Talk 4: The Difficult Road

The Difficult Road -When works and prayers become hard

What does it mean to be a member of the Legion of Mary and to be one of Mary’s soldiers?  We pray.  We go to our weekly meetings to say our Rosary and Tessera prayers and then we go to our work.  It sounds easy, but sometimes this simplicity can become difficult.  Saint Thomas More said, “The things I pray for, dear Lord, give me grace to labour for.”  That grace comes through the virtues of courage and perseverance.  There is a bigger purpose to being a member of The Legion of Mary, and that is to be an apostle in Christ’s service.  What is an apostolate?  Does it still mean the same as being like Jesus and/or being like a disciple?  Absolutely!  Although times have changed our way of life significantly in the past two thousand years, our Lord’s work and expectations of us has not.  The Bible tells us how difficult that road was for Jesus and his disciples and it is still a difficult road today.  In fact, we just heard a few Sunday’s ago from Mark’s Gospel, that Jesus sent the disciples two by two with very specific instructions.  He told them knowing they would encounter households that would not have them, “If any place will not receive you or hear you, shake its dust from your feet in testimony against them as you leave.”  Through our life in the Legion of Mary we need the virtues of perseverance and courage.  It is through these two virtues we will be able to continue to serve the Holy Spirit through Mary.

“Courage is an indispensable virtue in the service of God, and a special characteristic of genuine Marian devotion.  The greatest obstacle to the apostolate is the timidity, or rather the cowardice, of the faithful.”  How do we find guidance for this?  We must continually pray for the virtue of courage.  In order for our work to be productive, we must be willing to give of ourselves entirely.  The more we challenge ourselves the more we will reap the benefit of knowing we are serving our Lord as he requested we do.  “Jesus answered : ‘Will you lay down your life for me?’ ” (Jn 13:38)  “The whole idea of the organization is the unification of many.” 

It is important for each Praesidium to have their seasoned members take the newly indoctrinated under their wings and show them how to become an integral part of Mary’s army.  An untrained soldier would not be sent into battle.  We need to teach our new members how to become the best that they can be.  The Legion requires its members to do their apostolic work in pairs.  “Where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.:  (Mt. 18:20)  By creating teams for our apostolate work, what would have been a difficult road for some, becomes easier because we find strength in numbers.  We find courage in knowing that we are not alone.  We rally to think of ourselves as soldiers on active service.  Confidence and experience go hand in hand. 

We must prayerfully persevere in becoming better Legionaries.  We do this in many ways.  First, we do this through studying our handbook daily in prayer.  Studying our handbook is integral in becoming a well rounded apostle.  Not only does our legion handbook give us spiritual guidance, as well as teaching us doctrine, theology and Scripture of the Catholic Faith; it also serves as an apostolic training manual.  The more we read and study it, the better we understand Mary’s spirituality which we mirror through our Legion membership.  Second, we must pray for the perseverance to remain faithful to the system outlined in the handbook as well as the perseverance to continue our service to Christ and His Bride, the Church. 

Apostolic work for us may encompass different avenues, be it visiting nursing homes, missions or prisons, or going door to door.  The mission of the legion brings us into close proximity with suffering humanity.  This many times can be difficult for us to watch and persevere in our ministering to those suffering.  However, Scripture tells us that God “has graciously granted you the privilege not only in believing in Christ, but for suffering for him as well.”  (Phil 1:29).  Our suffering prayer has a redemptive quality and will be used by Christ in order to redeem others.  That is why all our works and prayers “should be offered for the intentions of Our Blessed Lady, the Queen of the Legion, and not for any other intention.”  Third, through our perseverance, many who may not have come back or come for the first time to the Catholic faith, will!  Sr. Chelyse told me about a time in their Praesidium in Northern Virginia when they visited a woman and her daughter on door to door.  The daughter had never been baptized in the faith and was eight years old.  Through two follow-up callings of that household, the daughter was baptized into the Catholic faith.  However, little did they know, the work was not complete.  The girl still hadn’t signed up for religious education instruction.  Through Sr. Chelyse running into the mother twice at local stores and restaurants, the girl was signed up for CCD and received her First Confession and First Communion the same year.  The mother came up to Sr. Chelyse and another Legionary at the First Communion with tears in her eyes, gave them a huge hug and told them that it was because of them that her daughter received Christ.  Finally, we must persevere as many of the envoys do in promoting the Legion throughout the world.  Sr. Edel Quinn once was kept from driving to the meeting because a road was flooded.  She got out of the car and walked the rest of the way to the meeting which was miles away.  We must pray to have the same perseverance.

In order for us to perform the type of apostolate work that the Legion of Mary is working for, we must concentrate on the virtues of courage and perseverance.  We must pray daily for these virtues.  We must tackle our works, the meeting, and daily prayer remembering these virtues, especially if we feel we are going through a difficult time in our Legion service.  I’m sure all of us here have had a time in our Legion service where we would rather stay home and watch our favorite TV program, or maybe just sleep or nap, or do some other activity than our Legion duty.  But we all must persevere because Our Lady, who herself is full of grace, will allow her grace to overflow when she knows we came to her service rather than doing our own thing.  And we must be courageous, as Mary herself was when she gave her “Fiat” to the Angel of the Lord who told her she would bear a Son.  We must overcome our fears, and trust our Lady and her Son to be with us as we perform our work in her name.