DETAILS OF LEGION OF MARY

WHAT IS IT? The Legion of Mary is the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church, with well over 3 million active members in almost every country of the world. It has been active in the United States since 1931, has been approved by the last 6 Popes, and was endorsed by the Second Vatican Council. The main purpose of the Legion of Mary is to give glory to God through the sanctification of its members. WHAT DOES IT DO? Members become instruments of the Holy Spirit through a balanced program of prayer and service. Works include door-to-door evangelization, parishioner visitation, prison ministry, visitation of the sick or aged, crowd contact, religious education, visiting the newly baptized, Pilgrim Virgin Statue rotations, and meeting the other spiritual needs of the parish community. Legionaries are under the guidance of a spiritual director named by the pastor. The Legion is, in essence, an extension of the heart and hands of the pastor. HOW DOES IT WORK? Members meet once a week for prayer, planning and discussion in a family setting. Then they do two hours of definite work each week in pairs and under the guidance of their spiritual director. WHO CAN BELONG? The Legion of Mary is open to all Catholics who: Faithfully practice their religion; Are animated by the desire to participate in the Church's apostolate through membership in the Legion; Are prepared to fulfill each and every duty which active membership in the Legion involves HOW DO I START? The first step is to be a guest at a meeting of the Legion of Mary. Guests are always welcome and can go on one of the work assignments with an experienced member if they choose. If there is no Legion of Mary in your parish, you can participate in a group in another parish until you can start one of your own with the assistance of other Legionaries and in cooperation with the pastor. HOW CAN I GET MORE INFO? For more information, ask any member of the Legion of Mary (Legionary) in your parish.

KNOW THE DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS

THE PRESIDENT

• He must attend the meetings of the Curia.
• He must chair the meetings of the Praesidium and allocate work and receive the members' report on their work.
• He must make sure the room for/of the meeting is ready for the meeting to begin at the due time.
• He shall begin the meeting puntually at the appointed hour and bring the meeting to a conclusion at the prescribed time.
• In the absence of the Spiritual Director, he shall give the Allucutio or assign someone to give it.
• He shall set a high level of spirituality and zeal to all his fellow legionaries, but in such a way as to take upon himself work which his members should be doing.
• He shall remember that whispered or indistinct reports are the enemy of the meeting. He must himself speak in a tone of voice which will ring throughout the room.
• He must not talk too much or too little during meetings.
• He must not show any trace of his private life problems when in the chair.
• He must never be found wanting in the virtue of docility to ecclesiastical authority, the spirit of self-denial, of charity and harmony with other organisations

THE VICE-PRESIDENT

• He must attend the meetings of the Curia
• He shall preside at the praesidium meeting in the event of the absence of the president
• He is responsible for looking after membership - welcome newcomers and introduce them to other members before or after meetings
• He must mark up the attendance roll
• He shall the various registers relating to active, praetorian, adjutorian, and auxiliary memberhip.
• He shall notify the active probationers of the drawing to close of their probation, and shall make all arrangements for the taking of the promise
• He shall take note of members who are absenting themselves from the meeting and then by writing or otherwise, endeavour to prevent a complete falling away from membership
• He shall visit the sick members, or secure that they are visited by other leginaries
• He shall supervise the other members in their efforts to gain auxiliary - and particularly adjutorian - members, and then keep in touch with them

THE SECRETARY

• He shall attend all the meetings of the Curia
• He is responsible for keeping the minutes of the praesidium
• He must have regards to his instruments so as to have good results
• He shall punctually furnish all information and all returns which may be required by the Curia, and shall generally be responsible for the correspondence of the praesidium

THE TREASURER

• The treasurer shall attend the meetings of the Curia
• He shall be responsible for the making and receiving of all payments by the praesidium, and for the keeping of full and properly written accounts thereof
• He shall see that the secret bag collection (S.B.C) is made at each meeting
• He shall pay money only on the direction of the praesidium
• He shall bear in mind the recommendation as to accumulated funds and shall from time to time bring the matter before the praesidium.

