1.       Promise

I was just browsing through the internet, looking for some inspiration for today’s allocutio, when I stumble upon this article about the “Ultimate Secret of Weight Loss Journey”. The article was written by Heidi Powell, a physical trainer, who, with her husband, also hosts “Extreme Weight Loss”, USA’s ABC reality TV show that challenges obese people to lose their weight. I clicked open the article, hoping to see some advices on physical exercise that maybe I could try on myself, but instead I was left baffled after finished it off. Why? Instead of talking about exercise, diet, etc, the author said that the weight loss success of their TV shows’ participants, and more generally the success of everything else, is contributed by one thing. PROMISE. More specifically, a promise to oneself that is always kept under any circumstances. The author mentioned that the first rule for all “Extreme Weight Loss” participant is to commit a certain exercise regime that they would do on a daily basis without fail. The promise can be as small as “exercising 30 minutes a day”, but they have to really do it, no excuses are allowed. After proving that they could do it, the amount of exercise would then be added little by little (under the same rule of “no excuse” to skip it), and that’s how those participants lose half, or even more, of their weight at the end of 1 year. It was striking to me as I realized that only by successfully committing ourselves to a small promise, we could improve ourselves and in the end, achieved a bigger, more significant success.  

Now, let’s talk about Annunciation. Why Annunciation? Because in our spiritual reading today on Acies, it is said that Acies should be celebrated near the Feast of the Annunciation. (I hope you guys do realize this, unless you were falling asleep just now. :P). Let’s try to picture this miraculous event in our head. An angel came to Virgin Mary, proclaiming that God on high has chosen her to become the Mother of the Incarnated Words, and what did she say in reply? “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Your Word.”  What a promise.

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Wait, a promise? Why?

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Because in that answer, she proclaimed her promise to the Lord that she would be whatever God wants her to be. A rather short, simple, easy promise. Seems easy, and yet, it showed Mary’s great faith in the Lord to face all the difficulties & pains that she would go through as Jesus’s Mother. Simple promise, and yet, it marked the beginning of our salvation.

3.       Back to Acies

And now we are back to Acies. An annual celebration in which each legionary is asked to renew their promise to Mother Mary. An event which is highly regarded by LOM’s founding father, to the extent that he suggested “…..any legionaries who can attend, and yet fail to do so, have little or none of the spirit of the Legion in them. The membership of such persons is not an asset to the Legion…..”

Isn’t it clear now, why the Acies is to be celebrated near the Feast of Annunciation? Just as Mary was making promise to God, we were also making legion promise on the day we were accepted as a full member of the Legion. And now in the Acies, we are called to renew it, to once again proclaim what we have promised.

Isn’t it clear now, why our legion promise is so important that we are called to renew it once a year? Though each of us is a no-body, though each of us is sinner just like anyone else, though we are weak and always in need of God’s merciful blessing, our promise is as important as Mary’s promise to God is. Without our promise (and us keeping that promise faithfully, of course), Mary would not be able to channel out God’s grace, which she had received abundantly from her Son, to the whole humanity. She needs our consent, our cooperation, and our help, to bring back humankind to her Son. She needs us. No matter how small or seemingly insignificant each of us is.  Only by our promise, by us keeping that promise faithfully, we could help bring salvation to the world.