Allocutio at March 2014 Concilium Meeting by Fr. Bede McGregor, OP

Pope Francis – Reflections on Our Lady
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We are soon coming once more to the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord when the Legion throughout the world renews its consecration to Mary in the ceremony we call the Acies. Our founder, Frank Duff has written some forceful words in the Handbook on the place of the Acies in the life of the individual legionary and the Legion as a whole. I think it would be helpful to recall these words once again: ‘The Acies is the great central annual function of the Legion, so it is necessary to stress the importance of attendance on the part of every member. The essential idea of the Legion, upon which all else is built, is that of working in union with and in dependence on Mary, its Queen. The Acies is the solemn expression of that union and dependence, the renewal –individual and collective – of the legionary declaration of fealty. Hence it is manifest that any legionary who can attend, and yet fail to do so, have little or none of the spirit of the Legion in them. The membership of such persons is not an asset to the Legion.’ Whenever and wherever there is continuous misunderstanding, conflict or unresolved problems among members of the Legion at any level, it is nearly always fundamentally due to a failure in the spirit of our consecration to Mary. The Acies should really be a time for healing, spiritual joy and renewal. It should mark a fresh impetus for all the forms of our apostolate.

The Handbook also counsels us not to pronounce the short formula of consecration: ‘I am all yours my Queen and my Mother and all that I have is yours,’ in a mechanical or thoughtless manner. It suggests that it might be helpful preparation to once more study the Marian Synthesis found in appendix 11 of the Handbook. This year may I share with you for a change some simple thoughts from Pope Francis that may help us to renew our consecration with better informed minds and more open hearts?

On his pilgrim journey to Brazil at the lovely shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, he said: ‘When the Church looks to Jesus, she always knocks at her Mother’s door and asks: ‘Show us Jesus.’ It is from Mary that the Church learns true discipleship. This is why the Church always goes out on mission in the footsteps of Mary.’ That is a lovely way of expressing the teaching of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, indeed the teaching of the Church from the very beginning: To Jesus through Mary. This is God’s eternal plan to give Jesus to the world through Mary and our consecration to her is a deep recognition of that historical and theological fact.

In his Apotolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel, there is a lovely section on Mary, Mother of Evangelisation. The opening words seem to me to express vintage Legion spirituality. He writes: ‘With the Holy Spirit, Mary is always present in the midst of the people. She joined the disciples in praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14) and thus made possible the missionary outburst which took place at Pentecost.. She is the Mother of the Church which evangelises, and without her we could never truly understand the spirit of the new evangelisation. ‘First, these words seem to be an echo of St Louis Marie de Montfort’s dictum: ‘where there is Mary, there is the Holy Spirit.’ Of course, also for the Legion the absolute inseparability of Mary from the Holy Spirit is a fundamental conviction. Many people outside the Legion and perhaps even some within the Legion do not fully realise that the legionary makes the Legion promise to the Holy Spirit and not to Mary. But it is with Mary and in her deepest spirit that we make a total commitment of ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We cannot have one without the other. This is an important truth we should celebrate at the Acies. Mary would never forget the words of the Angel at the Annunciation: ‘The Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’ It is no wonder that Mary led the infant apostolic Church to openness to the coming of the Holy Spirit. And it can be no surprise that an organisation that carries the name of Mary should begin every meeting by invoking the Holy Spirit to reignite the cenacle experience among them.

Pope Francis tell us that, ‘without her we could never truly understand the spirit of the new evangelisation.’ The Legion has cherished this truth from its very beginning. In fact she has always believed that there is no true apostolate, new or old of any kind without Mary. She is the Mother of all evangelisation.

Unfortunately, I can only scratch the surface of this Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis in the course of a relatively short allocutio. But let me leave you with one last simple thought from Pope Francis. He writes: ‘There in these many shrines we see how Mary brings together her children who with great effort come as pilgrims to see her and be seen by her. Here they find strength from God to bear the weariness and sufferings in their lives. As she did with John Diego, Mary offers them maternal comfort and love, and whispers in their ears: ‘Let not your heart be troubled…Am I not here, who am your Mother?’ I know that when we renew our consecration to Mary at the Acies, we may be predominantly aware of what we want to give to Mary; we are conscious of what we are undertaking and the efforts we are intending to make in expressing our love for Mary. But it is supremely important that we remember her absolute commitment to us as our mother and dearest friend. She, like the Lord has first loved us and never leaves our side. May the Acies this year be a time of special grace, joy and light for all of us. Amen.

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