Spiritual reading:
(Handbook pg 64 – Its fruits are intense idealism and action)
The most wonderful thing for me in the Legionary promise is the realisation that I am unworthy, but is called to serve, to be an instrument of God’s mighty purposes, sustained by His power.
3 promises we make in the Legionary promise
- “Desiring to be enrolled this day as a Legionary of Mary.”
- “I so declare my entire dependence on her… as her soldier and her child.”
- “I take my place in the ranks of the Legion, and I venture to promise a faithful service. I will submit fully to its discipline.”However, these only form a small part of the whole Legionary promise. The rest of the parts are God’s promises to us:
If we submit ourselves to God, He promised us that:
- “my poor acts may be sustained by your power”
- We will “become an instrument of your mighty purposes”
- “Her heart and mine are one”
- We will “do great things”
- “Your power overshadow me
- We will “save the world”
- We “may be pure in Her”
- “Christ my Lord may likewise grow in me through you”
- We “may bring him to the world and to the souls who need Him
- We will battle victoriously against sin, the most defiant Goliath, which the Spiritual Reading says is unbelief and sin
- You will receive me–and use me—and turn my weakness into strength this day”
- We will “work Your will”
- We will “operate the miracles of grace
- We will “renew the face of the earth, and establish Your reign, Most Holy Spirit, over all.”
How great are God’s promises to us if we but only give ourselves willingly and freely to Him. I am not belittling the (our) promise, but acknowledging that from our meagre 5 loaves and 2 fishes, our 3 promises, God could amplify them, transform them into something bigger for the greater glory of God.
The second paragraph of the promise contains some declaration of our faith and knowledge about Mary. When we say this, we acknowledge Mary and her power, and her role as the administrator of gifts, virtues, and graces to whomever she pleases and when she pleases. From this acknowledgement of who Mary is to ourselves, we indicate that we are free to take the promise, that we are not forced to take the promise, rather it is a sincere response after we acknowledge who is Mary, desiring to be united to her after knowing her.
One phrase that struck me was “Without her, we cannot love or know you.” Mary knows Jesus best because she has lived with Jesus, she has brought Jesus up from an infant, to childhood, and to adulthood. No one knows Jesus better or loves Jesus better than His mother, Mary. That is why if we wish to know Jesus better, to be closer to Jesus, we must ask Mary’s help to reveal to us great truths about Jesus.
When we freely commit ourselves to a higher call, our spiritual reading says that “the few who respond to the call to high endeavour will persevere, and little by little their spirit will communicate itself to the many.” Indeed, the higher the call, the higher the commitment, and the more we must persevere. When things become inconvenient, we must not give up and persevere on.
The devil doesn’t like us to be close to Mary and to Jesus, that is why the devil is always trying to separate us from Jesus and from Mary, and this is why we are in a constant battle and war against the devil. However, with Jesus’ and Mary’s help we can conquer the devil and nothing can separate us from God. For example, the distractions and the feeling of tiredness that we have while praying the Rosary, is the devil’s trick in preventing us from saying the Rosary. So we must ask God to help us concentrate and persevere through the Rosary before we pray the Rosary. Another example would be the guilt and shame that we feel when we want to go for confession after committing the same sins again and again. We might feel afraid and ashamed as we approach the priest to confess the same sins again. However, this is also the devil’s way of preventing us from obtaining salvation. We must know the truth that God never tires of forgiving, rather it is us who sometimes is tired of confessing our sins. We may sin again, but we must always turn back to God after we sin. In the end, God’s promise us that He will “secure your triumph” in the battle against sin.
I think Ven. John Henry Newman summarises my message today: “Fear not little flock, for He is mighty who is the midst of you, and He will do for you great things.” With such great promises of God if we lay our lives before Him, there is only one true answer to that call: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, Be it done unto me according to Your word.”
Amen.