Legio Mariae Refugium Peccatorum Praesidium

ACIES 2011

2011-04-04T02:28:00.000-07:00

March 27, 2011
Sta. Teresita Parish
Quezon City
1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Auxiliary Members of the Legion of Mary from the Company of St. Dominic Renew their Consecration to Mary during Acies

2011-04-04T02:25:00.000-07:00

The members of the Company of St. Dominic who are also auxiliary members of the Legion of Mary (LOM) renewed their total consecratration to Mary during the Acies of the LOM Regina Sacratissimi Curia (Cubao) last March 27, 2011. The Acies is the LOM's annual renewal of the total consecration to Mary. It is scheduled on the Sunday nearest March 25, Feast of the Annunciation.

CSD Supreme Moderator NESTOR G. LIMQUECO, OP and CSD Formator MARWIL N. LLASOS, OP were among those who renewed their total consecration to Mary by pronouncing the words "I am yours, my Queen, my Mother and all that I have is yours." Bro. Marwil N. Llasos served as Spiritual Director of Refugium Peccatorum Senior Praesidium and Consolatrix Afflictorum Junior Praesidium of the Legion of Mary in Sto. Domingo Parish. He also served as Spiritual Director of the Society of Patricians in the Regina Sacratissimu Rosarii Curia.

This year's Acies was held at Sta. Teresita Parish, Quezon City. This parish is under the OFM Capuchin (OFM Cap.)

Patrician Meeting

2011-03-31T01:44:00.000-07:00

MARWIL N. LLASOS, OP
Spiritual Director
Society of Patricians
Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii Curia
Legion of Mary

BRO. MARS TALKS ON THE RH BILL AT THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CURIA, IMUS, CAVITE

2011-03-03T02:07:00.000-08:00

February 27, 2011

BRO. MARS TALKS ON THE RH BILL AT THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CURIA OF THE LEGION OF MARY IMUS, CAVITE

(Outline of Bro. Mars' Talk: http://bromarwilnllasos.blogspot.com/2011/02/rh-bill-could-send-you-to-prison.html)

Curia Vice President Bro. Ryan Orcullo serves the moderator of the seminar

Atty. Marwil N. Llasos, OP lectures on the evils of the RH Bill

Bathed in the Light of the Risen Christ:
Bro. Marwil Llasos preaches the Gospel of Life

Members of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Curia listen to the lecture of Bro. Mars

The participants were all ears to the preaching of fellow Legionary
Brother Marwil N. Llasos, OP

Legionaries mull the message preached by their Legionary brother Marwil

Marwil N. Llasos, OP exhorts all Legionaries to brace themselves
for battle against the diabolical RH Bill

Marwil N. Llasos, OP denounces the Culture of Death and Promiscuity

Children are Precious: What would the future be without them?

Junior Legionaries give an intermission number

Thanks God their parents did not contracept them! -
Junior members of the Legion of Mary dance against the RH Bill

Merienda time! Picture time!

Bro. Christian, Bro. Marwil, Sis. Anna, Bro. Kerby

Bro. Marwil Llasos resumes his talk after the snacks

Bro. Mars answers questions from the participants

Bro. Marwil Llasos asks the Legionaries to fight the RH Bill to the death

Bro. Francis gives the closing remarks

Bro. Francis leads the closing prayer ad orientem

Ready to fight the RH Bill: The participants with Bro. Marwil N. Llasos

Representatives from different praesidia with Bro. Marwil N. Llasos

Di niyo kami kaya! Lalaban kaming lahat!
Senior and Junior Legionaries
with Bro. Marwil N. Llasos of Refugium Peccatorum Praesidium

The participants from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish
with Bro. Mars Llasos

Bro. Ryan, Sis. Anna, Bro. Kerby, Bro. Marwil, Bro. Francis and Bro. Carlo

Bro. Marwil N. Llasos with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Curia Officers - Brothers Ryan, Kerby, Francis and Carlo

Tough Knights: Knight of Mary Marwil N. Llasos, OP and Knights of Columbus Ryan, Don Garcia and Maning Concepcion

Bro. Marwil Llasos with the Curia Officers
and Singles for Christ Novaliches Officers Ian and OgieBro. Marwil, Bro. Kerby, Sis. Anna and Bro. Carlo

with the rice fields of San Isidro Labrador at the background

Marwil N. Llasos, OP with Curia officers and Bro. Ian, SFC Unit Head of Novaliches in the rice fields at the back of the San Isidro Labrador Chapel

Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Imus, Cavite

Nuestra Señora de Soledad de Porta Vaga

Bro. Marwil Llasos with the image of Nuestra Señora de Soledad de Porta Vaga

Bass relief of Nuestra Señora del Pillar at the Patio of Imus Cathedral

Dinner at Countryside Steak House, Imus, Cavite

Saint Bernadette Soubirous

2011-02-11T01:05:00.001-08:00

SAINT BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS

Virgin
(1844-1879)

Saint Bernadette Soubirous was born at Lourdes, in the Pyrenees mountains, in 1844. This young girl, fragile of health, born of a very poor but pious family, at fourteen years of age witnessed eighteen apparitions of Our Blessed Lady at Lourdes, from February 11, 1858 to July 16^th of the same year. She was instructed to make known the healing powers which the Blessed Virgin, by Her presence, would give to the miraculous spring of Lourdes. A worker who had lost an eye in an explosion recovered his sight when he washed his face in this water; a dying child was plunged into the small basin which had formed around the spring, and the next day began to walk. The police attempted to stop the crowds from going to the Grotto for the foretold apparitions, but were unable to do so. On March 25^th, the Beautiful Lady identified Herself in response to Bernadette’s request: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bernadette was accused of having hallucinations, of spells of mental illness, of lying, but her great simplicity eventually made evident her innocence and entire sanity. Through the benevolent understanding and collaboration of the bishop of nearby Tarbes, Bishop Laurence, who later authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes, a chapel and then a beautiful basilica were raised above the grotto of the apparitions, on the banks of the Gave River, now a world-famous pilgrimage site.

In 1866 Saint Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity at Nevers, taking her perpetual vows in 1878. She died in 1879 at the age of 36, after long and painful sufferings which she bore very willingly, even with joy. When one of the Mothers said to her: “We will pray that God may relieve your pain,” she answered, “No! Don’t pray for relief for me, only for patience.” The last words she wrote in her little spiritual notebook were: “The more I am crucified, the more I rejoice.” She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1925, canonized by him in 1933.

Source: Lives of the Saints for Every Day of the Year, edited by Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O. Cist., Ph.D. (Catholic Book Publishing Co.: New York, 1951-1955).

Source: http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/engl/02-18.htm

Note from Bro. Mars Llasos:

I am a devotee of Our Lady of Lourdes since I was a young boy. The apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes is one of my most favorite apparitions. This morning, I attended Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Retiro (now N.S. Amoranto), Quezon City for the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. After the Mass, I took pictures of the statue of St. Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes. The statue is unique because it depicts an adult St. Bernadette in the habit of her congregation, the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, France. Most pictures or images of St. Bernadette depicts her a peasant girl kneeling in front of the grotto during the apparition of the Lady who identified herself as “I am the Immaculate Conception” in 1858.

POSTSCRIPT ON GERRY SOLIMAN’S POSTSCRIPT

2011-02-01T03:11:00.000-08:00

"Allow me to praise you, O Most Holy Virgin, grant us strength against your enemies!"

POSTSCRIPT ON GERRY SOLIMAN’S POSTCRIPT

It all started when a fellow Filipino Catholic apologist from the Catholic Faith Defenders of Davao City called my attention through email an article of evangelical apologist Gerald John P. Soliman regarding the alleged contradiction between me and Rev. Fr. Abraham P. Arganiosa, CRS, M.A., M.Ed.

I denounced Mr. Soliman for what I believe as “intellectual dishonesty” considering that the exact quotations Mr. Soliman extracted from our respective blog articles were actually discussing two (2) different topics. I pointed out that Fr. Arganiosa’s quoted statement delved on the interpretation of the “woman” in Rev. 12:1 while the exact statement quoted from me was concerned with the interpretation of “birth pains” in Revelation 12:2.

There had been exchanges between Mr. Gerry Soliman and me. My articles may be found in this blog and the articles of Mr. Soliman are cited and the links are provided therein.

After I made my “Appeal to Gerry Soliman,” Mr. Soliman posted his “Response to the Appeal of Atty. Llasos” explaining his side. Immediately thereafter, I made a rejoinder in the article “Gerry Soliman Just Doesn’t Get it Correctly.”

PHOTO OF MR. GERALD JOHN P. SOLIMAN FROM HIS FACEBOOK ACCOUNT

My friends in the Catholic apologetics circle informed me that Mr. Soliman amended his article by putting a postscript:

“POST SCRIPT:

After posting this article, Atty. Llasos wrote a response in his blog. Although I appreciate the response, I resolve not to answer it anymore because we'll just keep on insisting on what we have asserted so far. I will leave it to the readers to decide.”

In our series of exchanges with Mr. Gerry Soliman since he was still using his pseudonym RODIMUS, I have grown to somehow admire and like him over the years. We may have been vehemently in disagreement over various theological and doctrinal topics, and we may not have liked each other’s style in defending each other’s faith and beliefs, I must say that Gerry Soliman does his best with whatever knowledge he has. He has deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel but I believe that he is just in the wrong theological tract, given his somewhat blind adherence to a theological system – Reformed Theology. I remember that in one of the comments section of his blog he was asked about what church he belonged and Mr. Soliman’s answer was “REFORMED THEOLOGY.” It is just like asking me a question about what is Church and my reply is “THOMISM.” It’s just simply not responsive, is it?

