3rd November 2017
Spiritual reading: HB pg 67-68 Chap 11 Scheme of the Legion, Pt 1 Personal Holiness: The object and Means
Allocutio:
The word holy is defined in the dictionary as “morally and spiritually excellent”. This means that in order to be holy, we must put effort in striving for such excellence, and the initiative is with us to do so. However, if we trace back the etymology of the word to its Latin root, Sanctum; it means to be set apart and dedicated or consecrated to God. Here the initiative lies with God, who chose us to be specially set apart and dedicated to Him. He ordered it to be this way and gives us the power and graces to be set apart for Him. This applies for both things and persons. For example, we cannot drink our teh peng in the chalice which is specially set apart to contain the blood of Jesus in the Mass, a lump of clay in statues is specially set apart and given blessing to become a holy object, Marriage is holy because the husband and wife are exclusively set apart for each other, Priesthood is holy because the priest is exclusively set apart to serve God without withholding anything back.
Since the initiative for holiness starts with God, He is also the source and originator of all holiness. This means we need to remain close to Him to be holy. That’s why St John says “apart from me you can do nothing”. So what does holiness has anything to do with the Legion of Mary?
The object of the Legion of Mary is the holiness of its members, and the HB suggests that the means to achieve this holiness is personal service. In fact, this chapter is sandwiched between Chapter 10 (The Legion Apostolate) and Chapter 12 (The external aims of the Legion). Why did the HB propose personal service to holiness? I’d like to suggest that this could be one way to discover what we are set apart for and it is a way to express our dedication to God and produce fruits. But we are not to do any kinds personal service, but those that are discerned under the influence of the Holy Spirit, having Divine Grace as its moving principle and support, as without the Holy Spirit as a guide, we might miss the target of holiness, and without Divine Grace, we could not do effective personal service.
Why do we need to pursue holiness? The HB says that the final end and purpose is the Glory of God and the salvation of souls. We strive for holiness to glorify God because only in glorifying God we will be fully happy. And we strive for holiness to save souls, not just our own soul and the soul of others as well (notice the plural form of souls). This means that if we fail to become what we are supposed to be set apart for, some souls may not be saved.
Understanding now the immensity of our universal call to holiness, how do we strive for holiness through personal service? We can imitate the spirit of Mary. The HB in Chapter 3 (Immediately after explaining the object of the Legion in Chapter 2) says that the Spirit of the Legion is Mary herself, and goes on to highlight a number of virtues of Mother Mary. I will highlight the first 3 virtues which could help us strive for holiness through personal service:
- Profound humility
Humility means having a good knowledge of oneself with its positive and negative aspects. In the Magnificat, Mary accepted God’s marvels that God has bestowed upon her when she proclaimed “The Almighty has done great things for me”; and at the same time realised that she is just a creature and not the Creator, when she proclaimed “He looks on his servant in her lowliness.” We too must not reject God’s gifts and talents in us and must discern how are we to be set apart with these God-given blessings.
- Perfect obedience
She always says yes without any reservation or any selfish consideration (no but’s, no what if’s), and especially perfect in her yes to suffering: fleeing Herod to Bethlehem, missing Jesus in His public ministry, enduring the excruciating crucifixion. We too must learn to obey when it is difficult to obey, especially so when it brings discomfort to us or is contrary to our will. For example, Do we obey the rules of the Handbook? Do we heed the call to action from the priest’s homily every Sunday? Do we obey God’s promptings to be more fully dedicated and set apart for Him?
- Angelic sweetness
Angels glorify God without ceasing and are God’s messengers; and we think about cookies, cakes, babies when we think about sweetness, indicating a beautiful masterpiece created out of love, and left us feeling in awe. Thus, Mary’s angelic sweetness is her ability to convey God’s masterpiece in herself and by doing so, glorify God. How have we been messengers of God’s beauty in us leaving others feel in awe of, not of ourselves, but of God’s abundant blessings in us? And by doing so conveys God’s goodness to others and glorifying God in return? How have imitated Mary’s angelic sweetness and projecting it in our daily behaviour so that other can see that there are something amazingly and positively different with us Christians? That we are set apart by God and for God?
St Paul says “For this is the will of God, your sanctification”. The word sanctification means that we are still in the process of sanctification, because there are still some parts of us that we do not yet want to surrender to be fully dedicated and set apart for God, to be “unfailingly holy”. And therefore we need unfailing help to do so. In the Eucharistic Prayer III, the priest prays: … with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs, and with all the Saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence, we rely for unfailing help.
So let us pray with the saints in heaven to obtain unfailing help to imitate Mary’s profound humility, perfect obedience, and angelic sweetness in performing our personal service, so in the end we can be unfailingly set apart for God to glorify Him and for the salvation of souls. Amen.