Legion of Mary Melbourne Senatus Australia -Prayer with Action- Catholic Organisation

This afternoon as we gather in this beautiful Church for the Annual Mass for the Legion of Mary we are invited to give thanks in a special way for the gift which the Servant of God, Frank Duff, has been and continues to be for the whole Church. The Legion of Mary which he founded rightly takes its place in the Church as one of the most significant and influential movements of our times. For all of you who belong to the Legion, Frank Duff’s spirituality, which is of course a deeply Marian spirituality, becomes a path to holiness. As we begin our Mass today, let us recommit ourselves to the pursuit of holiness. We are conscious of our sinfulness and our many failures, but we are also deeply conscious of the love and compassion of God. With great trust in God’s compassion and mercy let us acknowledge our sins and ask the Lord for pardon and strength.

In the introduction to today’s Mass I mentioned the idea that Frank Duff’s spirituality, his approach to God and to God’s call to each of us to be in a relationship of love with him is, for the members of the Legion of Mary especially, a pathway to holiness.

This idea of holiness as a goal towards which we are always journeying is very important. None of us has reached the end of the journey yet, and indeed many of us might feel that we have only just started out – there is, we suspect, a long journey ahead and we don’t quite know what that journey will hold and whether or not we will have what it takes to persevere when the going gets a bit tough.

The truth is, of course, that our very presence here this afternoon means that we want to keep going on the journey. It also means that it is precisely the journey towards holiness which has brought us this far. In the quiet moments of our celebration together it would be good for us to reflect on the journey so far. How has God been present in my life up until now? Who are the people he has given me along the way who have pointed me in the right direction. What influences have shaped me into the person of faith I am today, and hope to continue to be in the future? As we tell our stories to ourselves and even to others we come to understand the remarkable ways in which God steps into our lives and guides us forward, even when we are not, at the time, able to recognise that it is God who is at work in us.

Frank Duff himself, of course, was very conscious that for each of us our lives are a journey to holiness. As you would all know the first pamphlet he wrote was entitled “Can we be Saints?” His answer was a resounding “yes” but it was more than that. He was convinced not only that we can be but that God is calling us, and inviting us, and empowering us, to be saints. And for Frank Duff it was the ordinary things of life and the day to day living of our faith, which was the sure pathway to this holiness, this sanctity.

For me as a Salesian, this is very familiar. Saint Francis de Sales, whom St John Bosco chose as the patron of the Salesians, was that saint who, perhaps more than any other, spoke very powerfully of the idea that holiness was to be the goal of every Christian life – and that no way of life was better or more superior than any other in terms of bringing us to holiness. The monk in his monastery, the nun in her convent, the married couple in their home, the single person in his or her unit, the teenager growing up, the bank manager, the computer specialist, the taxi driver, the supermarket shelf stacker – all are called to holiness. It was, for St Francis de Sales, simply a matter of realising that holiness was all about responding as fully and faithfully as you can to the call of the gospel as it presents itself to you in the real situation in which you find yourself.

Saint John Bosco himself used to say to the boys in his school that God called everyone to be a saint and that it was easy to be a saint. One of the boys, a young lad called Dominic Savio, took this to heart and started to imitate those extraordinary penances which he read about in the lives of the saints. He deprived himself of food, he stayed in the Church as long as he could, he tried to sleep without enough blankets – and he started to become sick and withdrawn. When Don Bosco noticed this and realised what was going on he told Dominic that what God wanted of him, what would lead him to real holiness, was simply to do his very best at whatever was required of him at any time. Dominic took this advice to heart. He threw himself into his studies in the classroom, he prayed as well as he could in the Church, he was involved and enthusiastic in the games in the playground – all this until he died at the age of fifteen from tuberculosis. And then, in 1954, simply because he did his best at whatever was required of him at any given time, he was canonised as the youngest non-martyr saint in the history of the Church.

Frank Duff, Don Bosco and Dominic Savio are just three great figures from our Christian and Catholic story who all point us in the same direction. You will find the will of God in the challenges of the day to day realities of life as it is for you at the moment – and you will find your way to holiness by giving your “yes” to those challenges as fully and as wholeheartedly as you can.

This of course is exactly what Mary does in today’s gospel. Her story can help us understand what our story could look like. When God steps into her life through the message of the angel, Mary is at first frightened and then confused. What she is hearing doesn’t fit in with what she had expected and presumed her life would be like. She doesn’t know how to respond, how to act. And then in what is the crucial element of the Annunciation story, she hears the words of the angel and takes those words to her heart. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high God will cover you with its shadow.” As Mary allows herself to believe these words she finds within herself the courage and the confidence to say to the angel “Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me.”

In the end, this is the source of holiness. This is the source of that strength which enables us to keep travelling the journey of our lives, the journey of faith, the journey towards God. It is that readiness, which we can learn from Mary and which Mary through her prayers can help develop within us, to hear and believe the words spoken to her, yes, but also spoken to each one of us: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High God will cover you with its shadow.”

Mary believed these words and her belief transformed her life. Don Bosco and Dominic Savio believed these words and their lives too were transformed. Frank Duff heard these words in his heart and his belief enabled him to bring Christ to so many, as Mary did. Our lives too will be transformed and we too will be bearers of Christ to others if we allow ourselves to hear these words and take them into our hearts. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High God will cover you with its shadow.”

=========================================================================================================================================

“A BEAUTIFUL STORY TO BE TOLD”

The Legion of Mary in Oceania 1932 to 2005

Joachim O'Brien o.f.m

The astonishing expansion of the Legion founded in the midst of the Great Depression in Melbourne. Within twelve years it expanded to practically every dioceses in Australia. It moved offshore into Japan in 1950; into the Pacific islands 1954; was engaged in the extension of 'Catholic Action' and led an Australia-wide apostolate towards non Catholics. The Legion was actively engaged in the Vatican Council and its aftermath, all leading to the papacy of Pope John Paul II, the Jubilee AD 2000 and to the 'New Evangelisation'. This "Beautiful Story" is not only one of the Legion, but of the Church within these often eventful times 1932-2005…..$7.00 per copy.

Copies of the Book “A BEAUTIFUL STORY TO BE TOLD” are available from

Legion of Mary, Melbourne Senatus, 456 Queensberry Street , North Melbourne 3051 for $7.00 plus postage.

or From Legion of Mary, Arlington Regia 820 Gibbon St. #203 Alexandria, VA 22314 USA

Send mail to melbsenatus@legion-mary.org with questions or comments about this web site.