Legion of Mary

Melbourne Senatus

Prayer with Action

Annual Mass 2004

Mass for the Death Anniversary of Frank Duff

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Mary’s Church, West Melbourne,
on Saturday, 13th November, 2004

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we honour Mary, Mother of the Church, as we recall with honour and pray for the repose of the soul of Frank Duff and recall with esteem the call to apostolate founded on deep spiritual life, which characterised the life of Mary, the Mother of the Church, and our Mother.

As members of the Legion of Mary, we call to mind our sins, asking that living in the light of Christ we may bring his truth and care to our sisters and brothers.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s Mass has a truly Marian theme. We are deeply grateful already to the Holy Father for his invitation to us two years ago to celebrate the Year of the Rosary and the great gift which he has given us of the Mysteries of Light, which culminate in the magnificent gift of the Eucharist.

Recently the Holy Father has stressed that, as the consequence of our encounter with Christ and search for holiness, it is the Eucharist, which will sustain us for the mission, and work that we undertake.

Here I would pay tribute to the work of the Legion in visitation, caring, encouragement, teaching and in whatever way the Church has need of its service. The remarkable missionary flowering of the work of the Legion in Asia and the renewing of that work in our country I am sure will be a strong part of the new evangelisation, inviting people to the Gospel, which is the programme of the Church for the new millennium.

On the feast of the Holy Rosary, 7 th October, Pope John Paul wrote an Apostolic Letter beginning with the picture of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who say, “Stay with us Lord”, because he had explained the Scriptures to them and they recognised him in the breaking of bread. The Pope wants us to emphasise the prayerful celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, to spend time in Eucharistic Adoration and to focus on our church as the place of prayer and holiness and with these as a base to move out into what the Legion does so well by inviting people to be one with the Gospel.

Indeed, the Holy Father says, “The Rosary is a pedagogy of love, aimed at evoking within our hearts the same love that Mary bore for her son.” In the midst of the Year of the Rosary in 2003 Pope John Paul issued the Encyclical, ‘The Church draws Life from the Eucharist’, with the intention of shedding light on the Mystery of the Eucharist in its inseparable relation to the Church.

He urged all the faithful to celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice with due reverence, offering to Jesus present in the Eucharist, both within and outside Mass, the worship demanded by so great a mystery. Above all he suggested once again the need for a Eucharistic spirituality and pointed to Mary, the Woman of the Eucharist, as its model.

I do urge you, therefore, to ponder the Mysteries of Light when you say the Rosary, to not neglect Eucharistic Adoration and to see that in it is the invitation to be given for others. Notice that immediately the disciples recognised Jesus at Emmaus they set out straight away to report what they had seen and heard. The Church, therefore, gives us an urgent summons to show the light of faith to others and to draw them to the Gospel and we are given not only an interior strength for that mission, but a plan which is shown in the Eucharist. Jesus gives himself for others. He dies and rises again to new life. He draws us to the Father.

In the same way, our Legion apostolate is a wonderful invitation not to be afraid to speak about God and bear proud witness to our faith, to be ready to serve the least and most needy in our society, to be a promoter of peace and solidarity and of a more just and fraternal society.

Dear brothers and sisters, may we be helped above all by the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose whole life showed forth the meaning of the Eucharist. As the Pope said in the Encyclical on the Eucharist, “The Church which looks to Mary as a model is also called to imitate her in her relationship with this most holy Mystery.” ( Ecclesia De Eucharistia, 53 )

In this year of grace, sustained by Mary, may each of us in the Church discover new enthusiasm for her mission and come to acknowledge ever more fully that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Church’s entire life.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.

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