I wish to go back to Mr. Soliman’s postscript. He said that he has resolved not to answer me anymore because he thought that we would just insist on our respective assertions. This is of course an easy escape out of the controversy – but I sincerely believe that the best way is to say sorry if we commit a mistake. Since I already said I would no longer gild the lily, I give this to Mr. Soliman. I respect his resolution not to anymore me.

I know of people who, when pushed against the wall, tend to fight back. There are others who just quit. Truly, different strokes for different folks.

Now, Mr. Soliman said that he would leave it to the readers to decide. I can’t agree more. Thus, may I make the following summation of my points:

(1) The exact quotations of Fr. Abraham Arganiosa and mine that Mr. Gerry Soliman claimed contradicted each other were discussing two different topics;

(2) Mr. Soliman knew all along that those exact quotations were discussing different topics;

(3) Despite that knowledge, Mr. Soliman made it appear that those exact quotations contradicted each other;

(4) Mr. Soliman evaded the issue that I squarely raised and offered this response: “You cannot disassociate the woman clothed with the sun in the identification of the birth pains.”

(5) Despite the fact that Mr. Soliman did not face the issue I squarely raised, he moved on to another “contradiction” of Fr. Abe and myself; and

(6) Mr. Soliman resolved not to answer me anymore but would rather let the readers judge.

I respectfully rest my case. The time for me to write is finished. The time for you to judge begins.

Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, for thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world! Our Lady of Victories, pray for us!

MARY MOTHER OF GOD: A REFLECTION

2010-12-31T22:27:00.001-08:00

I have read (and re-read) a book written by Charles Hoffman, a convert from orthodox Judaism to Roman Catholicism. The book is The Holy Rosary Rich in Jewish Tradition.

Reflecting on the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and commenting on Luke 1:41-43, the convert from Judaism made this interesting remark:

“Where a Jew uses the word Lord, they are referring to God. Elizabeth, a Jew, filled with the Holy Spirit realizes that the child in Mary’s womb is not just some human messiah but her Lord (God). In a sense we can say that Elizabeth was the first person to acknowledge our Blessed Mother Mary as the Mother of God” [Charles Hoffman, The Holy Rosary Rich in Jewish Tradition (Queenship Publishing: Goleta, CA, 1998) p. 4].

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, allow me to share a little reflection on this fundamental and glorious title and privilege of Mary Most Holy – Theotokos.

The great dogma of Mary being the Mother of God, proclaimed in the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, and declared as the “touchstone of orthodoxy” twenty years later in the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, tells us not so much about Mary but about her Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is truly God – that is the only reason why we call His Mother the Mother of God. Yet, since Christ is born of a woman (Gal. 4:4) named Mary of Nazareth, He is therefore truly man just like we all are. Like all of us human beings, Christ too was born of a human mother. The Son of God became our Brother and shared our human condition, sin alone excepted (Heb. 4:15).

Thus, Mary’s title as Mother of God safeguards in its entirety the true identity of Jesus Christ – true God and true man – but one Divine Person.

Mary became the Mother of God so that God would become our Brother. The Son of God became the Son of Mary; hence, the Son of Man, so that we can become children of God. What a wonderful exchange!

As I therefore greet you Happy New Year, may I draw your attention to her whose solemnity as God’s Mother we celebrate this first day of January. Mary is invoked in the Litany as Ianua Coeli. As we once again begin with a clean slate, let us fix our gaze on Mary, the Mother of God, whose Immaculate Conception is the beginning of a new creation in Christ, the One who “makes things new” (Rev. 20:5). Determined to leave behind our past record of faults and failures, let us take the hand of the Mother of God and our Mother as she leads us to her Son our Lord in our pilgrimage of faith.

A BLESSED NEW YEAR TO ALL!

MARWIL N. LLASOS, OP
Brother Formator

Bro. Mars Addresses the Legion Congress

2010-11-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

MARY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

Marwil N. Llasos, OP
Spiritual Director, Society of Patricians
Legion of Mary

Address delivered during the Legion Congress of Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii Curia, 7 November 2010, 11:00 a.m.

Fellow soldiers of Christ, legionaries of Mary, my dear brothers and sisters:

I wish to thank the officers of the Curia for giving me this opportunity to address you in this year’s Legion Congress. I wish to note the labor of love of the officers of the Curia for organizing this wonderful Congress in honor of the Queen and Mother of the Legion, most especially, for the glory of God. As a legionary myself, I am glad to be part of this grace-filled event.

The topic assigned to me by the Curia is “Mary and the Holy Spirit.” The immensity and depth of this topic, and the time limit given, preclude me from giving a detailed and comprehensive discussion. Nevertheless, based on our Dominican maxim of “contemplata aliis trader” (“to contemplate and share the fruits of our contemplation”), I shall endeavor to share my reflection on this topic.

I believe that my topic on “Mary and the Holy Spirit” calls for showing the relationship of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Third Person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. This relationship is not lost on the members of the Legion of Mary because the Legion Handbook clearly points to this relationship:

“Of the Holy Spirit, Mary is commonly called the temple or the sanctuary, but these terms are insufficiently expressive of the reality, which is that he has so united her to himself as to make her the next thing in dignity to himself. Mary has been so taken up into the Holy Spirit, made one with him, animated by him, that he is as her very soul. She is no mere instrument or channel of his activity; she is an intelligent, conscious co-operator with him to such degree that when she acts, it is also he who acts; and that if her intervention be not accepted, neither is his.

The Holy Spirit is Love, Beauty, Power, Wisdom, Purity, and all else that is of God. If he descends in plenitude, every need can be met, and the most grievous problem can be brought into conformity with the Divine Will. The man who thus makes the Holy Spirit his helper (Ps. 77) enters into the tide of omnipotence. If one of the conditions for so attracting him is the understanding of Our Lady's relation to him, another vital condition is that we appreciate the Holy Spirit himself as a real, distinct, Divine Person with his appropriate mission in regard to us. This appreciation of him will not be maintained except there is a reasonably frequent turning of the mind to him. By including just that glance in his direction, every devotion to the Blessed Virgin can be made a wide-open way to the Holy Spirit. Especially can legionaries so utilise the rosary. Not only does the rosary form a prime devotion to the Holy Spirit by reason of its being the chief prayer to Our Lady, but, as well, its contents, the fifteen mysteries, celebrate the principal interventions of the Holy Spirit in the drama of redemption.”

It is obvious in the teaching of the Legion Handbook that there is much to learn from Mary’s relationship to the Holy Spirit. While the Handbook recalls Mary’s relationship to the Holy Spirit as His temple or sanctuary, the Handbook likewise calls our attention to the reality that, like Mary, we too can relate with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to animate our lives and mission, first by “frequent turning of our mind to Him.” This calls for openness to the action of the Holy Spirit by surrendering to Him our will – yes, our very being.

Our Marian spirituality in the Legionary system is essentially pneumatological. The brooding omnipresence of the Holy Spirit is a given that we should not take for granted. Our membership in the Legion is the Holy Spirit’s gift to us. It was Him who drew us to the Legion of Mary. Thus, “[i]t is significant that the first corporate act of the Legion of Mary was to address itself to the Holy Spirit by his Invocation and Prayer, then proceeding by the rosary to Mary and her Son.”

Moreover, when we pledge our lives and service to the Most Holy Virgin in the Legion that carries her name, we take the Legion Promise – and that is “directed to the Holy Spirit and not to the Queen of the Legion.” The significance of that lies in the truth that “it is always the Holy Spirit who regenerates the world – even to the bestowing of the smallest individual grace; and his agency is always Mary.”

And why is that? Because Mary, in our authentic Catholic piety and spirituality, is the “spouse of the Holy Spirit.” So, too, is the Holy Spirit the “spouse of Mary.” Thus, “Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit and vice versa because both of them were mutually responsible in the formation of Jesus in the womb of Mary.” Here, the concept of spouse speaks of responsibility. (The root word of spouse is the Latin verb spondere which means “to respond” or “to be responsible to someone or for someone”).

Very clearly then, the Holy Spirit is “responsible” in the formation of Jesus in the virginal womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. Lk. 1:35). Thus, “by the operation of the Holy Spirit in Mary, the Eternal Son is made Man. Thereby mankind is united to the Holy Trinity, and Mary herself is placed in a distinct, unique relation to each Divine Person.”

In the same manner that both the Holy Spirit and Mary are co-responsible in the formation of Jesus Christ in the Virgin’s womb, so too are the Holy Spirit and Mary co-responsible in the formation of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. Mary was in the origin, or beginning of the Church, when at the Cenacle, the apostles were together with Mary: “All these with one accord devoted themselves in prayer, together with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren” (Acts 1:14). Upon the intercession of Mary, the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost to form the Mystical Body of Christ.

Just as the Holy Spirit descended and foreshadowed Mary at the Annunciation (Lk. 1:35) to form the physical Body of Christ, so then did the Holy Spirit descend on Mary and the apostles at Pentecost to form the Mystical Body of Christ which is the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – of which we are members. Mary became the Mother of Christ at the Annunciation. She became the Mother of the Church at Pentecost. Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, is the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.

Mary’s presence is always a Pentecostal event. She ushers in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, her Spouse. At the Visitation, we are told, that upon hearing the sweet voice of the Mother of the Lord, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and the babe within her leaped for joy and she spoke in a loud voice extolling Mary, “blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk. 1:41-42).

