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

John Paul II and the Legion of Mary

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Last month I spoke about St. John XXIII and what he said about the Legion and to the Legion. Now I would like to speak of St John Paul 11 and the tremendous encouragement he has given to the Legion in so many ways. But the deepest reason why I have chosen to speak of these two Popes to Concilium is to remind ourselves of a great truth, namely, that one of the most significant sources of grace for the Legion has been its unwavering fidelity to the teaching authority of the Church. This will certainly be the case also for the future of the Legion. In today’s world when the minds and hearts of many people are formed by the relentless influence of the social media which are often miles away in spirit from the Gospel message and indeed sometimes overtly or more subtly anti-Catholic, it is a powerful gift to be anchored in the authoritative teaching of the Church. Not only the growth, but the very survival of the Legion will always depend on its joyful loyalty to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In the last lecture before he died Frank Duff began by saying; ‘Sometimes the True Devotion is viewed as a fad; it is anything but that. The false idea is ministered to by the language of extreme devotion, which is De Montfort’s speciality. Sometimes he does appear to be speaking in terms of excess, but it is vital to recognise that there is no theological excess in his propositions. The notable fact that the new Holy Father should at the outset of his reign proclaim himself a follower of that Devotion should be enough to demonstrate this.

Now because the True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis Marie de Montfort is so central to the spirituality of the Legion it is encouraging to know that St John Paul so extensively and so eloquently wrote and spoke about this devotion and the role it had in his own personal interior life. In his book, Gift and Mystery, written on the occasion of the golden jubilee of his ordination as a priest, he wrote: ‘I myself, in the years of my youth, found the reading of this book a great help. There I found the answers to my questions, for at one point I had feared that if my devotion to Mary became too great, it might end up compromising the supremacy of the worship owed to Christ. Under the wise guidance of St. Louis Marie, I realised that if one lives the mystery of Mary in Christ, this risk does not exist. In fact, this Saint’s Mariological thought is rooted in the mystery of the Trinity and in the truth of the Incarnation of the Word of God.’ When we see the impact the True Devotion to Mary had on the youth of John Paul II, we legionaries should not hesitate to introduce it to the young people of today.

Saint John Paul explained many times the meaning of his Episcopal and Papal motto. He writes: ‘The motto,Totus Tuus is inspired by the teaching of St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. These words express total belonging to Jesus through Mary. ‘Tuus totus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt.’ St Louis Marie wrote and he translates his words; ‘I am all Yours, and all that I have is Yours, O most loving Jesus and Mary, Your most holy Mother.’ That is the objective of every legionary: to totally belong to Mary in order to belong more totally to Jesus. Young people flocked to John Paul in their millions especially at the WYD’s, but sometimes I wonder have they really discovered one of the greatest secrets of his life – his consecration to Mary. This is one of the great gifts the Legion has to offer the youth of the world. Mary is their mother and so they will respond, but they must be approached.

Besides St. John Paul’s writings on the teaching of St. Louis Marie there is his other very significant writing on Mary and her role in the mystery of Christ and the Church. This body of work would be an immense enrichment of the spirituality of the Legion. On the other hand it would be an impoverishment of the Legion if we were to neglect the development of Marian Theology that has taken place in the teachings of Vatican Council II and the teaching of St. John Paul. The special bond between the Legion and St. John Paul is that we have a common tutor in St. Louis Marie: ‘Mary’s total relativity to Christ and through Him to the Blessed Trinity, is first experienced in the observation; ‘You never think of Mary without Mary interceding for you with God. You never praise or honour Mary without Mary praising and honouring God with you. Mary is altogether relative to God, and indeed I might well call her the relation to God. She only exists with reference to God. She is the echo of God that says nothing, repeats nothing but God. If you say Mary, she says God. St Elizabeth praised Mary and called her blessed because she had believed. Mary, the faithful echo of God once intoned: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord.’ What Mary did then, She does daily now. When we praise Her, love Her, honour Her or give anything to Her, it is God who is praised, God who is loved, God who is glorified, and it is to God that we give, through Mary and in Mary.

Apart from the more casual meetings between legionaries and St. John Paul on some of his many apostolic journeys throughout the world, there were two extended and important meetings with him. I will conclude this Allocutio by referring to the first meeting. It took place in 1970 when the then Cardinal Wojtyla was Archbishop of Kracow. He met with some legionaries on Peregrinatio pro Christo and they had a long conversation about the Legion and their experiences in his Diocese. At one point while leafing through the Handbook he asked about the address De Montfort House. ‘Tell me please, is this significant?’ The legionaries explained to him that the spirituality of the Legion is based on the True Devotion to Our Lady as taught by St. Louis Marie de Montfort and he exclaimed: ‘Ah, that makes all the difference.’ He was obviously delighted with this information. Then towards the end of the meeting he asked another question: ‘The people of Poland are getting a good working knowledge of Devotion to Our Lady from their priests, has the Legion anything more to offer us?’ ‘Apostleship’, replied the legionaries. Then the future Pope said: ‘Ah yes, a sense of person to person apostleship is going to be terribly important here in Poland.’ It seems to me St John Paul went to the heart of the Legion in those words and they are important not only for Poland, but for every Diocese in the world. Apostolicity is the one characteristic of Frank Duff and the Legion that St. John Paul mentioned in his telegram to the Legion at the time of our founder’s death: ‘The Association that he founded has made countless lay Catholics aware of their indispensable role in Evangelisation and sanctification and has enabled them to fulfil that role zealously and effectively.
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