Allocutio at Concilium - February 2014 - Fr. Bede McGregor, OP

The Legion and the Great Problems and Evils of Today

Recently we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The events and message of Lourdes belong to the category of private revelation and get their whole value and influence from the fact that they are a gentle but sublime proclamation of the Gospel message and bring millions of people into contact with the Person of Jesus Christ. If a private revelation is not rooted in and illuminates some Gospel truth it is best ignored and can be a grave distraction in the spiritual life. At Lourdes Mary reveals and recalls us to the central mission of the Church: the salvation of souls. That is also the only ultimate reason for the existence of the Legion of Mary. We have to keep on asking ourselves the challenging question: are we really concerned about where people will spend eternity especially those who seem to be in most danger? What is the evidence for our commitment to the salvation of souls in practice rather than just by way of aspiration? Let me just quote one passage of Scripture from many possible texts to remind ourselves of the Gospel portrait of Jesus and the essential identity of his mission: ‘then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “it is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” “Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous but sinners.” (Mt 9:10-12)

That image and those words of Jesus are embedded in the heart of the Church from its very beginning. They were also branded on the soul of Frank Duff and the Legion of Mary. It is against that background that I want to suggest some preliminary orientations as to how the Legion should be involved in the great problems and evils of today. From time to time some legionaries ask me why the Legion is not more vocal and active in the great questions of today. For instance, why the Legion is not more involved in the pro-life movement, why does she not enter the public debate on same gender ‘marriages’ or why does she not publicly oppose the euthanasia of sick children and the elderly sick, why does she not join the fight against legislation that not only attacks the church but also undermines the common good and culture. The list of such questions goes on and on. First of all the legionary must be as well informed as possible on all these important issues by studying the Universal Catechism or the Compendium and the guidelines provided by so many of the Documents of the Magisterium. We should also be prepared to share the teaching of the Church with others when they ask us and whenever an opportunity arises. Of course, the Legion realises that sin is the greatest evil in the world and she does not soft pedal the enormity of this evil. But she is also committed to love, and to humbly serve the sinner in every way possible to her. The Legion seeks to be an instrument of grace and not simply a vehicle of condemnation and confrontation.

Our Lady asked St. Bernadette to pray for sinners and she asked the children at Fatima to do the same thing. And she asks us also to pray for sinners. Prayer is not a form of opting out of the humdrum, the slog and sometimes the exhaustion of apostolic work but rather an opting into the deepest level of cooperation with the redemptive love of God and the mission of the Church. In contemplating Our Lord on the cross we see the supreme manifestation of the inexhaustible thirst of God for sinners. His merciful love for sinners has absolutely no limits. And Mary is the Mother of the heart of God that so thirsts for sinners. Of course there is a huge difference between God’s thirst for souls and that of Mary. His thirst is infinite and hers can only border on the infinite. But her thirst for the salvation of sinners defines her immaculate and maternal heart. The purpose of the Legion and of every member is to slake the thirst of God and his Mother for sinners. We ask for the gift of sharing in Mary’s thirst for sinners.

Frank Duff, our Founder was incredibly well informed on the great problems and evils facing the Church. But as I have already said that branded on his soul was a great thirst for the conversion of sinners. To put it in other words he loved and reverenced people so much that he wanted everyone he ever met or could reach to get into heaven. He founded the Legion for this same purpose. But what I wanted to stress today was the methods he used to try and achieve this goal. How did he go about being involved in the crises and problems of his day?

Let me quote just one of many appropriate passages in the Handbook that answer this question: “The Legion must guard against the danger of being made use of by too ardent social reformers. The work of the Legion is essentially a hidden one. It commences in the heart of the individual legionary, developing therein a spirit of zeal and charity, by direct personal and persevering contact with others, the legionaries endeavour to raise the spiritual level of the whole community. The work is done quietly, unobtrusively, delicately. It aims less at the direct suppressing of gross evils than at the permeation of the community with Catholic principles and Catholic feeling, so that the evils die of themselves through lack of soil favourable to them. It will consider its real victory to lie in the steady, if sometimes slow, development among the people of an intense Catholic life and outlook.
It is important that the intimate nature of the Legion visitation should be jealously safeguarded. It will not be preserved if legionaries gain the reputation of seeking out abuses for public denunciation. The visits of legionaries to people’s homes, as well as their general movements, would tend to be looked on with doubt. Instead of being regarded as friends, in whom complete confidence could be reposed, the suspicion would attach to them that they were engaged on detective work for their organisation. Inevitably their presence would be resented, and this would mark the end of real legionary usefulness.

Therefore, those in charge of Legion activities will be chary of associating the name of the Legion with ends which, though good in themselves, presuppose methods which have little in common with those of the Legion. Special organisations exist for the purpose of combating the glaring abuses of the day. Let the legionaries avail of them when the need arises, and lend their support in their private capacities, but let the Legion itself continue to be true to its own tradition and its own methods of work.’

I realise that there may be other valid and effective ways of confronting and participating in the great issues of the day and there may be an understandable temptation at times for some members of the Legion to adopt these methods but I am convinced that to do so would gradually undermine the whole spirit and charism of the Legion that has so outstandingly proved its worth and wisdom through many years of experience.

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