My dear brothers and sisters, fully cognizant of the intimate and mystical relationship of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit, we must discern that, as our Legionary spirituality teaches us based on the teachings of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, that “the Holy Spirit has not formed Jesus Christ except by her, neither does He form the members of the Lord’s Mystical Body except by her, and through her alone does he dispense his favors and his gifts.”

Lastly, our Legion Handbook, the masterpiece of Marian spirituality bequeathed to us by our holy founder the Servant of God Frank Duff (whose death anniversary we celebrate today), calls Mary the temple of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, she is – and so are we. The Word of God teaches us that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Since Mary is sinless and ever-virgin, her immaculate body from whence the Body of the Lord is taken, is the perfect temple of the Holy Spirit. As Mary glorified God perfectly in her body and soul, God in turn glorified her perfectly body and soul with the glorious privilege of her assumption into heaven.

Like mother, like children. Since we are children of Mary, we too are temples of the Holy Spirit and must strive to keep it that way by avoiding sin and immorality.

Having been conscripted into the ranks of the Legion of Mary, let us allow the Holy Spirit to take full control of our lives like Mary. Like our Mother and Queen, each and every single individual Legionary must be pneumatophoros – or bearer of the Holy Spirit. With the divine action of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, God will continue to communicate to us divine life in the Spirit, transforming us into Christ, thus, Christifying us and all those that the Holy Spirit has entrusted to us to minister unto and serve under the glorious banner of the Legion of Mary.

Reference: Legion Handbook (pp. 43-44)

Meeting of the Society of Patricians

2010-08-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

August 22, 2010
Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sis. Zelfa Fabregas, the "lay speaker" discusses the sacraments of Confirmation and Anointing of the Sick

Tonight’s meeting of the Society of Patricians was a smash hit with a record of an all time high attendance of some 32 participants. The Society of Patricians is the evangelization and apologetics arm of the Legion of Mary.

Marwil N. Llasos, OP, Spiritual Director of the Society of Patricians, listens to the talk of Sis. Zelfa Fabregas

The Patrician Meeting organized by the Refugium Peccatorum Praesidium of Sto. Domingo Parish was held at San Lorenzo Ruiz Hall of Sto. Domingo Formation House. The meeting is held every fourth Sunday of the month and starts at 7:00 in the evening.

Company of St. Dominic members Giancarlo Miranda and Adrian Tambuyat, OP eagerly listen to the sharing of Sis. Zelfa

The meeting of the Society of Patricians promptly started at 7:00 in the evening with the recitation of the Patrician Prayer led by Bro. Marwil N. Llasos, the Spiritual Director of Refugium Peccatorum Praesidium.

A Patrician shares his experience on the sacrament of Confirmation

Sis. Ferlyn Guerrero shares her insights on the sacraments

The topics discussed for the night were the sacraments of Confirmation and Anointing of the Sick. Sis. Zelfa Fabregas served as the “lay speaker.” She discussed the importance of these sacraments in our Christian life. A gifted teacher, Sis. Zelfa was able to send her message across with utmost facility and skill. Truly down-to-earth, Sis. Zelfa’s discussion was understood by the participants. In essence, she expounded on the effects of the sacrament of Confirmation: it strengthens us and makes us soldiers of Christ. Anent the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, Sis. Zelfa underscored its importance for healing not only of physical illness but of spiritual malady as well.

Pastoral approach: Marwil N. Llasos, OP presents the sacraments of Confirmation and Anointing of the Sick

Bro. Marwil N. Llasos stresses the importance of the two sacraments in our Christian life

After the talk of the lay speaker, the participants had the turn to share their insights and experience on the two sacraments. The Spiritual Director, Bro. Mars Llasos asked them if they have already been confirmed – and if so, what were the changes in their life that they noticed after the reception of the sacrament. If they did not discern any change, then what changes would they want to happen in their life and how they want to accomplish that change. For those who have not yet been confirmed, they were asked to honestly state the reason/s why they are not yet confirmed. This is important so that the Legion of Mary can help them process the requirements for their confirmation at the soonest possible time.

Bro. Mars Llasos preaches to the Society of Patricians

"The Catholic religion is a religion of healing." - Marwil N. Llasos, OP

After the sharing, a short break followed where the participants, or Patricians, had some snacks and gave them the opportunity to fraternalize with their fellow patricians.

Bro. Mars points out, "The sacrament of confirmation makes us soldiers of Christ - and "legionaries" of Mary, too. It equips us with the wherewithal to wage a Christian warfare under the banner of our Queen and Mother for the victory and glory of Jesus Christ our King, Lord, Savior and God."

Bro. Mars Llasos stresses the point: "The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick assists and streghtens us in our final battle against Satan and all the forces of hell."

After the break, the Patrician Meeting resumed with the talk of the Society’s Spiritual Director, Marwil N. Llasos, OP. Bro. Mars, as he is fondly called, started his talk by stating that the Catholic religion is a healing religion because it fosters the healing of wounded relationships between man and God, and man and man. He stressed that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Divine Physician while His Church is the hospital where He heals and the seven sacraments are the healing medicines of God.

Bro. Adrian Tambuyat introduces himself as a Legionary

The young preacher wows his audience

Of these sacraments, Bro. Mars discussed Confirmation and Anointing of the Sick.
Bro. Mars stressed that spiritual growth parallels physical growth. As the baby is born, so are Christians born again as children of God in baptism. Confirmation corresponds to the adolescent stage. He notes the similarity of the Jewish Bar Mitzvah with the Christian Confirmation. Whereas a Jew becomes “the man of the law” and a complete Jew upon reaching Bar Mitzvah, so does a Catholic becomes fully initiated in the Church and strengthened as a soldier of Christ in Confirmation having been sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Bro. Adrian Tambuyat: A smash hit with the youth!

The fiery preacher rattles off Bible verses from memory

As regards the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, Bro. Mars stressed that it is a big help for those who are seriously ill because it can restore physical health in as much as it strengthens spiritual health. Since all of us will die someday, Bro. Mars pointed to the greatest battle that a soul has to wage at his dying hours where all hell shall break loose to snatch the soul away from God. Here comes the Church, as a true and caring mother of her children, to provide the dying with the much needed help to empower him overcome the last obstacles to salvation with the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and the Viaticum.

Pride of CSD: Consecrated secular Dominican Adrian Tambuyat, OP preaches the pure doctrines of God's Word taught in the holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church

The young Dominican preacher reaches out to the youth

After a brief pastoral talk, Bro. Mars turned over the floor to Bro. Adrian Tambuyat to provide a detailed explanation of the Biblical basis for the two sacraments. Bro. Mars requested his protégé to supplement him as speaker so that Bro. Adrian can be further trained in the ministry of the Word.

Bro. Adrian Tambuyat exhorts his listeners to live their faith

Adrian Tambuyat, OP debunks superstitions and shatters steriotypes

A very good and powerful speaker, Bro. Adrian regaled the participants with his wit and humor coupled with a superb command of Scripture. Although it was his first time to preach before the Society of Patricians, Bro. Adrian seemed to be a seasoned and regular speaker in the Patrician Meeting.

Truly graced, wonderfully blessed: the participants of the Patrician Meeting

Bro. Adrian introduced himself as also a Legionary and recalled Pope John XXII’s description of the Legion of Mary as the “true face of Catholicism. He exhorted the participants to join the Legion of Mary and actively take part in its very important apostolate. A trained apologist, Bro. Adrian expounded verse by verse what Scriptural says about the sacraments of Confirmation and Anointing of the Sick. The participants were all ears to the preaching of Bro. Adrian.

All time high: The participants in the Society of Patricians meeting

Having been assigned in the youth ministry of the Company of St. Dominic, our beloved brother Adrian Tambuyat, OP instantaneously connected with the youth participants of the Patrician Meeting. He knew his audience very well and was able to expertly level with them. The participants liked Bro. Adrian so much that they devoured each word that he uttered. He was truly effective in sending the message across to the youth – to take their faith seriously, live it and defend it, when necessary.

Bountiful harvest of souls: the participants in the Patrician Meeting

The meeting of the Society of Patricians was truly graced and the participants truly blessed with God’s Word and the pristine doctrines of Holy Mother the Church.

Patrician Meeting: The Holy Eucharist

2010-08-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Legion of Mary altar: The Blessed Virgin Mary presides during the meeting of the Patricians

Sr. Zelfa Fabregas opens the Patrician Meeting

Sis. Ferlyn Guerrero, as lay speaker, talks on the Holy Eucharist

Attendees to the Patrician Meeting listen to the talk

Mrs. Betty Fabregas, OP shares insights on the Eucharist

Bro. Mars listens to the sharing of Sis. Betty

Bro. Mars Llasos, Spiritual Director of Refugium Peccatorum senior praesidium, speaks on the Holy Eucharist.

Patricians also give their sharing on the topic

Sis. Betty listens to Bro. Mars' talk

Bro. Mars Llasos expounds on the sacred mystery

Bro. Mars Llasos reads from the Word of God

Bro. Mars explains that the Eucharist is both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice

Bro. Mars proves from the Holy Eucharist from the Bible

Legion of Mary Seminar on Waste Management

2010-05-22T06:11:00.005-07:00

Altar of the Legion of Mary: the Blessed Virgin Mary presides in the seminar

May 1, 2010 - Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

During the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron of the Universal Church, the Legion of Mary sponsored a curia-wide seminar on Waste Management at Sto. Domingo Formation House, Sto. Domingo Parish, Quezon City. The seminar was sponsored by the Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii curia headed by its President, Bro. Jose Eleazar "Joel" Adawag.

Bro. Joel Adawag, President of the curia, welcomes the participants and explains the purpose of the seminar.

