Talk 3: Legion Spirituality

The Prayerful Legionary:  The Spirituality of the Legion

Good Afternoon!  I am here today to give us some thoughts to spurn discussion of the Spirituality of the Legion.  Our goal in the Legion is our own personal sanctification and we do this by trying our hardest to achieve Theosis or becoming one with God.  Through this discussion we need to look into ourselves and cast our nets into our own prayer life with Mary as our source and model of holiness to see if we are doing the best we can at this point in our life to achieve Theosis.  I will briefly explain what the Catholic Church teaches us about prayer and then I will talk about how we as Legionaries pray during the meeting, during our works, and finally on our own in our daily lives.

The Catechism states as it opens the section on prayers that “Great is the mystery of faith!”  The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed (Part 1) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part 2), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part 3).  This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God.  This relationship is prayer.”  We must conform our will to that of God’s in the Holy Trinity so that through our works and our lives we can best serve Him and His needs.  We can not conform our will to His if we do not pray constantly to hear His will for us.  The handbook states that, “the soul of the Legion is shown forth in its prayers, and it is fitting that the latter, by a uniformity most exact shall typify – in whatever language they may in time be said- the complete unity of mind, heart, rule and practice, to which the Legion exhorts all who may anywhere serve beneath its standard.”  Through our oneness in the Legion and submitting our will to that of the Legion system, we are taking a step in conforming our will to that of Mary’s and ultimately to God’s.

We are told in the handbook that, “Foremost in its system, the primary obligation of each member, the Legion sets the duty of attendance at its meetings” and also “This weekly meeting is the heart of the Legion from which the life-blood flows into all its veins and arteries.”  Why is this?  The meeting is a prayer.  Fr. Lendacky said once in an allucutio, “The principal components of the Praesidium Meeting which can make it a unique spiritual exercise are prayer, instruction, and assignments. The three times of prayer provide a variety of expressions in prayer:”  He continues saying, “the Rosary is meditative and Biblical.”   The Rosary, said in the same way as all those throughout the world in the Legion of Mary forms our common basis and reminds us through Mary’s example, what we are called to be as Legionaries.  The handbook states that, “What breathing is to the human body, the rosary is to the Legion meetings.”  We read a spiritual reading because we are uniting ourselves with Mary and with Christ to understand what our mission as a Legionary of Mary truly is.  In the Roman Legion, the Alluctutio was the Roman General’s address to his Legionaries.  In our Legion of Mary, it is an address that helps us better understand the spirituality of the Legion that is based on the handbook, to help us go into battle during our works and daily lives.  This helps us to conform our will to that of the Legion system which is the will of Christ.  Fr. Lendacky continued his thought of the three prayers saying, “the Catena is every Legionary's t sing-along' with Mary.”  Finally he finished saying, “the Concluding Prayers are imprecatory for an active apostolic Faith. The assignments towards the end of the meeting continue the momentum of apostleship in the Legionary's life.”  The concluding prayers unite us as Legionaries, even those departed in our mission and duty for that week.  It sends us on our way, in union with Mary, to do her work.  As Fr. Lendacky says, “most of the meeting is prayerfully informative to the Legionary and apostolically formative of the Legionary. The Praesidium has all the ingredients of a true spiritual exercise.”

As the team of Legionaries come together and prepare to go on their work, they should begin in prayer and then again end in prayer.  This unites our work, with that of the Church and Mary and ultimately Christ’s work on Earth.  Throughout the assignment as one in the pair is speaking during the work, the other should be constantly praying for their partner, for themselves, and for those the pair will come into contact with.  The one speaking should unite their words and follow the Holy Spirit in what they say to those the pair will come in contact with.  All intentions should be united with the intentions of Mary.

