The Ecumenical Commitment - January 2013

By Fr. Bede McGregor O.P.
Spiritual Director to the Legion of Mary

The Ecumenical Commitment
January 2013

The Year of Faith is already well underway. We have been asked by Pope Benedict to celebrate in a special way the 50th Anniversary of the launching of the Universal Catechism of the Catholic Church. Today I want to reflect on ecumenism as one of the great themes and commitments of the Council and suggest that the Legion all over the world should renew and recommit itself to this sublime but difficult task. But first let me stress the importance of all the teaching of the Councils for the present and future of the Legion.

We remember the words of Blessed John Paul II in his Encyclical on Ecumenism, Ut Unum Sint, that they may be one: ‘the best preparation for the new millennium can only be expressed in a renewed commitment to apply, as faithfully as possible, the teachings of Vatican II to the life of every individual and the whole Church.’ Then in his first message to the Church Pope Benedict quotes the Spiritual Testament of Blessed John Paul: ‘I am convinced that for a very long time the new generations will draw upon the riches that this Council of the 20th century gave to us.’ Then he adds: ‘I too, as I start in the service that is proper to the Successor of Peter, wish to affirm with force my decided will to pursue the commitment of Vatican Council II, in continuity with the millennia-old tradition of the Church.’ So the imperative to implement the Vatican Council binds the whole Church and the Legion must be enthusiastic to do so too.

We recall that our Founder was invited as an Observer to the Council by Pope Paul himself, and how diligently he studied the documents of the Council. He was definitely a man of the Council. The last edition of the Handbook to come out before his death was enriched with many quotations from the Council documents. But we are well aware that the Council was interpreted in many different ways and sometimes with very harmful effects for the Church. These aberrations disturbed Frank Duff very much as is clear from many of his letters between 1965 – 1980. But he rejoiced in the teachings of the Council especially its teaching concerning Mary. The secret of his serenity in the midst of this turmoil was his total fidelity to the Conciliar and post Conciliar teaching of the Magisterium of the Church. This must always be the secret of the Legion. We must grow and develop in harmony with the authentic teaching of the Church.

Now let us consider the teaching of the Church on Ecumenism. The opening words in the Council Document on ecumenism are: ‘The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.’ It then goes on to say about the divisions among Christians: ‘Certainly such divisions openly contradict the will of Christ, scandalises the world and damages that most holy cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature.’

So, first of all we need to be convinced that Christian Unity is a primary task of the Church and the individual Christian. Blessed John Paul sums this up as follows: ‘Thus it is absolutely clear that ecumenism, the movement promoting Christian unity, is not just some sort of appendix which is added to the Church’s traditional activity. Rather ecumenism is an organic part of her whole life and work, and consequently must pervade all that she is and does.’ So too for the Legion ecumenism is not just one among many activities of the Legion but must belong to her very soul and be a dimension of everything she thinks and undertakes. That was certainly the case with our Founder.

Secondly, we must at least engage in what the Council and the recent popes have called ‘spiritual ecumenism.’ This consists in three major things: first we must pray for Christian unity not just during the Octave of Prayer but always. It should be an integral part of our prayer life. This is what Our Lord Himself did. Shortly before he died he prayed earnestly to the Father that we would all be one and then he laid down his life for Christian unity. Unity is a gift of God and is not a purely human achievement by purely human means. We rejoice at all that has already been achieved in ecumenical activity, we have come to realise more and more that we have more in common than divides us but hard experience has also taught us the immense difficulties and obstacles that remain. In short we must pray incessantly for the gift of Christian unity of all Christians.

Of course we must try to know our Catholic faith as fully and deeply as possible so that we can share it with our separated brothers and sisters. Then most of all we both need to work on our ever deeper conversion to Christ so that both of us by drawing closer to Christ we necessarily draw closer to each other. Conversion is the most fundamental task of ecumenism.

Where does Mary fit into this ecumenical imperative? Well, during the Council Pope Paul declared Mary to be the Mother of the Church and as Mother nothing must pain her more than the divisions in the Body of Christ her Son. Unity is a self-evident desire of the Heart of Mary. Therefore it must be an essential part of all true devotion to her. Mary is also the sublime model for ecumenical activity. She is the great listener to the Word of God. She continuously ponders on what she hears. She is totally Christocentric but she is not only the Mother of Christ since her maternity has been brought about by the Holy Spirit and she is full of the Holy Spirit who is the ultimate source of all unity. And if we think that the task of ecumenism is impossible, she learnt at the Annunciation that nothing is impossible to God. And lastly she is pre-eminent in humility that is one of the preconditions for a true ecumenism. Pope Benedict speaks so beautifully of her humility: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord (Lk 1:46)’. In these words she expressed her whole programme of life. She wants to magnify God, not herself. She is lowly: her only desire is to be the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38). She is a woman of hope, Mary is a woman of faith, Mary is a woman who loves. We see it in the humility with which she recedes into the background during Jesus’ public life. (Deus Caritas Est n. 41). So the spirit of Mary is the perfect examplar of all authentic ecumenical activity.

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