I was the speaker for the first part of the seminar. I talked on the "Theology of Waste Management." Basically, I discussed the goodness of creation affirmed in the first chapter of Genesis, verse 31: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." I then discussed the concept of stewardship, that we are but stewards of God's creation. We have our responsibility, and God will hold each one of us on to this great responsibility. While indeed to take care of God's creation is a responsibility, it is likewise a privilege, to be involved in God's creative and providential work.

Prof. Marwil N. Llasos, O.P. discusses the goodness of God's creation and man's stewardship over it

I then discuss the distinction between the so-called "Acts of God" and "Acts of Man" with respect to the calamities that recently hit our country. At one point, I opined that while many people blame the disasters of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng as "Acts of God," I believe that these were more "Acts of Man." Due to improper waste disposal and management as well as wanton abuse on the environment, the ill effects of Ondoy and Pepeng were aggravated. Had it not been to the garbage thrown everywhere which often ends up on the sewers clogging drainage and polluting rivers, lakes and creeks, the flash flood that killed hundreds of people and inundated houses and entire communities and destroyed millions of properties could not have happened. Had we not mercilessly cut trees through illegal logging activities, Ondoy and Pepeng's tolls on human lives and properties could have been averted. We are thus to ble blamed for our own faults and not God. We brought those tragedies upon ourselves when we failed to respect the beauty, goodness and harmony of God's creation.

Prof. Marwil N. Llasos, O.P. reads from the Word of God to emphasize his point

I later on singled out greed as the root cause of environmental degradation. The welfare of the many has been sacrificed to the greed of the few. There is much for everyone: there is no need to hoard things that we don't need. I appealed for generosity and sacrifice. Those who have should share to those who have not.

I recalled my lola's wise counsel to me when I was a child: Everything that you have in excess is not yours. They belong to someone else who needs it. If you keep them, you are stealing from the poor because whatever extra you have belongs to them - be it clothes, shoes, toys or food.

Bro. Mars Llasos thunders from the pulpit against inordinate human greed and the evils of too much consumerism as the culprit for environmental degradation

One of the evils of modern society that I railed against is consumerism. In our consumerist economy, we are enticed to buy things that we want rather than what we need. In the end, these wants, once obtained, become obsolete and inutile that they soon end up in the garbage dump, thus contributing to the garbage crisis. I appealed to the members of the Legion of Mary to imitate the Holy Family's simplicity of life as an attitudinal solution to the problem of environmental degradation. I stressed the value of contentment, and the need to view the here and now in the context of eternity, hence, the transcendental focus on the hereafter.

Bro. Mars Llasos appeals for generosity and sacrifice

Bro. Mars rails against the ill effects of consumerism as the participants listen

After my talk, the officers of the Legion of Mary's Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii curia awarded me with a Certificate of Appreciation. Mr. Noe M. Reyes, Vice President of Legion of Mary's Cubao Comitium personally awarded me the Certificate.

Stewards of God's creation: the Legionaries strike a pose for posterity

The second part of the seminar consisted on the lecture on Waste Management by the Mr. Oliver T. Dajao, District Officer of the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department of Quezon City.

Prof. Marwil N. Llasos, O.P. receives the Certificate of Appreciation from Mr. Noe M. Reyes, Vice President of Legion of Mary's Cubao Comitium

Prof. Marwil N. Llasos, O.P. reads the citation

EPWMD District Officer Oliver T. Dajao speaks on Waste Management to the Legion of Mary

Powerpoint presentation on Waste Management

Speaker on Waste Management receives the Certificate of Appreciation

The following are the participants who listened to the lectures during the Seminar on Waste Management of the Legion of Mary:

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Patrician Meeting: The Sacraments

2010-05-22T06:11:00.003-07:00

April 25, 2010

Sis. Zelfa Fabregas explains the nature and purpose of the Patrician Meeting

The participants in the patrician meeting

Sis. Betty Fabregas, a catechist, shares her thoughts and insights on the Sacraments

Bro. Roel Llasos Morelos shares his reflection on the importance of the Sacraments

Bro. Marwil N. Llasos, the main speaker for the patrician meeting

Bro. Mars expounds on the seven Sacraments

The following is the outline of my talk:

THE MEANING OF SACRAMENT

Definition: A visible sign of the invisible reality instituted by Christ to communicate Divine Grace necessary for salvation.

Hence, a sacrament is both a sign and an instrument. It does what it signifies. There’s more to it than what meets the eye!

“The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions” (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1131).

“Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power” (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1127).

JESUS CHRIST: SACRAMENT OF THE FATHER

Jesus Christ is the “Primordial Sacrament.” It means that Jesus in his humanity is the sacrament of God’s saving love for all (Catechism for Filipino Catholics No. 1525). By being the “Primordial Sacrament,” Jesus Christ is much more than simply the originator of the Sacraments. He is at once the source, the PRIMARY AGENT and the GOAL of all sacramental activity (Catechism for Filipino Catholics No. 1526).

Jesus Christ Reveals the Father:

1. John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (NIV).

2. John 1:18

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known (NIV).

3. John 14:9

… he that hath sent me hath seen the Father…

4. Hebrews 1:1-2

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe (NIV).

5. Hebrews 1:3

Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person … (KJV)
6. Colossians 1:15

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature (KJV).

THE CHURCH: SACRAMENT OF JESUS CHRIST

“… the Church is in Christ as a sacrament … of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race.”

– Lumen Gentium 1

The Church is the basic or “Fundamental Sacrament” which makes the risen Christ present by being his Body, and by celebrating his saving acts in the seven ritual sacraments (Catechism for Filipino Catholics No. 1574).

The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ:

1. Colossians 1:18

And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

2. Ephesians 1:22-23
And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
3. Ephesians 5:23

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the saviour of the body.

4. 1 Corinthians 12:12

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ (1 Cor. 12:12).

5. 1 Corinthians 12: 27

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular (1 Cor. 12:27).

6. Romans 12:5

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

7. Ephesians 4:4

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.

8. C Colossians 3:15

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

A. Where is “sacrament” in the Bible? Answer: Ephesians 5:32 (referring to matrimony) “This is a great SACRAMENT: but I speak in Christ and in the Church” (Douay-Rheims Bible).

In Greek, sacrament is mysterion. In Latin, it is sacramentum.

B. Why do Catholics have sacraments while Protestants don’t? Answer: Because Jesus said that “the mystery [Read: mysterion; sacramentum] of the kingdom of heaven is revealed to you [Catholics] and not to them [Protestants] (cf. Matthew 13:11).

C. Why are there seven sacraments? Answer: In Hebrew numerology, seven is the number for completeness. The seven sacraments are there to make us complete. Each sacrament corresponds to the seven stages of our growth. Proverbs 9:1 talks about Wisdom (Jesus) building a house (the Church) with 7 pillars (the 7 sacraments).

See also: http://marwil-n-llasos.blogspot.com/2008/10/sacraments.html

Patrician Meeting: St. Joseph

2010-05-22T06:11:00.001-07:00

March 28, 2010

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, our father and lord

The Society of Patricians of the Legion of Mary held its meeting at 7:00 in the evening last March 28, 2010, 7:00 at Sto. Domingo Parish Formation House. I was invited by Bro. Joel Adawag, the newly elected president of Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii Curia (Cubao) of the Legion of Mary to be the speaker for the meeting. Bro. Joel used to be the co-founder and vice-president of Refugium Peccatorum praesidium of the Legion of Mary in Sto. Domingo Parish.

Altar of the Legion of Mary

Since March 28 is the Saturday before the Holy Week, I would have normally given a talk on Lenten topics. However, I decided to talk instead on St. Joseph because that was the patrician meeting for March, a month dedicated to St. Joseph. Besides, St. Joseph is seldom talked about.

Bro. Joel Adawag, Curia President leads the Opening Prayer for the Patrician Meeting

The patricians gathered around the altar of the Blessed of the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the set-up of the Legion of Mary. Bro. Joel Adawag led the opening prayer. Afterwards, Sis. Zelfa Fabregas, the president of Consolatrix Afflictorum praesidium, shared her reflection on the life of St. Joseph. Sister Zelfa once stayed in Lipa Carmel. She narrated how the Carmelites are devoted to St. Joseph. St. Teresa of Avila, the great Carmelite doctor and reformer, had a tremendous role in fostering devotion to St. Joseph. After the sharing of Sis. Zelfa, snacks were served to the participants.

Sis. Zelfa Fabregas shares her reflection on St. Joseph

I began my talk about St. Joseph by recalling his place in the liturgical calendar: the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19 and the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1. I also mentioned that Dominicans, like the Carmelites, are traditionally devoted to St. Joseph. I likewise intimated my personal devotion to St. Joseph. After the Blessed Virgin Mary, I am most devoted to St. Joseph.

Bro. Marwil Llasos preaches on the role of St. Joseph in the economy of salvation

I stressed that St. Joseph was chosen by God for his wonderful and unique vocation as Foster Father of Our Lord and Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To him was entrusted by God the two greatest treasures of the Church: the Lord Jesus and His Mother.

Bro. Mars expounds on the great dignity of St. Joseph and his powerful intercession

I read the entry in the Legion Handbook that proclaims St. Joseph as patron of the Legion of Mary and invoked next to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I reflected on the virtues of St. Joseph and proposed them for emulation by all the patricians and legionaries.

Bro. Mars reads the Legion Handbook which names St. Joseph as one of the Legion's patrons

I then commented on the Bible verses in Matthew and Luke where St. Joseph figures prominently. I mentioned that St. Joseph is the most fortunate man to have ever lived – and died. He lived with Jesus and Mary and died in their most loving arms; hence, St. Joseph is invoked as patron of a happy death.