Finally, in our daily lives as well, we are encouraged to pray.  The handbook says that, “The auxillary members’ duty requires those prayers (referring to the Tessera), and it would be a reproach to the active units were they to fall short of what the auxillaries, in countless numbers, are contributing.  It is true that the auxillary does not perform the active work.  Nevertheless, it is certain that the auxillary is of greater service to the Legion’s Queen than the active member who works but does not pray.”  Vatican II states that prayer is important for the spiritual development of Christian life and that the forms of private prayer include, “meditation [or mental prayer], examination of conscience, retreats, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and special devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, above all, of course, the rosary.”  The forms of public prayer include participation in the Liturgy including the Mass and Divine Office.  We are required as Legionaries to recite the Catena. The Catena, or chain of the Legion, is said everyday by both active members and auxillary members.  This bonds all members of the Legion of Mary together to Our blessed Lady.  The name is chain and represents the importance of this prayer to the life of a Legionary.  This is one of the requirements stated in the Standing Instructions for active membership.  The handbook scolds Legionaries who may break the chain of the Legion by not saying the Catena daily.   The handbook also tells us that if for some reason, a person must given up active membership in the Legion, that individual should still strive to pray the Catena daily.  Shall we stop there, at the Catena daily?  Especially on the day of our assignment…

Throughout the handbook we are given multiple ways as individuals to increase our holiness through prayer.  We are encouraged to join the Rosary Confraternity which registers our names on a roll of those who recite the 15 original decades of the Rosary weekly.  Those interested today in signing up, can visit the Tidewater Curia website at www.legionofmarytidewater.com to register online.  We are encouraged to wear and say the prayer on the Miraculous Medal daily which is “Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”  We are also encouraged to make a Total Consecration through St. Louis deMonfort’s Total Consecration to Mary.  The next date to begin Total Consecration is November 5^th.  This is a very powerful prayer of Consecration.  I made my first consecration with my then fiancé, now husband before we got married and it helped in our own prayer life together.  A friend of ours inspired us after he made his consecration and had relayed a story of how he had gone on a trip and forgotten his book for the consecration and called his atheist roommate who read to him over the phone the prayers of the Consecration for that day.  Through our own undertaking of these special prayers, we can also encourage others we come in contact with to undertake the same prayers.

We must also pray through public prayer.  This can be done by uniting our selves with all the Sacraments the Church offers including the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that the sin that does separate us from Christ can be reconciled.  Again, prayer unites us to Christ as we attempt to achieve Theosis.  When we sin, we are doing the opposite and must rectify the relationship with Christ.  Through this sacrament we can then worthily receive His sacred body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Holy Eucharist.  All Sacraments confer grace on those who receive them.  This grace unites us more closely to Christ.  We should study the sacraments in our own life through spiritual reading to better understand the underlying mysteries of our Faith.

All active members are encouraged to take on the Praetorian degree of membership.  This again just increases our personal holiness and transfers itself to our work in crushing the head of the serpent.  What is the Praetorian degree of membership?  It is those members among our ranks who in addition to their ordinary duties as Legionaries, undertake daily recitation of all the prayers of the Tessera, attend daily Mass, receiving Holy Communion, and finally the daily recitation of an Office approved by the Church, especially the Divine Office.  This is a private devotion of Legionaries and members who take on this degree inform their Vice President’s who keep their names on a separate roll.  The Vice President should announce at every meeting when giving the meeting statistics, the number of those members that have achieved Praetorian membership.  There should not be separate Praesidium of Praetorians.  Again, it is a private devotion.  The handbook says that this degree of membership will, “inevitabley affect the whole spiritual circulation of the Legion and make the Legion grow in the Spirit of reliance upon prayer in all its works.  In fact, it will cause the Legion to realize ever more completely that its chief and true destiny is to spiritualize its members.”

That is our spirituality in the Legion!  Our complete union to Christ through Mary in our prayer first.  Then we can exemplify that spirituality through our works and daily lives. 

So let us pray through St. Louis deMonfort, Servant of God Frank Duff and Alfie Lambe, Venerable Edel Quinn, our beloved Pope John Paul II and all the other Saints and members of the faithful who have gone before us with the spirituality of achieving union with Christ through Mary, that we may be guided through our discussion.  Amen!