We must have heard about the man who walked into the human resources department of a large company and handed the executive his application. The executive began to scan the sheet, and noticed that the applicant has been fired from every job he had ever held. “I must say,” said the executive, “your work history is terrible. You’ve been fired from every job.” “Yes,” replied the man. “Well,” continued the executive, “there’s not much positive in that.” Pointing to his application, the man replied, “Hey! At least I’m not a quitter!!”
The Legion of Mary asks us, too, not to be quitters on many fronts. One of them certainly regards the requirement which, according to the “standing instructions,” binds us to the recitation of the Catena, not just occasionally or weekly or when we think of it, but daily. We know in fact that one of the reasons the prayer is called “the Catena” (which, in Latin, means “chain”) is to forge a sense in the member of the seriousness of this obligation as an unbreakable commitment (H, 194-195).
While blind obedience to this requirement is certainly virtuous, our fidelity to the habit might be stoked by knowing “why” we are asked to do this. And it is curious that the first reason listed in chapter 33, section 6 is that reciting the Catena everyday creates a “link between the Legion and the daily life of all its members” (H, 194). In other words, this prayer is to be like a “string tied to the finger”: a daily reminder that the spirit of the Legion, which is the spirit of Mary and which permeates our attendance at the praesidium meeting and on our assignment for a total of 3.5 hours each week is not intended to be left aside the other 164.5 hours which remain in that same week. Members are supposed to be living in that spirit every day, every hour, every moment, as the proper continuation of and as the suitable preparation for what happens when we sit around our tables or go forth into the field. This is part of what it means that members be “always be on duty,” not simply when it comes to winning souls for Jesus through Mary, but also to sanctifying their own souls through the continuous practice of those virtuous habits inculcated in the Legion, including regular prayer/Rosary, spiritual reading, reflection, and performance of the works of mercy.
Reciting the Catena daily has a second purpose: not just to keep members linked to their Legion identity, but also to keep members linked as a Legion family in the Blessed Mother. This means that reciting the Catena mystically unites legionaries, active and auxiliary, in a “network” of prayer and support reaching members worldwide (and even beyond this world!). Some of these may be suffering for the Faith in the missions, in lands where religion is oppressed, or in hospitals where they are offering up their physical pains for the glory of the Lord. Ultimately that chain links us to Mary, the Mediatrix of all graces, and becomes the irrigation channel through which divine help is passed along through her to her Legion sons and daughters most in need. Praying the Catena then is a life-support mechanism without which the Legion could “flat-line” in death. It is the IV-drip allowing God’s own life to flow, to feed, and to sustain the work of the Legion, wherever it is being done.
So, Legion members, that is the reason why – the reason behind the Catena. And now that we know it, let us also be sure to do it … with a fidelity that never quits!
April 9, 2017/Philadelphia Senatus/Rev. Frank Giuffre
Handbook, chapter 33, Number 6 (pp. 194-195)