I recounted the various titles of St. Joseph and reflected thereon. I presented him as the patron and model of fathers. For me, St. Joseph imaged the Eternal Father and represented Him to Jesus Christ.

Finally, I preached on the most powerful intercession of St. Joseph. I recalled that as soon as my sister was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, I started a novena to St. Joseph (which concluded on March 19 – St. Joseph’s Solemnity). When the MRI result of my sister came, it was found out that the mass in the brain (which was suspected to be tumor) had already regressed tremendously to the point of being insignificant. This was, for me, proof of the all-powerful intercession of St. Joseph, my father and lord.

As foster father of the Lord, Joseph’s word has great weight on his Son Jesus Christ. Supporting St. Joseph’s own prayer is the prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Spouse.

In the Gospel, we learn that Jesus was “subject to them” (Lk. 2:51). “Them” refers to Joseph and Mary, his parents. Jesus was therefore subject to St. Joseph and continues to be so since Jesus “is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Joseph’s mere request has the force and effect of a command because Our Lord lovingly approves it to be so as it is written: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord” (Col. 3:20).

After my talk, the patricians shared their reflections on St. Joseph. It was truly heartwarming to hear them say that after my talk, their love and devotion to St. Joseph have been kindled and are now burning strongly in their hearts.

St. Joseph, Foster Father of Our Lord, Most Chaste Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!!!

Mariology Lecture

2009-09-18T21:04:00.001-07:00

Bro. Mars gives Mariology Lecture

May Crowning of Our Lady of Fatima

2009-09-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Fatima, pray for us!

May Crowning

Bro. Rudolf Camaclang reads the entrance antiphon of the Order of Crowning

Legionaries participate attentively to the rite of Crowning

Bro. Marwil N. Llasos, spiritual director of the Legion of Mary, presides in the rite of Crowning

Sr. Zelfa Fabregas reads the First Reading and leads in the Responsorial Psalm

Legionaries listen attentively to God's Holy Word

Legion altar: "Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, but terrible as an army set in battle array?"

>Bro. Mars Llasos implores Our Blessed Mother and Queen

Officers of Refugium Peccatorum senior praesidium (Sr. Ruth Fabregas, president, and Bro. Joel Adawag, vice president) and Consolatrix Afflictorum junior praesidium (Sr. Zelfa Fabregas, president, and Bro. Raymond Custob, vice president) together with their Spiritual Director, Bro. Marwil N. Llasos solemnly crown the pilgrim image of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Fatima to acknowledge her queenship and dominion over the Legion of Mary

>The crowned Queen of the Legion of Mary

Legionaries offer flowers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Fatima

>Sr. Ruth Fabregas leads in praying the Petitions to the Blessed Virgin Mary

>Legionaries respond to the prayers

>Bro. Marwil Llasos says the concluding prayers in the Order of Crwoning

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Fatima

Members of Legion of Mary pose for posterity>

Bro. Mars makes the Legionary Promise

2009-06-07T08:12:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, 30 May 2007, I made my Legionary Promise during the meeting of the Refugium Peccatorum Praesidium of the Legion of Mary in Sto. Domingo Parish. I made the Promise immediately after praying the Catena Legionis.Bro. Marwil N. Llasos leads the praying of the Catena Legionis as the Spiritual Director of the Legion of Mary Refugium Peccatorum Praesidium

A candidate to the Legion of Mary is given a probationary period of three months. The officers of the praesidium discern if the prospective Legionary may be admitted to the ranks of Mary’s army. Bro. Marwil reads the introductory part of the Legionary Promise

As a duly appointed Spiritual Director of the praesidium, I am not required to take the Promise. However, I wanted to take the promise so that I could be a full-pledged Legionary. I noted that Our Lord Jesus Christ was exempt from baptism but He allowed Himself to be baptized by John the Baptist in order to “fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:1).Bro. Mars Llasos pronounces the formula of the Legionary promise in front of the statue of the Legion's Queen and Mother, the Unconquerable Warrioress and Destroyer of all Heresies

In similar manner and in imitation of Our Lord, I gladly and willingly made my Legionary Promise also “to fulfill all righteousness” as befits Our Lady’s soldier and slave.
Bro. Mars solemnly makes the Legionary Promise by touching the vexillium, the standard of the Legion of Mary

I believe that the date when I promised myself to Legionary service is significant. May 30 is the Vigil of the Pentecost (this year we celebrate the Pentecost on May 31). The Legionary Promise is made not to the Blessed Virgin Mary but to the Holy Spirit. In the allocution I gave after the Catena Legionis and the Legionary promise, I explained the relationship of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit and the role of the Holy Spirit in the sanctification of the Legionary.

The Legion and Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces

2009-04-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

“The Legion and Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces"

Bro. Marwil N. Llasos
Spiritual Director
Legion of Mary
Refugium Peccatorum Praesidium
Sto. Domingo Parish, Quezon City

The Legion of Mary, as it is defined in its official handbook, is “an Association of Catholics who, with the sanction of the Church and under the powerful leadership of Mary Immaculate, Mediatrix of all Graces (who is fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and – to satan and his legionaries – terrible as an army set in battle array), have formed themselves into a Legion for service in the warfare which is perpetually waged by the Church against the world and its evil powers” (Handbook, p. 9).

Thus, legionaries constitute themselves into a vast and formidable array of warriors under their heavenly Queen and Mother – Mary, the Mediatrix of all graces. The Legion enjoins all its members to have special devotion to Mary’s office as Mediatrix of all graces. The Handbook discusses Mary’s role as Mediatrix of all Graces and the Legion’s limitless trust in that role of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Handbook states -
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“The Legion’s trust in Mary is limitless, knowing that by the ordinance of God, her power is without limit. All that H could give to Mary, He has given to her. All that she was capable of receiving she has received in plenitude. For us God has constituted her a special means of grace. Operating in with her we approach him more effectively, and hence win grace more freely. Indeed we place ourselves in the very flood-tide of grace, for she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. She is the channel of every grace which Jesus Christ has won. We receive nothing which we do not owe to a positive intervention on her part. She does not content herself with transmitting all: she obtains all for us. Penetrated with belief in this office of Mary, the Legion enjoins it as a special devotion of its members” (Handbook, p. 19).
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The Legion’s belief in Mary’s mediation of all graces echoes the teachings of the great Marian saint – St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The great Marian saint stirringly says in his Sermo de Aqueductu –

“Judge as to the ardent love with which God would have us honour Mary, seeing that He has set in her the fullness of all good: in such manner that all we have of hope, all of grace, and of salvation, all – I say and let us doubt it not – flows to us from her” (quoted in the Handbook, p. 19).

Through the Mediatrix of all graces, “[t]he Legion aims to bring Mary to the world as the infallible means of winning the world to Jesus” (Handbook, p. 25). This underscores the Legionary’s union with Mary and her work for the Kingdom of her Son. Mary’s title of “Mother of Divine Grace” and “Mediatrix of all Graces” express “a sway over the life of the soul, so complete that even the closest of earthly unions – the mother and the babe unborn – is inadequate to describe its intimacy” (Handbook, p. 26).

The Legionary’s union with Mary, the Mediatrix of all Graces begin with a fervent Consecration to her and frequently renewed: “I am all yours, my Queen, my Mother, and all that I have is yours.” The thought of ever-present influence of Mary in the soul should be reduced to such methodical and vivid practice that the soul may be said to “breathe Mary as the body breathes air” according to St. Louis Marie de Montfort (cf. Handbook, 26). Thus, the Legionary, “lost in the depth of Mary’s soul, shares her faith, her humility, her Immaculate Heart (and hence the potency of her prayer), and swiftly is transformed into Christ, which is the object of all life” (Handbook, p. 27). As a consequence of which, Mary, through her Legionary, she “participates in every duty and mothers souls, so that in each of those worked for and of one’s fellow-workers, not only is the person of our Lord seen and served, but seen and served by Mary, with the same exquisite love and nurturing care which she gave to the actual body of her Divine Son” (Handbook, p. 27).

The Legion truly understands, with the universal Church, that Mary’s office as Mediatrix of all Graces is dependent on and subordinate to the one Mediator with the Father, Jesus Christ. The Legion professes that Mary’s relation to the Second Divine Person is that of Mother, but “her motherhood is of a closeness, a permanency, and a quality infinitely surpassing normal relationship” (Handbook, p. 43). Mary’s union with Jesus is uninterrupted – with incomprehensible degrees of intensity and association. Thus, the Church declared her to be the helpmate of her Son – Co-Redemptress in salvation: Mediatress in grace (cf. Handbook, p. 43).

Truly, “in the Christian system Mary must be found with Jesus, inseparable from Him in His saving work, the New Eve, dependent on Him but necessary to him – indeed no other than the Mediatrix of all Graces, as the Catholic Church sums up her gracious office” (Handbook, p. 274).

Having these in mind, the Legion not only honors the Blessed Virgin as Mediatrix of all Graces but also invoke her as such. The Handbook says that “[t]he Catena prayer is that of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, Mother of God and of all men.” The Catena Legionis is concluded with the prayer –

“O Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator with the Father, who has been pleased to appoint the most Blessed Virgin, your Mother, to be our mother also, and out mediatrix with you, mercifully grant that whoever comes to you seeking your favors may rejoice to receive all of them through her. Amen.”

In the Legion Prayer (the concluding prayer), we invoke the Blessed Virgin, thus: “Mary Immaculate, Mediatrix of all Graces, pray for us.”