(Reference, Handbook Pg's 212 to 220. Posted by Bro. John Paul)

THE LEGION AND ME

THE STANDING INSTRUCTIONS OF THE LEGION

“Legionary duty requires from each legionary include:

• Punctual and regular attendance at the weekly meetings of the praesidium, and the furnishing there of an adequate and audible report on the work done.
• Daily recitation of the Catena.
• Performance of a substantial active legionary work , in the spirit of faith, and in union with Mary, in such fashion that in those worked for and in one’s fellow-members, the person of our Lord is once again seen and served by Mary, his mother.
• Absolute respect for the confidential nature of many matters discussed at the meeting or learned in connection with the legionary work Fellow legionaries, I hope we are all adhering to these instructions as required of us. God bless us all!! Reference: Hand Book Pg 109 Item 7. (Posted by Bro. John Paul)

THE PATRONS OF THE LEGION

• ST. JOSEPH In the Legion’s prayers, St. Joseph’s name follows the invocations to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, as he ranks next to them in the Court of Heaven. He was head of the Holy Family, fulfilling in regard to Jesus and Mary a primary and altogether special part. The Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurs on 19th March.
• ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST Designated in the Gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” St. John appears therein as the model of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Faithful to the end, he clung to that Heart till he saw it stilled pierced in death. He was Mary’s priest: therefore a special patron to the legionary priest in his service of the organization which aims to be a living copy of Mary. His feast day occurs on 27th December.
• ST. MICHAEL ARCHANGEL “Although the prince of all the heavenly court, St. Michael is the most zealous in honouring Mary and causing her to be honoured, while he waits always in expectation that he may have the honour to go at her bidding to render service to some one of her servants” (St. Augustine) The feast day of the “commander of the army of the Lord” (Josh 5:14) occurs on 29th September.
• ST. GABRIEL ARCHANGEL He is the Angel of the Annunciation. It was through him that the compliments of the Holy Trinity were addressed to Mary; that the mystery of the Trinity was first stated to man; that the Incarnation was announced; that the Immaculate Conception was declared; that the first notes of the Rosary were struck. The feast of St. Gabriel occurs 29th September.
• THE HEAVENLY POWERS, MARY’S LEGION OF ANGELS Mary is the general of the armies of God. The angels form the most glorious troops of her who is terrible as an army set in the battle array! The memorial of the Guardian Angels occurs on 2nd October.
• ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST He was placed among the patrons of the Legion on 18th December, 1949. For he is more intimately bound up with the devotional scheme of the Legion than any of its patrons, with the exception of St. Joseph. He has two liturgical celebrations. That of his nativity occurs on 24th June, and of his martyrdom on 29th August.
• ST. PETER As prince of the Apostles, is pre-eminently the patron for an apostolic organization. He was the first Pope, but stands for all the illustrious line of Pontiffs, and for the present Holy Father. In invoking St. Peter, we express once again a Legion’s Loyalty to Rome, the centre of our faith, the source of authority, discipline, unity. His feast day occurs on 29th June.
• ST. PAUL A soul that is to win others must be great and wide as the ocean. To convert the world, one’s soul must be greater than the world. Such was St. Peter from the day when a sudden light from heaven shone round about him, and threw its radiance into his soul, and enkindled therein the burning desire to fill the world with the Name and Faith of Christ. His feast day occurs on 29th June. Reference: Hand Book Pg. 141 – 145 (Posted by Bro. John Paul)

The Catena Legionis

"Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising ..."

Yes thats what we all stand up to pray mid-way through the meeting and which must be prayed daily by every Legionary who calls him/herself a soldier of Mary.

But do we really attach any significance to the Catena at all? We are told it is the "CHAIN" that binds all members together as one family. When we refuse or fail to pray the Catena as required of us, we break that chain, that means if you fail to pray the Catena, you break yourselfe away from the family. For this to be avoided we must pray our Catena daily. Why do you think we are fighting about our numeric strength in terms of members not coming to meetings? This is beacause each one of us has one way or the other failed to pray the catena hence the break in the chain - members.

Lets try to pray the Catena daily so us to build a strong legion body in the church as we all know its part of our standing instructions.

May the peace of Our Lord Jesus and Mother Mary be with us all. Amen!!

(Posted by Bro. John Paul)

Who We Really Are As Legionaries

WHO AM I?

We are LEGIONARIES of our dear mother Mary, and I hope we all know about "WHO WE REALLY ARE AS LEGIONARIES?" At times when I go through 'The Hand Book' of our Legion, I ask myself 'if I am really Acting As A Legionary?' or yet still 'if we are really Legionaries?' or we just call ourselves that because we are part of a particular praesidium in the church. I have found out that being a Legionary, there is more to it than meet the eye. We all know that being a Legionary means being 'A SOLDIER OF MARY' hence we become a 'Legion' which is translated as 'An Army'. Soldiers take an oath during their passing out from the training school to be fully soldiers, and the phrase that fascinate me a lot is this "... and I offer my support and service to my nation even at the PERIL of my life, so help me God". This oath is like a contract they have signed with the state and the people of their country that they will always be available for them even if it will cause them their lives. So you see? They will make themselves available for any service at all to the state. We as soldiers of Mary need to also see that we have to offer our services and talents when we are asked to perform particular tasks and stop giving excuses. Since thats what will make us a legionary. Think about this. ( Posted by Bro. John Paul)