There is an old saying that what we are is more important that what we do: that is why we are not called “human doings,” but “human beings.” Our value is intrinsic and is not earned by our works.
Many will wonder why the Legion does not operate on a “works only” philosophy. Why does there have to be a weekly meeting? The response is very simple. The Legion is not about doing, but about being. It is about building up members in holiness, not merely about keeping them busy. This is affirmed in the first paragraph of Chapter Two of the Handbook where it is specified that the Legion’s objective is “the glory of God through the holiness of its members” (H, 11). And holiness is not something we do, but something we are. Building members up in holiness, challenging members to holiness, and training members in habits of holiness is the reason why the weekly meeting is “the heart of the Legion” (H, 71) and not the assignments.
I like to view the meeting as a formation program, like the Seminary before the priesthood. Although the spiritual needs in our world are many and serious, Mother Church does not ordain men to be priests the day after applying and getting accepted by their bishops. She knows that it would make for disaster if men were sent out to work without bonding with the Christ of their work – without maturing in their humanity, growing in their knowledge and practice of the Faith, and gaining needed pastoral skills. It is similar in the Legion. The meeting forms the member in union with Jesus and Mary and in the ways of Jesus and Mary so that, as each faces the many desperate situations in the field, he or she will be the most powerful instruments possible in fostering the world’s salvation.
Fr. Fran Peffley has said that what the obligation to Sunday Mass is to a Catholic, the requirement of attending the weekly meeting is to the Legionary (Inside the Legion of Mary, p. 63). The Church knows we cannot live the week to the fullness without the fruits of the Sacred Liturgy. And the Legion knows we cannot be holy and spread holiness to the fullness without the meeting. Let us therefore respect and attend our weekly meetings, letting them build up our Legion beings – not just our Legion doings!
November 19, 2017/Allocutio to the Philadelphia Senatus/Rev. Frank Giuffre Reading: Handbook: Chapter 11, Section 5 (“The Weekly Meeting of the Praesidium”: pp. 71-72)