The Legion’s devotion to Mary, Mediatrix of all Grace, is by no means sterile. It spurs us on to action. We take Mary as our Model who, in the “episode of the Visitation exhibits Our Lady in her capacity as Mediatrix for the first time, and St. John as the first beneficiary” (Hanbook, p. 143). Legionaries, like their Mother and Queen, also “perform the work of visitation in all its forms” which are “but efforts to co-operate in Mary’s mediatorial office.”

The Legion of Mary

2009-04-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

THE LEGION OF MARY

Bro. Lawrence Scrivani, S.M.*

*Brother Lawrence Scrivani (Marianist) is currently
the archivist for the Diocese of Monterey.

1. Historical Perspective

Perspective concerns how objects relate to each other to form a total picture in depth. History adds the dimension of time to that perception. In this case, we are concerned with the Legion of Mary and what we can learn about Marian spirituality from the historic experience of the Legion.i We can gain insight by tracing the way the essential idea of the Legion of Mary has developed since its foundation in 1921, through the Second Vatican Council and to the present. Compared to other movements in the Church, the Legion’s history is relatively short: it occurred within the lifetimes of many still living. Nevertheless, the scope of this paper precludes giving any but the briefest outline of it.ii No one had the intention to establish the Legion of Mary. It began when fifteen lay people, already active in the Church, wished to commit themselves to the program outlined in St. Louis Grignion de Montfort’s True Devotion. One of these, Mr. Frank Duff, exercised a leading role among them. Their first meeting on the evening of September 7, 1921, is considered the founding of the Legion of Mary.iii The character and structure of this unintended association developed one step at a time without an overall plan. But by 1927 (only six years later), it was in most particulars the Legion as it is known today. The steps by which its worldwide dispersion ccurred within the space of about thirty years were similarly without premeditation.iv Even more stunning is the simple fact that the Legion has had no endowment or regular income to support the activities of its members.

Typical altar of the Legion of Mary

Three characteristics marking the Legion’s development suggest the influence of Providence. First, that it was unplanned and unintended; second, that it had no material means of support; and third, that it was seemingly unstoppable. While these qualities might appear in other historical mass movements, the Legion is marked also by the Church’s recognition of the holiness of several of its members (its martyrs, its Servants of God) and by “mass conversions.”

The members of the Legion obtained no material or social advantage from their membership or their activities. They were motivated solely by religious considerations. By its own rules, the Legion is forbidden from any kind of activity with political implications. Its identity is based on its religious foundations. According to its founding documents, the defining element of the Legion’s self-understanding is described as “practical union with Mary.” It is important to discover how the Legion understands this term.

2. The Essence of the Legion: “Practical Union with Mary”
Conventional notions of Marian devotion do not convey what the Legion understands as “practical union” with Mary. For example, this practical union is not achieved because its members recite the rosary at their weekly meetings. Nor does it occur because the Legion maintains a pious attitude toward the person of Mary, or because Mary is regarded as a symbol, image, or archetype. The immediate occasion for the founding of the Legion was the desire to put into practice the principles of Grignion de Montfort’s True Devotion, but that was simply the starting point. The spiritual and doctrinal system of the Legion began at that point but advanced in unforeseen ways--steps, taken one at a time in response to practical needs, inspired by faith. The Legion is not linked in any direct way to a Marian apparition or other extraordinary manifestation. The Fatima events occurred only four years previous to the Legion’s founding, but there is no evidence that the initial members had any direct knowledge of these events or that they were influenced by them. From practical experience and guided by faith, there emerged gradually a coherent perspective that Frank Duff referred to as the “Legionary point of view.” He described this perspective as the habit of viewing everyday life in the spirit of faith. One does not know in advance what can be achieved. One simply begins moving toward an evangelical goal, taking each step as it comes. Duff spoke also of the “symbolic action”--a deed performed in the spirit of faith, in the belief that nothing is impossible to God. A great achievement like the “mass conversion” which occurred at Bentley Placev did not occur as the result of a planned effort with prearranged capitalization. It began as a simple act of charity, within the Legion’s capacity, of visiting a young woman who had sought lodging for a while in the hostel operated by Legion volunteers, but who then had disappeared into the black hole of Bentley Place. Arranging that visit took some doing and it did not go as first planned. That it developed by unforeseeable steps into a campaign with lasting results is a demonstration of the Legion’s dictum that any major impossibility can by divided into a series of minor possibilities such that one can always take the first step. This strategy is what Frank Duff would call “Marian audacity.” He calls this audacity Marian because the spirit of the Legion is intended to be the spirit of Mary herself, especially her spirit of faith. Inspired by the faith of Mary, her Legion considers any work possible—without considering its “impossibility”--because to God all things are possible. This is an application to the Legionary’s everyday life of the words addressed by the angel to Mary at her Annunciation:

“For nothing is impossible to God” (Luke 1:37). We begin to understand how the Legion can use a purely religious motivation to produce social influence without becoming political. But there remains the need to understand how “union with Mary” can be described as a “practical union.”

Ven. Frank Duff, Founder

The Legion seeks a union with Mary that is acquired through action rather than through theory or ideals. This union begins with a formula of prayers recited before an image or statue of Mary. Guided by doctrine and by a conscious intention to imitate her virtues, one then passes beyond these steps to undertake action in union with her. This action is said to be “in the spirit of faith” because, by faith, it is in the context of the Communion of Saints. Through this Communion, the barriers of time and space dissolve and Mary is once again present to the Legionary as she was to her Son during his earthly life. “Christian spirituality” is the encounter within the soul between Christ and the believer, brought about through the mediation of the Church, the Communion of Saints. This union is experienced inwardly to be real in its effect. Its nature is well described by a formula read aloud to all legionaries at the first meeting of each month. The formula is called the third standing instruction:

Legionary duty requires from each Legionary the performance of a substantial active Legionary work, in the spirit of faith, and in union with Mary, in such fashion that in those worked for and in one’s fellow-members, the Person of our Lord is once again seen and served by Mary, his Mother.vi A little explanation is needed to make clear how the Legionary is taught to understand these words. “A substantial active Legionary work” means a work undertaken corporately by the Legion which must always include face-to-face evangelization.vii These works are always assigned to more than one person so that the promise of Christ can be effected: “For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.”viii Further, in Legionary theology, Mary is presented always in the context of the Communion of Saints related to her Son, to the Holy Spirit, to one’s fellow believer and to the soul to be saved. Thus the standing instruction indicates that “in those worked for and in one’s fellow-members, the Person of our Lord is once again seen and served by Mary, his mother.” By this formula, the Legionary is taught what it means to undertake practical actions “in the spirit of faith and in union with Mary.” The Legionary learns from experience that the union spoken of cannot be meant as simply sentimental or figurative because it occurs in the context of an activity that is often a challenge beyond one’s ability. Often the conditions of the work are emotionally threatening, not comforting. The Legionary senses the accomplishment of difficult works with an unexpected success that cannot be accounted for by one’s own ability. The Legion system presupposes the presence of Mary, an active participant, “who with maternal love, assists at the birth and development of the sons and daughters of Mother Church.”ix But we are getting ahead of events. The preceding description of “practical union with Mary,” the motivating force of the Legion, is a description of the Legion as it operated on the eve of the Second Vatican Council. The influence of the Council on the Legion must now be considered.

Ven. Alphonsus Lambe of the Legion of Mary

3. Vatican II and the Legion

At the Council’s opening in 1962, the Legion had been in existence forty-one years and was still under the direction of its founding members. Frank Duff attended the second session of the Council as a lay observer. The Legion had developed under the direction of laity living entirely within the period following World War I. Some developments within the Legion parallel those which would become part of the Council. In several of its initiatives, the Legion seems to have anticipated the Council. Four that immediately come to mind are, first, the universal call to holiness embracing all, including those in the lay state; second, the laity’s formal role in the mission of evangelization; third, the connection between personal faith and social action; finally, relating all the foregoing elements to a comprehensive theology of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Council’s Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity states the immediate end of lay apostolic organizations to be “the evangelization and sanctification of men and the Christian formation of their conscience, so as to enable them to imbue with the Gospel spirit the various social groups and environments.” The same decree further recommends the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Apostles, as “the perfect model of this apostolic spiritual life.”x These two passages were salient features of the Legion. Nevertheless, in 1965 and in 1966, the Legion headquarters wrote to the Vatican inquiring whether there was a need to “up-date” the Legion according to the directives of the Council. What they received in response were two letters with some remarkable passages. Both bear the signature of Cardinal Cicognani as Papal Secretary of State. In the first letter, January 6, 1965, the cardinal wrote “His Holiness desires to take this occasion to send His Message of praise and encouragement to the Legion of Mary, which, has by now extended its beneficent action to every continent.”xi The second letter, June 2, 1966, responds, “With regard to the Constitutions of the Legion of Mary, the Sovereign Pontiff would have me assure you that there is no intention to change these, at least for the foreseeable future.”xii Although the Vatican indicated that there was no need to alter the Official Handbook, Frank Duff inserted relevant portions of the Council documents into its pages. While these additions produced no fundamental changes to Legion principles, they did strengthen them in significant ways. A comparison of the editions of the Official Handbook from before with those after the Council reveals many interpolations taken from Vatican II’s documents. The very first page quotes the dramatic proclamation of Gaudium et Spes: “The whole life of men, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle, and a dramatic one, between good and evil, between light and darkness” (no. 13). Scattered throughout the pages of the Handbook are paragraph-long quotations from church documents--so many that a special index, “Documents of the Magisterium,” is provided so the reader can have direct access to the sixty-one quotations from conciliar and post-conciliar documents. An “Index of Papal References” is provided for the forty-seven excerpts from the writings of the popes from Leo XIII to John-Paul II. An analysis of the new content of the Handbook reveals a significant increase in the entries presenting Marian theology.xiii Most significant is the new entry “Mary, Mother of the Church,” with an excerpt from the discourse of Pope Paul VI at the end of the Council’s third session in which he proclaimed “the most holy Mary to be the Mother of the Church.” An appendix added to the Handbook presents five paragraphs from chapter eight of Lumen Gentium subtitled “On the Blessed Virgin and the Church.” These paragraphs begin with an affirmation that Christ is the one Mediator and that Mary’s “salvific influence” is entirely dependent upon His mediation. Because she continues to care for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth, she is invoked under the titles of “Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix.” The last title is of special importance to the Legion: from its origin, it made its own the invocation “Mary Immaculate, Mediatrix of all Graces.” In another new entry “Mary, Mother of Unity,” the Handbook cites Lumen Gentium on the universal motherhood of Mary (nos. 53, 65). It also cites the words of Pope Paul VI that Mary is the Mother of Unity “because of her maternal and unifying duty towards all the members of the human family.” Finally, the section concludes with an excerpt from Marialis Cultus (35) proposing Mary as worthy of imitation because she was “the first and the most perfect of Christ’s disciples.”

