"Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?" - Song of Songs 6:10
10:6 THE LEGION APOSTOLATE (pg. 64 – pg. 66) Dear sisters and brothers, peace to you all.
We are approaching to the end of the Month of Rosary and soon the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory is coming onto the horizon. At this time, may I ask you to pray more fervently for those souls in Purgatory especially for those who recently left us because of the pandemic. I thank you for your prayer.
Now let us read chapter 10 section 6 and do some reflection as of concluding the Month of Rosary.
Section 6 talks about “its fruit are intense idealism and action”
From the reading, we can see “idealism” and “action” as two keywords for the Legion of Mary when offering our help in doing the church’s work.
What is idealism? Idealism is generally suggesting the priority of ideals, principles, values, and goals over concrete realities. In other words, idealism is the cherishing or pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc. These definitions would be fine, but I would be more likely reflect on what is the idealism of the Legion of Mary? Or better to say, as Mother Mary’s children, we need to understand a little better the notion of Marian idealism. After some reflection, my eyes turned to Mary’s obedience and humility. And my thoughts overflowed with the beauty of the Magnificat prayer. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit….”
We found Mary’s obedience at the Annunciation, one of the most significant events in the history of mankind. The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to announce to Mary that she was chosen to be the mother of the Son of the Most High. Her response was, “Fiat.” Actually, she says it more clearly in the Gospel of Luke, “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me as you say.” (Luke 1:38a)
What is humility? Humility is the quality of being humble. Saint Bernard said: "Humility is the foundation and guardian of the virtues." We find Mary’s humility in her eyes, she looks downward in her appearance to Juan Diego in Gualdalupe. With the same eyes, Mary was troubled at hearing herself praised by Saint Gabriel “full of grace”. She was also disturbed by her cousin Elizabeth “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lordshould come to me?” (Lk 1:42,43). Yet Mary offered everything to God, and replied in the humble words of her canticle: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord (Lk 1:46).” This was the same as saying: "You praise me, Elizabeth, thank you for your praising, and I will yield them to God. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Lk 1:47). You praise me because I have believed; and I praise God, because He has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness (Lk 1:48)." Another keyword is “Action”. My thought goes with St. Ignatius’ “action in contemplation.” What does it mean? In Ignatian spirituality, I love the idea of contemplation in action as learning how to be, how to see, and how to love through our actions.
Contemplation is first about learning how to be and surrendering our very being to God’s grace. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). In our action, we need to constantly look upon God, honest before God, and offer our actions to God. In ancient Chinese philosophy we have a proverb that says, “be still, and then we could be settled down and be silence, from there, we will gain inner peace and through the inner peace, we will have the wisdom to filter out all unnecessary things, and then, we will have valid, abundant harvest of our life.”
Contemplation is also about learning how to see, being attentive and present to the possibility of grace wherever I am and whatever I am doing. Through the contemplation in action, we will receive the gift of sensation, we will see the grace of God, His work on us, and the needy around us.
Contemplation moves into action when we learn how to love. This is the core of our obedience and humility, and this is the fruit of our action. We are asked to love those who are poor, hungry, sick, in prison, lonely, or marginalized in any way. Love, however, is more than a feeling. Love needs to be grounded in reality and love needs action.
My dear sisters and brothers, in the handbook says: “A praesidium of the Legion can thus be a powerful means of helping the priest to enlist gradually the co-operation of the laity in the task of evangelizing those committed to his care.” Let’s follow Marian idealism and put into action the work of love.
At last, I pray that everybody stays healthy both physically and spiritually in this time of pandemic.