassion of Mary. Redemption has its sole and unique source in Jesus Christ but through the infinite generosity of God we too can share in the redemptive activity of Our Lord each in his own way. Isn’t that what the apostolate means both the priestly and lay apostolate - sharing in the redemptive activity of Christ. But of course Mary’s share in the work of our redemption is sublime and indispensable. This is why we call her the Co-Redemptrix and it is this theme that permeates this feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows. And we remember the special devotion that Frank Duff had to the Rosary of the Seven Dolours and the Stations of the Cross.

Sometimes we meet people, even devout Catholics who feel uncomfortable with the language the Church and the Legion uses about Mary and the type of devotion we have to her. It is true that the language may sound technical and complex at times but the reality and the truths they express are quite simple and accessible. I came across the following passage from Dr. Mark Miravalle that may help us respond to this difficulty. He writes: ‘Sacred Scripture profoundly reveals the role of Our Blessed Mother as Co-Redemptrix. At the Annunciation when Mary says ‘yes’ to the angel and thereby gives her ‘fiat’ (Lk 1:38), she gives to the Redeemer the instrument of redemption, His human body. In a discussion I had with the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta regarding the solemn papal definition of the Co-Redemptive role of Our Lady, within the first two minutes of speaking Mother said ‘Of course she is Co-Redemptrix, of course. She gave Jesus his Body and the Body of Jesus is what saved us.’ ‘Mother that’s the difference between sanctity and theology. You say in two minutes what it takes the theologians three volumes to write.’

In this allocutio I have just touched on three feasts of Our Lady that occur in September but if we really enter into the spirit of all her feasts that occur in the Liturgical year, we will gradually acquire a solid understanding of the mystery of Mary and develop an ever truer devotion to her. Let us treasure all these feasts within our Legion family.