Ven. Edel Quinn of the Legion of Mary

The lengthiest of the post-conciliar entries on Mary is an appendix, “Synthesis: Mary’s Co-operation in the Total Scheme of Salvation.” In a later edition of the Handbook this section is entitled “A Marian Synthesis: Presenting in Briefest Possible Compass the Stupendous Role of Co-operation Given to Mary in the Total Scheme of Salvation.” This synthesis is cast in the form of a meditation addressed to “Our Queen, our Mother.” This construction serves two roles simultaneously: first, it is an act of devotion to Mary in recognition of the immense obligation the redeemed owe to her, and, second, it is a recapitulation, in four short paragraphs, of the teaching of Lumen Gentium. The recapitulation concludes with a restatement of the intention that “We must appreciate what you have done, and through our faith, our love, our service, attempt an adequate acknowledgment.” The language conveys a tone of fealty based on personal obligation. It is addressed directly to Mary. This tone is important because, while it was typical of preconciliar Catholic devotion to Mary, it may appear contrary to currents and attitudes that emerged after the Council.

In assessing the impact of the Council on the Legion, the overall impression given by the Handbook is one of continuity in the development of doctrine. The Legion perceives an unbroken continuity from pre-conciliar developments through the documents of the Council. From this perspective one might go so far as to claim that the Legion itself represents a practical expression of the doctrinal teaching of the Council. True, the starting point for Legion spirituality at the time of its foundation was the True Devotion of Grignion de Montfort, certainly preconciliar in its spirit and style. But the Legion developed a substantial progression to its original approach to Marian devotion.xiv The Legion’s contribution to Marian theology may have been ratified, so to speak, at the Council when Paul VI made his controversial declaration of a new Marian title: “Mary, Mother of the Church.” In making this proclamation, Paul VI described the work of the Council as a first: This is the first time that an Ecumenical Council has presented so vast a synthesis of the Catholic doctrine on the place which Mary Most Holy occupies in the Mystery of Christ and the Church. But such is in conformity with the purpose, which the Council had proposed to itself, of manifesting the face of Holy Church. For Mary is joined to the Church in the very closest way.xv The Legion anticipated this grand “synthesis” of doctrine on the place of Mary, as well as the Council’s statements on the universal call to holiness and on the participation of the laity in evangelization. Nevertheless, questions were to arise after the Council about the “Legionary devotion to Mary.” So acute was the controversy that a post-conciliar edition of the Handbook referred to “what is sometimes, but incorrectly, called the Legionary devotion to Mary. It is no property of the Legion which has only learned it from the Church.”

4. Controversy since the Vatican Council

The Council ended in 1965, and already in 1966, Frank Duff felt compelled publicly to answer those calling for the “updating” of the Legion.xvi Duff summarized the main objections: that the Legion founded its work upon an extravagant notion of the Blessed Virgin that was both unattractive to the laity and unacceptable to ecclesiastical authority; that it wasted too much of the meeting time on lengthy prayers (such as the rosary) which could better be spent in work; that it assigned new members immediately to approach souls without preparatory classes or discussions. Finally, that the Legion’s stated goal of “converting” others was exclusionist, outmoded in an age of ecumenism and irrelevant to modern social needs. In answer, Duff pointed out that these criticisms arose at a time when, “all the original ideas of the Legion had been so completely justified, not merely by successful practice but by Council legislation.” He insisted with the Council documents that Mary is no barrier but rather the necessary Mother: “I cannot sufficiently stress the importance of this consideration--that the right outlook on Mary is the well-spring of everything. The waters of life flow up from it into the Legion and out to the world.” He also warned about the consequences of caving-in to the pressure to minimize Mary. He predicted that once removed from the apostolic program, it would only be a matter of time before she is removed as well from the lives of members. When prayer is not given its proper place there will be an absorption in the social and economic matters with a tendency to become political. He charged Legionaries with the responsibility, “to see that the Legion is not destroyed and that it is not too much tormented.” Duff’s concern about the substitution of social concerns for apostolic ones deserves more attention. While he was alive, Duff never tired of pointing out that the only real basis for a lasting social transformation is personal holiness. Person-to-person evangelization is one of the secret strengths of the Legion. It is primary and essential: We’ve got our priorities wrong. Priority number one for a Catholic is to be an apostle.

You can’t do your neighbor a bigger favor than to bring him into a deeper understanding of his faith. The Legion not only inspires faith but also gives a balanced, accurate presentation of Catholicism. Devotional exercises alone do not teach religion.xvii But what of the charge that the Legion sends its members out unprepared? Does a candidate need years of study? Duff’s response was that the apostolate is not the radiation of knowledge but the imparting of conviction. What is important is the intensity of one’s conviction. Each convinced Catholic, however imperfect his knowledge, possesses the capacity to convey this conviction to the mind of the person whom he seeks to influence. But the average Catholic will not do so unless moved by a strong impetus, such as the force of an organization informed with the spirit of faith. Similarly, the discipline of the Legion system, once it is willingly assumed, overcomes the deficiencies of personality and the social pressures that defeat and deflect the usual lay groups from apostolic and spiritual ends. Father Aedan McGrath, a missionary to China, observed the Legion method in action. He described it as “learning by doing, the apprentice method, going out two-by-two, doing and reporting, then emulating the success of the others: there is no method of evangelization that comes near to the Legion of Mary.”

The passage of time has not muted the four general criticisms made about the Legion-- namely, that it is improperly Marian, that it is too rigid in its regimen, that it is not ecumenical minded, and that it is not involved in the social apostolate because it focuses on evangelization.xviii From the perspective of history it becomes clearer that the source of these objections is rooted in a clash between two attitudes or states of mind regarding the proper way of understanding the Second Vatican Council. While the Legion sees continuity in the development of doctrine, the critics of the Legion see in the Council a point of departure that replaces all that went before it with whatever has emerged since. For these critics, the continued existence of the Legion assumes the nature of an affront.xix There is a tendency after the Council toward a rationalization of Catholic theology, of Catholic worship and of Catholic morals—a transformation of the doctrines of faith into abstractions. The Legion contradicts this tendency.

The historical experience of the Legion helps us to understand how it might be possible to speak of a “Marian dimension” to one’s Christian spirituality. In its nuclear meaning the word dimension refers to a measurable extent of a physical property such as length, width or depth. By figurative extension we can speak of the “Marian dimension” of spirituality as the extent to which Mary imparts her personal character to something, thus becoming its measure. By “practical union with Mary,” legionaries seek not only to give her a place in their lives of grace but also to be united with her in common action so that she becomes the measure of their Christian life. In this way the Legion shows us how one can speak genuinely of a spirituality that is Marian, just as legitimately as one might speak of an “Ignatian spirituality” or a “Carmelite spirituality.” Marian spirituality in its simplest terms is the way of Mary. Yes, all authentic Christian spiritualities will have a place for Mary, but not all of them will approach her in the
same way. In the approach taken by the Legion, Mary has a personal role, not a symbolic one only. This role of Mary is that of a mother, and so it is uniquely personal to each individual, corresponding exactly to the union between child and mother in the natural order.xx

iThe term spirituality appears frequently in current popular culture and the New Age religious movements, meaning anything from pantheistic union to a subjective euphoric state. Our understanding of spirituality is that as outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#954). Spirituality is the encounter between Christ and the believer experienced in the interior powers of the soul but effected in the objective medium of the Church, through its sacraments, its forms of prayer and piety, and in its Communion of Saints.
iiThere is no comprehensive history of the Legion. One must piece it together from periodicals, a few book-length inhouse publications, archival records, tape-recorded interviews with Legionary figures, and a few useful web sites. Among these are some of the following.

