The Legion of Mary, an international organisation, open to men and women, young and old, in which successive Popes have expressed an interest, has a number of branches in the Diocese of Middlesbrough.
Each branch’s weekly meeting concerns itself with prayer and work. The prayer gives meaning to the work and the work gives meaning to the prayer. The Legion structure facilitates prayer, work, thought and the joy of achievement.
There must be work. The Legionary must bear the stamp of Mary – active, aware, concerned Mother of all God’s children, never Mary inactive.
The local based Legion unit organises pilgrimages and retreats, discussion groups and prayer meetings, visitation to the community and the cemeteries, socials and outings.
In working with the Legion one comes into contact with those whose minds and hearts have been touched and who have taken on tasks that demand faith and courage. Some of those tasks may be outside their own area, even outside their own country.
One unique feature of the Legion of Mary is the facility to travel for the faith and to spread the Good News of the Gospel. This movement is often referred to as ‘Peregrinatio Pro Christo’ which loosely translates from Latin as ‘Foreign Work for Christ’.
Such a group worked at St Clare’s parish in Middlesbrough at Easter this year. Fourteen Legionaries, twelve from Ireland and two from Coventry, visited hundreds of houses and presented their Catholic faith at the doors. Seven of these visiting Legionaries were teenage boys.
They shared Easter greetings with the people at their homes. They told them about their faith and explained why they were in Middlesbrough. They invited them to Mass and gave them a miraculous medal. People appreciated the call and there was a great sense of awareness in the parish that something was happening during the week.
Vatican II couldn’t have asked for more – a young man of seventeen inviting an elderly lady back to Church. She said she would go if he would go with her. He did and she was happy but sad too. It reminded her of how much she had missed in the years of non-attendance.
In his novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ Charles Dickens talks about ‘the best of times, the worst of times’. It can be the worst of times working in the rain or waiting for a co-worker who fails to show up. But it can be the best of times also when somebody who has been lost to the Faith is found, when somebody who is non-Catholic decides to follow the RCIA programme.
Legionaries’ faith, generosity, goodwill and good humour are always evident despite the circumstances. This proves the truth of what Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion, wrote in one of his earlier pamphlets entitled ‘Can We Be Saints?’ Frank wrote that we are all called to sainthood if, with the desire of pleasing God, we do our ordinary duties extraordinarily well.
Is it any wonder then that these Legionaries working in Middlesbrough showed faith, generosity, goodwill and good humour and a desire to do the ordinary things extraordinarily well as they work under Mary’s instructions to spread the message of her Son, to go out and help the neighbours. These are the instructions of the same Mary who at the wedding feast of Cana said’ “Do whatever he tells you”.
John B. McLoughlin
Legion of Mary visitor to St Clare's, Middlesbrough
April 11th-18th 2009