The Legion of Mary - Relevant even today!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
- Fr Anthony J. Fernandes is a Roman Catholic Priest for the Archdiocese of Bombay (India). At present, he is serving the spiritual needs of the people at St Teresa's Church Girgaum, Mumbai and is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Laity Commission and the Spiritual Director, Star of the Sea Senatus, Mumbai.
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The Legion of Mary, relevant even today!The Legion of Mary was established on 7th September, 1921 many years before the Second Vatican Council. At that time, critics of the Legion of Mary used to accuse it of “being too modern, too revolutionary” in its system of training lay men and women to perform apostolic works with and for the Parish Priest. The Legion of Mary was ahead of its time, and these critics were suspicious of lay apostles intruding into the pastoral field of the care of souls, a field reserved in most part, up to this time, for priests only! Now, strangely enough, after the Second Vatican Council, there is a misunderstanding of the objects of the Legion apostolate; and hence they say that the Legion of Mary is “not modern enough and that it must be updated to agree with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council”. His Eminence, Cardinal Krol, who, as an undersecretary of the Second Vatican Council, and who knew well the mind of the Council Fathers, found the Legion of Mary "to be truly apostolic and completely in accord with the decrees and the spirit of the Second Vatican Council." His Eminence, Cardinal Suenens, stated at Rome (while the Council was in session) that the Legion of Mary actually anticipated the Second Vatican Council in many ways when it came to lay participation in apostolic works. Those who misunderstand also think that the Legion of Mary exists only to propagate devotion to Mary. It is often commented that the Handbook was composed in the 1920s, and that Legion members have been obligated to follow it ever since. While it is true that the first Legion Handbook appeared in the late 1920s, it is not generally recognized that it has grown from a mere pamphlet to the full-sized, 300-page volume now in use. The fact must be acknowledged that the Legion Handbook is a compilation of methods, works and ideals recorded officially only after world-wide testing and acceptance. In recent times, new apostolic works have been attempted, and have been incorporated into the Legion system and Handbook, e.g. the Patrician meeting (Interactive discussion on a faith topic open to those not in the Legion), the Peregrinatio Pro Christo (traveling to another diocese or state for not more than two weeks for evangelization), the Incolae Mariae (Legionaries who can secure for themselves a means of livelihood and stay away for as much as six months, a year or even more without detriment to family, may be appointed by the Concilium (i.e. the International Legion Council at Dublin, Ireland), Exploratio Dominicalis (a mini Peregrinatio Pro Christo, where one is required to give a weekend of his/her time) and the True Devotion to the Nation (work for peace; that each individual is responsible for his neighbour; that he must serve his community with self-sacrifice and that is a realistic way of fulfilling the Christian mission of loving all). The secret of the Legion's success (which it has achieved all over the world) is in its insistence of the strict observance of the weekly meeting of around one and a half hours and a substantial weekly apostolic work of a minimum of two hours. The Legion's insistence on working in pairs, on assigned work, will also be an assurance that the work will be done, and done well, and that one Legionary will be able to give encouragement and assistance to the other in the performing of the work. I’m sharing with you some of the works taken from ‘Mary Cause of our joy’, Legion of Mary unit of Immaculate Conception Parish, Borivli that was presented two months ago to show how the Legion can be an effective tool for pastoral work. During the course of the past year some of their work consisted of: They contacted 1484 people of other faiths on various platforms, and offered them Catholic literature. 21 occasions, they had Organ Donation Awareness, wherein 138 Catholic families and 12 families of other faiths were visited.On 66 occasions, 632 children of other faiths belonging to the economically backward section were given free tuitions. On 9 occasions, 19 families who had left the Church were visited and invited back to the Church. On 36 occasions, various hospitals were visited; 60 Catholic patients and 160 patients of other faiths were contacted; 53 visitors were spoken to. On 113 occasions, 221 families having Sick & Homebound were visited. This is an example of only one Unit of the Legion of Mary. Hundreds of such Units are engaged in these and other apostolic works! Since the Legion of Mary corresponds .....
Thanks for sharing
Love this talk from a priest, like our Rev Father here, to discuss about the works of the Legion.
Allow me, to share this video to our Legion of Mary Comitium of Catbalogan, Philippines.
To our Facebook Group Chat that we formed during this pandemic when we can't have meetings with our members.
Thanks to this technoligy...
Praise be Jesus with Mary!
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍👍👍👏
Fr. Anthony can PPC be legion of Mary member.
1) As PPC involves parish activities & community funds. ( materialistic things)
Legion of Mary involves visiting of sick, hospitals, conducting rosaries. Can you help us to be aware of responsibilities especially legion of Mary
Of Course anybody can join you receive many Blessings ❤
I'm from Goa India