Periodicals: Principal among them is the Maria Legionis, which is the only official periodical of the Legion’s governing Council. This magazine first appeared in 1937. The American edition began in 1980 when the Philadelphia governing Council provided a North American supplement to the articles originating from Dublin. This periodical is not indexed, but contains many articles scattered throughout about the history of the Legion. An important article about the Legion in the United States is found in The Ecclesiastical Review 86/3 (March 1932): 244-259, “Is This the Long Looked for Church Society?” (by Father Joseph P. Donovan, C M , J.C.D., of Kenrick Seminary, Saint Louis, Missouri). Father Donovan is credited with promoting the Legion’s extension to the United States. For a discussion by Frank Duff about the foundation of the Legion, confer “Frank Duff Talks about the Roots of the Legion of Mary,” Queen of All Hearts 54/1 (May-June 2003): 4-7. Finally, there is the “Special Legion of Mary Issue” of The Immaculate 19/1 (August 1968), from the Conventual Franciscan Friars at the Marytown Press, Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Books: Regarding the mass conversion of prostitutes in Bentley Place, Dublin’s red-light district, see Frank Duff, Miracles on Tap: The Incredible Transformation of Dublin’s “Bentley Place” (Bayshore, N.Y.: Montfort Publications, 1961). For the remarkable work of Legionary Edel Quinn in establishing the Legion in British East Africa, see Leon-Joseph Suenens, Edel Quinn: Envoy of the Legion of Mary to Africa (Dublin: Fallon, 1954). For a first-person account by a Legionary in China during the Proletarian Cultural Revolution, see Wang Xiaoling, Many Waters: Experiences of a Chinese Woman
Prisoner of Conscience, Eng. trans. (Hong Kong: Caritas Printing Training Center, 1988).

Archival Sources: Most useful are the annual reports that each governing council of the Legion is obligated by the Handbook to submit to the council immediately superior to it. Thus a curia or a comitium (diocesan-level councils) submits its report to a senatus (regional or national level) and a senatus in turn to the Concilium (international headquarters). Occasionally, copies are sent to the local dioceses and can be read at their archives. At the Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco are the materials describing the role of B. P. Oliver, a local financier, in bringing the Legion to the United States, beginning in 1934, by subsidizing its very first “envoys.”

Web Sites: The official web site operated by the international governing council of the Legion is www.legion-of-mary. There are several unofficial web sites operated by Legion councils or supporters in the United States which provide some historical information, but these often contain personal recollections and are not always accurate. Among these are: www.legionofmary.org and www.legionsaints.org. (One must take care not to be confused with web sites about a rock band entitled “Legion of Mary” that was established by Jerry Garcia in San Francisco in 1974. That band has been revived under the same name and continues to perform. The San Francisco governing council of the Legion visited the band in 1974 and concluded that it was not an offensive use of the name. In its turn, the current revival of the rock band carries on its web site [http://members.aol.com/LoMhome/links1.gif] a promotion for “a nice site featuring the Catholic lay organization Legion of Mary.”)

iiiThe man generally described as the “founder” of the Legion is Frank Duff 1889-1980). A native of Dublin, Mr. Duff was among the fifteen people who met on that first night at the Myra House on Francis Street in Dublin. This event is considered the founding event. Mr. Duff left his regular employment in the Irish civil service in 1933 to devote himself full time to the direction of the Legion, which by that year had spread to five continents. Mr. Duff is considered to be the principal author of the Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary, which serves as the constitutions of the Legion.

ivThe first extension of the Legion outside of Ireland was to Scotland in 1928, then to England in 1929. In 1931 by coincidence, the Legion spread east to India and west to the United States. Between 1936 and 1945, the Legion spread all throughout British East Africa and the islands of the Indian Ocean, including some French-speaking ones. In 1937, one year after entering Africa, the Legion came to China. By 1950, despite World War II and the Communist take-over, there were 2000 cells in that country. Only after World War II did extension come to Continental Europe and to South America. By the time of the Second Vatican Council, the Legion had spread to all of the continents, had enrolled hundreds of thousands of members, and had obtained its first martyrs. All this is the more remarkable when one considers that the Legion has had no money and no property.

vThe “mass conversion” which occurred at Bentley Place--a district of Dublin “where prostitution was rife”--is described in Frank Duff’s Walking with Mary (Glasgow: J. S. Burns, 1956), 26.

viThe Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary (1993 ed.), 109. The Handbook is published by the Concilium Legionis Mariae located in Dublin. The first edition printed in 1928 is described as a pamphlet. In 1937, a new edition was released. A so-called “American edition” exists for 1940, 1941, 1944, 1947, 1949, 1953, and 1955. It appears these simply were printed in the United States. The edition for 1955 bears the impression “Seventh American Edition.” It was printed in Louisville, Kentucky. The editions of 1969, 1975, and 1993 are printed once again in Dublin. The edition of 1955 is notable because, since then, the photographic illustrations in the Handbook have featured Chinese legionaries. Prior to that edition all the photos were taken in Dublin. But word reached the outside world in 1954 of the first Legion martyrs in China. In deference to that sacrifice, Duff ordered the change. The most recent edition remains that of 1993. It is very possible that more editions exist than those listed above.

viiThe Legion is forbidden by its own rules to undertake any work of material relief or to collect money for any purpose or to allow itself to be used for any political purpose. The Handbook is quite insistent about these prohibitions, based on past experience, and explains the reasons in detail. The following dictum is printed in boldface type: “Material relief may be to other societies a key which opens. It is the key with which the Legion locks itself out” (p. 291). The basic principle is that the mission of the Legion is to share spiritual goods. Legionaries will not accomplish spiritual good by giving material relief because “thereby they break their rule.” Further, it is said that the Legion has no special grace for relief work, whereas other groups, such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul do.

viiiMatt. 18:20.

ixJohn-Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, no. 44.

xApostolicam Actuositatem, nos. 20 and 4.

xiSegretaria di Stato di Sua Santitá, “Paul VI to the Legion of Mary,” protocol no. 34614, January 6, 1965, as reprinted in the Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary (1993 ed.), 332-333.

xiiThe Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary (1969 ed.), [viii].

xiiiA comparison of editions of the Handbook from before the council (1955 edition) and after the council (1975 edition) reveals a significant increase in the number of entries in the index relating to “Mary.” There are twenty-eight in the earlier edition, and thirty-five in the later. The added entries in the later edition include topics featured in council documents. The title “Mother of the Church” is listed together with a quotation from Pope Paul VI’s address in which he proclaims that title and relevant articles (60 through 62) of Lumen Gentium. An added entry for “Mother of Unity” presents an ecumenical thrust and cites Paul VI’s statement that “Mary is not a barrier.” It includes a lengthy reply to the arguments to the contrary. A third new entry is the patristic formula “New Eve” in a lengthy appendix (number 7) entitled “Marian Synthesis.” This synthesis is a comprehensive treatment of Marian theology drawing fully on chapter 8 of Lumen Gentium. An accompanying appendix (number 8) quotes the text verbatim of articles 60 to 62 and 65 of Lumen Gentium. Mary is presented as the New Eve in consort with the New Adam, her Son Jesus Christ. A fourth addition is “Mary and the Holy Trinity” which is developed in a chapter (number 29) entitled “The Legion and the Trinity.” And finally there is an added entry for “Mary and the Angels” which develops the title “Queen of the Angels” and the role of the angels at the Annunciation.

xivFor example, beginning in 1918, Frank Duff tried to read True Devotion at a friend’s request, but was unable to do so because of its style. Only after the eighth reading did Duff conclude, “De Montfort is right and I am wrong.” Frank Duff learned from reading Grignion de Montfort the role of the Holy Spirit and from this conviction came the Legion’s first meeting. However, Duff would say later, “De Montfort didn’t go far enough. He didn’t make explicit the evangelization dimension.” The connection between devotion and evangelization is the Legion’s contribution to Marian theology.

xvPaul VI, Concluding Address to the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council, 21 November 1964.

xvi “Updating the Legion,” The Immaculate (Franciscan Marytown Press), 19/1 (August 1968). This article combines the text of two public addresses made by Frank Duff to Legion audiences in 1966 and in 1967. It is the source for all the quotations cited subsequently in this paragraph.

xviiStatement made by Frank Duff to a group of legionaries visiting from the United States and reported in Maria Legionis magazine.

xviiiFor example, see “The Legion of Mary in the Church of Today,” by Thomas B. Falls, S.T.D., Ph.D., which summarizes many of the same objections cited by Duff in 1966. It is available at www.the-pope.com/mary.html.

xixWhat exactly has happened to the Legion since Vatican II does not seem to be documented comprehensively in one place. The picture worldwide is one of continued extension and development, after a decline during the years following the 1960s. This picture is not the same in all countries. For example, in the United States there has been a steady decline in numbers and a corresponding increase in average age. There was and is scattered evidence of hostility from some clergy. The Legion is designed to function in a parish and this cannot happen where the local clergy perceives the Legion to be an “outside group.” Today one can hear frank acknowledgments from Legion officers that in Europe, the United States, and some non-Western countries such as Taiwan, the membership is aging and that it is very hard to recruit replacements to local cells when vacancies occur. The decline in vocations to the religious life parallels what is happening in the Legion. Is the Legion a bellwether for judging the spiritual depth of the lay faithful in a particular church? Father Aedan McGrath, S.S.C. (1906-2000) who brought the Legion to China, quotes Frank Duff as saying: “Three generations of a laity that is not apostolic becomes a non-church-going laity. Three generations of a non-church-going laity becomes a non-believing laity.”

xxFor a description of this maternal role of Mary and its analogy to the order of nature, see John-Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, no. 45. There is perhaps in academic theological circles an emotional distaste for those who would “talk to Mary rather than talk about her.” Therefore, it is deemed necessary to erect a conceptual firewall against those who, it is claimed, would venerate Mary apart for God. On the other hand, there are those who cannot understand the rational coldness of the intellectuals who describe their Mother in the order of grace as a model, an image, an archetype, but are content to relate to her through a set of abstract notions.

Source: http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//marianspirituality.html