From the Legion of Mary HandbookÂ
A solemnity attaches to last words even though they are uttered in turmoil or weakness. What then is to be thought of our Lord’s final injunction to the apostles: what has been called his last will and testament, delivered at a moment more awesome than that of Sinai – that is as the completion of all his earthly lawgiving and immediately before his Ascension? As he speaks, he is already clothed with the very majesty of the Trinity: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” (Mk 16:15)
Those words supply the Christian keynote. Faith must strain after people with inextinguishable ardour. Sometimes that essential note is missing. People are not sought after, neither those in the fold nor those outside it. But if that Ascension commandment be disregarded, it will be at a price – the price of loss of grace, of diminution and decay, even to the extinction of faith. Look around and see how many places have already paid that awful price.
When Christ said all, he meant ALL. Actually he had before his eyes each individual one – “for whom he had worn the Crown- and borne the Cross, the nails, the lance – the rabble’s ignominious glance – unnumbered griefs, unmeasured woes – faintings and agonising throes – and death itself on Calvary.” Labour so great must not be thrown away. The Precious Blood must now be touched to everyone for whom it was so prodigally shed. That Christian commission drastically drives us out to people everywhere – to the least ones, to the greatest ones, to those near, to those remote, to the ordinary people, to the wickedest, to the farthest shack, to all afflicted creatures, to the diabolical types, to the loneliest lighthouse, to the leper, to the forgotten sort, to the victims of drink and vice, to the dangerous classes, to the dwellers in caves and caravans, to those on the battlefield, to those who hide, to the avoided places, to the lowest den, to the icy wastes, to the sun-baked desert, to the densest jungle, to the dismal swamp, to the uncharted island, to the undiscovered tribe, out into the absolute unknown to find if there is someone living there, right on to the ends of the earth where the rainbow rests! No one must evade our search lest the gentle Jesus frown upon us.
The Legion must be, so to speak, obsessed by that final commandment. It must, as a first principle, set out to establish a contact of some sort with every soul everywhere. If this be done – and it can be done – then the Lord’s command will be moving towards fulfilment.
Our Lord, it will be noted, does not order that every person be converted, but only that approach be made to every one. The former may be beyond human possibility. But it is not impossible to make the approach. And if that all-embracing, undiscriminating contact be made, what then? It is certain that there would be an aftermath. For our Blessed Lord does not order unmeaning or unnecessary steps to be taken. When that comprehensive approach to people has been effected, at least the divine command has been obeyed; and that is the important circumstance. What happens next might well be the renewal of the Pentecostal fires.
Many earnest workers believe that by labouring to the limits of their strength, they have done all that God expects of them. Alas, such single-handed effort will not carry them far; nor will the Lord be satisfied with that solitary striving; nor will he make good what they leave unattempted. For the work of religion must be set about like any other work which exceeds the individual power, that is by mobilising and organising until the helpers are sufficient.
This mobilising principle, this effort to join others to our own efforts, is a vital part of common duty. That duty applies not merely to the higher ones of the Church, not merely to the priests, but to every legionary and every Catholic. When the apostolic ripples proceed from every believer, they will add up into a universal deluge.
“You will find that your powers of action will always be equal to your desires and your progress in faith. For it is not in heavenly as it is in earthly benefactions; you are stinted to no measure or boundary in receiving the gift of God. The fountain of Divine Grace is ever flowing, is subject to no precise limitations, has no fixed channels to restrain the waters of life. Let us encourage an earnest thirst after those waters and open our hearts to receive them, and as much will flow in upon us as our faith will enable us to receive.” (St. Cyprian of Carthage)
