Why did the invisible man turn down the job offer? Because he just could not see himself doing it!
One of the things we often have a hard time “seeing ourselves doing” is being holy… or becoming saints. Leon Bloy has said, “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life is not to become a saint.” And what is true in life has to be true in the Legion: Our Legion membership would be nothing short of a “train wreck” if it does not makes us saints. We must recall often the “object” of the Legion of Mary as specified in the Handbook: the object of the Legion is “the glory of God through the holiness of its members…” (H, 11/emphasis added). These word assert that not only does the Legion seek our holiness, but it also relies upon our holiness. Our giving God’s the utmost glory depends upon it!
With the importance of holiness for the Legion definite, the next logical question would be: “What is holiness?” We need to know what it is before we can become it! Pope Francis in his recent Apostolic Exhortation Rejoice and Be Glad [RBG] (the reading of which I strongly suggest) supplies a fine definition in paragraph 20. There the Holy Father asserts that holiness is an intimate union with Christ in our lives. That intimate union begins when we are united to Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection in Baptism, but it does not end there. It is in fact sustained daily by “reproducing in our own lives various aspects of Jesus’ earthly life,” especially his “self-sacrificing love” (RBG, 20). If pursued seriously, this intimate union with Christ, over time, should result in our incarnating the Incarnate Son in every aspect of our behavior – in our decisions, attitudes, piety, and actions – until, having been completely taken over by Christ, He literally lives His life in us! In the words of St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20/RSV).
Certainly, that was the holiness of Mary. Indeed no human being lived in intimate union with Christ more than she did! Mary not only gave birth to Jesus in her body: she bore Jesus in her manner of life. What resulted was amazing: While Jesus resembled Mary in His physical features, Mary resembled Jesus in her spiritual features.
That is what holiness must mean for us: growing in our spiritual resemblance to Christ over time. Legion members, how well are we doing? We fool ourselves if we think the Church makes us saints. Actually we do – reliant, of course, on God’s grace! Our “canonization process” unfolds now, while we are alive, not by performing two miracles, but by taking two simple steps: seeing where we need to reflect Jesus, and making the changes to make those Christ-like qualities a reality. Maybe it is in conversation or concern for others, maybe it is dedicating more time to prayer or praying with less distraction, maybe it is dying to sin or being less selfish: whatever the area, the process is the same. We must seek to imitate Christ so as to live in Christ. We must make holiness and becoming saints the focus of our lives – and let the Legion and its system of prayer and work foster the transformation.
The 19th century Protestant evangelist D.L. Moody once said, “A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine.” We who assist “in Mary and the Church’s work of crushing the head of the serpent and advancing the reign of Christ” (H, 11) certainly long to make that “deepest impression.” We wonder, “What is the best thing we can do to realize the Legion’s mission?” That “best thing” is what Moody says: living a holy life … and becoming saints who pride themselves, not in “blowing their own horns,” but shining with likeness to Jesus – and pursuing it all with the certainty that nothing matters more for us and for the Legion!
July 15, 2018/Allocutio to the Philadelphia Senatus/Rev. Frank Giuffre
Reading: Handbook: Chapter 2, “Object”: pp. 11-12