St Thomas Aquinas differentiated between God's love and Human love, and I think it will be important to remember this distinction as we proceed with this talk.

When we love, we behold what is loveable in another, affirm it, and desire that it be preserved.

When God loves, He causes goodness and love to exist in the beloved.

Jesus, being fully God and fully man, united both forms of love in His Person

The theme of our Summer School is ‘The Most Holy Eucharist: Sacrifice, Presence, Banquet’. Sacrifice: the Eucharistic celebration, the Mass, is most fundamentally the Sacrifice of the Cross, perpetuated down the ages. In the words of the Council of Trent: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.’ Then, the aspect of Presence: the Holy Sacrifice involves the supreme presence of Christ to his Church, which is his real and substantial presence under the appearances of bread and wine. And Banquet: his closeness to each one of us culminates when we receive the Sacrificial Victim, really present, in the Sacred Banquet of Holy Communion. Sometimes we say ‘meal’, which is true; but the word ‘Banquet’ highlights that we are not talking just about an ordinary meal.

Dear Legionaries,

Today, 7th September 2022, the Centenary Year of the Legion of Mary draws to a close, here and around the world - 101 years from the first Legion meeting in Dublin led by Frank Duff on 7th September 1921. We once again give thanks to God, and to Mary, our Blessed Mother and Queen, for all the graces of that first century of the Legion; and we especially give thanks for the joy and blessings of our centenary celebrations.

Today is the feast of our first Australian saint, St Mary of the Cross, or Mary MacKillop, daughter of Scottish highlanders, Flora MacDonald and Alexander MacKillop.  Born 15 January 1842 Fitzroy, died 8 August 1909, North Sydney.  She was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI.  180 years since her birth.

Her personal motto was ‘never see a need without doing something about it’.

Today’s Gospel is appropriate for the message of her life.

To increase the holiness of the faithful and for the salvation of souls, by virtue of the faculty granted to it in a special way by the Most Reverend Father in Christ and Our Master, the Lord Francis, by Divine Providence, Pope, having taken note of the requests made by Mary Murphy, President of the Association called the Legion of Mary, on the occasion of its one hundredth anniversary, the Apostolic Penitentiary graciously concedes from the heavenly treasures of the Church a plenary indulgence properly fulfilled under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Holy Communion and prayer for the intention of the Holy Pontiff) to the members of the association and to other members of the faithful who are truly penitent, to be gained from 7 September 2021 until 7 September 2022, which can be applied for the souls of the faithful detained in Purgatory by way of suffrage, if they visit any church of the said Association or wherever on pilgrimage and are present devoutly at the joyful celebrations, or at least recite the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed devoutly, with added pious appeals to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

• pdf Centenary Leaflet (742 KB)
• pdf Apostolic Indulgence for Centenary (835 KB)

Do you ever look at a situation and think that you would like to do something about it but it is just too big? Climate change, world peace, the plight of refugees, world poverty – these are enormous and real issues that our world is struggling with. We would love to act but when we get down to details the problem is beyond us.

This might leave us disappointed. This is part of being human- we are limited and the details and realities of life mean that we cannot do everything that we want to do and so many things are impossible.

However, it is not so with God - for God all things are possible and God answers our stories of limitedness with his own story of plenty and abundance. Furthermore, our God genuinely cares about the things that trouble us.

Keynote Speaker: 
Very Rev Joe Caddy, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Melbourne

When I was a prison chaplain, I recall a conversation I had with the mother of one of the inmates. The young man was from a good family but his life had gone off the tracks. The mother was deeply concerned about him and I made some sort of comment acknowledging her love for him and added that I guess for a mother it is difficult, as they have to love all their children the same. She said no I have to love him even more: he needs it.

It was a lovely expression and it got me thinking - does God have favourites? I think yes when we most need it. I think that the love of the mother I met is like God’s love.

The Gospels are full of stories that show God’s special concern for the lost and the lonely, the poor and the vulnerable. The ninety-nine sheep are left while the Good Shepherd goes in search of the lost one and when he finds it, he gathers it up in his arms and brings it tenderly home.

It’s providential that we have our Acies, our annual reaffirmation of our Legionary Consecration to our Blessed Mother, at this very time when Pope Francis and the Bishops of the world are making this great Consecration of the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Providential, though not entirely coincidental, because both these events are timed for the Solemnity of the Annunciation: the celebration of Mary’s supreme ‘Yes’ to God and (at that very moment, as we understand) the Incarnation taking place – God coming into our world as man. The Legion Handbook tells us that our individual and collective Acies Consecration should take place as close to 25^th March as possible. And although the various papal consecrations of the world and of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary have taken place on different dates over the decades, both St John Paul II’s 1984 Consecration and Pope Francis’ present Consecration – the two consecrations that truly fulfil the requests of Our Lady of Fatima – were both placed specifically on this Feast.

This Friday 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (5:00 pm Rome time). This follows several similar papal consecrations made in response to the requests of Our Lady of Fatima.

The Pope has invited all the bishops of the world, with their priests, to unite with him in this act. Cardinal Krajewski, as envoy of the Pope, will bring the consecration to Fatima itself; and at Sunday’s Angelus, Pope Francis also invited ‘every community and all the faithful to unite with me…for the Solemn Act of Consecration of humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that she, the Queen of Peace, may help us obtain peace.’

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge said, ‘Acting as the Universal Pastor of the Church, Pope Francis will renew the consecration urged at Fatima more than 100 years ago. The bishops of Australia are united with the Holy Father as he leads the faithful around the world in this act of consecration and we invite all people to join us in praying for peace in Ukraine. We urge people to spend part of their day on March 25 in prayer – attending Mass, praying with family or friends, in silent prayer at a local parish or chapel or in whatever way you can.’ (Media Release, 18/03/22)

Legionaries will especially wish to respond to this call of the Pope and the bishops, and also to be praying special prayers even in these days leading up – for peace, and for the maximum fruitfulness of the Consecration.

• pdf Click here to download our A4 PDF of Pope Francis' Act of Consecration for Russia and Ukraine (1 MB)

The Legion of Mary celebrated 100 years on 7 September 2021. It was a time of joy, of celebration and of thanksgiving.

Fr Justin Ford will celebrated Mass from St Mary's Church, Ascot Vale on Tuesday 7 September at 10am (AEST). Click here to view on YouTube.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell celebrated Mass on Saturday 4th September at 4.30am (AEST) in St. Nicholas of Myra Church, Dublin, Ireland. Click here to view.