Yesterday and Today

EVANGELIZATION-FRANK DUFF

FEAR NOT TO ACCCEPT MARY-FRANK DUFF

FORMATION -FRANK DUFF

MARY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT - FRANK DUFF

PRIDE-FRANK DUFF

SOCIETY OF THE PATRICIANS -FRANK DUFF

TAKING ONE'S STEP FROM GOD- FRANK DUFF

THE MASS A THRILLING ADVENTURE- FRANK DUFF

THE SOCIETY OF THE PATRICIANS- FRANK DUFF

THY CHILDREN AS OLIVE PLANTS - FRANK DUFF

WASTE NOT WANT NOT.....FAITH MUST BE PRODUCTIVE

Evangelisation

Maria Legionis September 1996

The message from Christ which we deliver must not be a mere lesson, because that would leave the listeners cold. Moreover it must tell of a Person rather than an Institution, because institutionalism is a bad word in these days which think that institutions are of their very nature static and always in need of reform; that they stifle initiative and even common action.

Accordingly present the Church so that it shines as Christ, for it is Christ. In that short inning of ours we must go straight to that essence of the Church. Explain that by Baptism there is established a union between Christ and the soul such that they live a sort of joint life with sharings of mission and of goods. The Mystical Body which is thus built up of Christ and the believers is the Catholic Church. Christ's Mother is likewise its mother. She who played a necessary part in redemption continues to play an analogus part in the salvation of each man. The Pope is the visible head of that Body; through him, Christ's voice speaks authoratively, infallibly. That Body reenacts the life of Christ from the cradle to the grave. It is filled with the Holy Spirit and its food is the Eucharist. The other sacraments admit us to Christ's forgiveness of sin, unite us in matrimony, and bestow the function of the priesthood. The Mass is Calvary in our midst; it is the divine expedient which enables us to be repeatedly present at Christ's sacrifice. Thus built into Christ and helped along the way, the Church must seek to extend its life to all men.

Such a presentation might be called the living core of Catholicism. Do not overload it with secondary things which may only obscure. Plumage decorates but it is not the living bird .... Brief though it is, it delivers an appealing message which represents the essence of the Church." ("Woman of Genesis" - Page 362 fff)

Fear Not to Accept Mary

Maria Legionis - June 1994

Among the doctrines of the Catholic Church Mary does not of course occupy the same level of dignity as those relating to God Himself, the Eucharist, etc., but she has been made absolutely necessary in the divine plan. Therefore, we cannot afford to have any trucking about on this issue. Mary is fundamental ...

In looking on Mary in that way, the Legion is not inventing something special for its own use. Mary is likewise fundamental in the Church. Chapter 8 is the last chapter of the De Ecclesia decree and it may be described as its very culmination. It describes the history and place of Mary in such glowing detail that readers are found likening it to the Legion Handbook.

I cannot say in what way the decree could go further than it does. It describes Mary's predestination along with Jesus whose life she shares inseparably. The Redeemer only comes with her consent and she is his helper and co-operator in all that led up to salvation, including the fInal decisive moments on Calvary.

As she played this vital role in the gaining of Redemption, so she takes an equivalent part in the administration of all that flows from the Redemption. She is styled Advocate and Mediatrix. She is the mother of every soul in the spiritual order and this is necessary to their life and growth. Not only is she mother of those in the Church, but also of all those outside it, of those who do not know her, and even of those who hate her. She is the Mother of the Church, the Mother of unity, the Mother of apostleship, for the decree insists that all apostleship is no more than or continuation of the care of her child Jesus. Those who undertake apostleship must look on her in that way and must place themselves under her care.

Woman of Genesis pages 68 ff)

FORMATION

MARIA LEGIONIS MARCH 1997

It may be said: You speak of the usefulness of the untrained man in war. Does this not apply fully to the spiritual warfare? Are not careful training and formation essential? As a reply to this would land us into quite a discussion, I must short-circuit it by a little credo of my own: We must not interpret formation as a classroom system or as some form of intellectualism. For that would turn apostleship into a preserve of the elect. Nor should we presume that a brimming piety automatically overflows onto others in the shape of apostleship. It was such misunderstandings as these which led to the failure of so much Catholic Action despite all the devotion lavished on it. More ingredients go towards the making up of apostolic material than the speaking of words. So many, indeed, that the advance writing down of an apostolic prescription is impossible. It has to be compiled from analyzing something which has succeeded, much after the way in which penicillin was devised. I refrain from specifying all the ingredients which I would regard as necessary, lest it be supposed that I was using this august occasion to promote a certain brand of apostolic merchandise. But the fact remains that success has been won, and with average material, and on a world-wide scale, and which shows itself capable of being indefinitely increased.

Apostleship must be wedded to doctrine so closely that the latter forms its roots. In Christ and subject to his own union with his mother, we carry on his apostolate. This must be the immediate motive, constantly renewed by appropriate prayer and thought. If it is not a spiritualized apostolate that we carry on, it will not achieve a spiritual conquest."

(The Woman of Genesis:

"It seems to be the startling fact that the average Catholic will not help another in the domain of religious knowledge! "Muteism" is the prevalent evil.

Is it that we have not got the Faith? No, we have it. Is it that we are indifferent about the soul of our neighbour? No, because we do feel for him and pray for him. Is it that we repudiate the idea of conversion? No, for our hearts glow in us at the very mention of someone entering the Church.

Then what is the explanation of the anomaly?

Here it is in the words of one who had just attended his first Patrician meeting, was stirred by what he had seen; and was pouring out his mind to Fr. Aedan McGrath on the subject: "Why have they not got this everywhere? I have been through all my schooling and have learned my catechism as well as the next. But I could not have answered one of those questions which I have heard discussed. And yet 1 realise that they are all simple questions. I feel I don't know how to say anything:'

It would seem that the majority of our people are unaccustomed to argue, or even to think coherently, about religion, or to explain any less-simple point in connection with it. Many could repeat those words: "I don't know how to say anything". Obviously, such persons will hide their ignorance by an unapostolic silence, and will wither under the assault".

The Remedy is the Patricians. (Victory Through Mary - Page 235)

N.B. The Patricians: Full explanatory leaflet available from De Montfort House, Morning Star Ave., Dublin 7.

Tel: 8725093.

"Taking One’S Step From God"

MARIA LEGIONIS MARCH 1995

"Often on the lips of St. Vincent de Paul was an intriguing phrase: Take your step from God. By this he meant we are to keep our eye on God and try to see what indications he is giving us. For he is giving them all the time. Perhaps then we might say in our impatience: Why is it only vague indications that he gives; why does he not make his will plain to us so that we can do it? Here lies a problem which is an anxious one for us.

On the one hand God desires to signify his wish to us. On the other hand, he refrains from interfering with the operation of our personality; for it is one of his special ideas to respect that personality. He would prefer to see a work done by ourselves in a fourth-rate way than to bring it to pass in a first-rate fashion by stepping in himself and treating us like babies. Somewhere between these extremes will God's action lie .

Very often it will be found that this action of turning to God brings at once the capacity to decide. Sometimes that look towards God reveals a spiritual principal which would outweigh secondary aspects. On it we could base a decision right away, being sure that it is as the main road leading to our destination .

As far as possible do not make final decisions until the proper time arrives. How does God show himself? Sometimes in little ways that we have to be on the alert for. Sometimes in unquestionable ways. For instance the voice of duty can be positive enough. Likewise the call of charity. Likewise the advice of wise counselors. These are things to which we are bound to attach great weight, for they can represent God speaking quite loudly" .

(Extract from "Virgo Praedicanda" P. J ff.)

"Thy Children as Olive Plants"

MARIA LEGIONIS SEPTEMBER 1992

"I am going to tell you something about children, your children ... " "Surely, we already know about our own children?" "No, that is not the case. Very often in the first days of a child's life, false relationships are established between it and its parents ....

They are so completely dependent on their mother, they are so much like little animals that there is the temptation to regard them as but superior little animals. Then that initial lag never catches up with the child's developing. Parents treat their children as babies when no longer babies, and as children when they have become quite big boys and girls - always trying to catch up and never managing it!

The Legion of Mary and Children

So from every point of view it is essential that the developing of your children be proportionate to their spiritual destiny .... I start by saying that the Legion or any Society like it, is no spiritual luxury. There are more people than one would like to number who think that all that is expected of the Christian is that he go to Mass on Sundays and to the Sacraments now and then; and accordingly that the Legion is mere idealism in the sense that it is to be admired but is not necessary. That is a mistake which deserves to be called a catastrophe. In solid fact, such a Society as the Legion of Mary is essential. It forms part of what one might call the sheer bread and butter of the Christian life. And why? Because that Christian life requires apostleship from every person. When one is made a Christian by baptism, he is in that very act summoned to the apostolate, so that if he does not respond he will be living only half the circle of the spiritual life.

Therefore, a Society like the Legion which almost automatically enables people to discharge that duty, is not a luxury but a paramount necessity.'

(From