Legion Holiday Prayer
Composed by Frank Duff
Mary our darling Mother,
For months and months we have been busy with you
In your maternal duties to your other children,
Now holidays have come.
This must not mean that we withdraw ourselves from you
For that would truly be a folly and no holiday,
For you are our Sweetness and the Cause of our joy.
So our little group which is going to/has come to (name of place)
Declare to you most fervently that, no less on holiday than at home,
We
belong entirely to you,
Likewise with all the yearning of our heart, we invite you, Mother,
To come along with us
to be our more than honoured guest
Around whom our days of pleasure will revolve.
Grant us for these days the privilege of having you in
our care
Reversing the normal role where you look after us.
Of course, we count on you to bring your precious Child
And we know that dear St. Joseph will be with you also.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
We promise that we will do our very utmost
To give you a happy holiday away from the everyday cares
And by our behaviour to
afford you consolation
For the agonies of that other journey into Egypt
Which you undertook on our account so many years ago.
Amen.
The Legion of Mary
The Legion of Mary is a worldwide association of Catholics who spread the Gospel of Our Lord under the powerful Leadership of
Our Blessed Lady.
It takes as its model , Mary Immaculate and through her its members seek to present Christ to everyone. Under ecclesiastical guidance its objective is the spiritual formation of all confirmed
members of the church through prayer and the lay apostolate so as to realise their vocation to holiness.
Our weekly meetings begin with the invocation of the Holy Spirit followed
by the recitation of the rosary. In an atmosphere of prayer, the business of good organisation is interspersed with spiritual reading, guidance, talks and discussion. A main feature of the meeting are the reports of apostolic work assigned to the members.
A new handbook, developed to contain many references to every document since the Vatican Council is studied so as to provide members with a complete understanding of the lay apostolate and a true devotion to Mary. The meeting lasts no longer than an hour and
a half.
The Legion undertakes many forms of apostolic work directed by the Parish Priest and is an extension of his ministry into the parish. This work takes up no more than
two hours of ones free time. It can range from home to home visitation, census work, visitation of the lapsed, care of the sick, the elderly and the housebound, hospital visits, prison visits and catechetical instruction. It runs Catholic enquiry
groups, youth groups, discussion groups, rosary circles, retreats and pilgrimages. It reaches out to marginalized in our society in a wide variety of enterprises. In all its work it aims to raise awareness in people of the spiritual life seeking at all
times to see Christ in everyone.
Both women and men over the age of eighteen can become members. Initially a period of three months is used to ascertain if they would desire full
membership. New members can participate fully in all social and apostolic activities of the Legion. A promise to the Holy Spirit to seek his help and guidance in their spiritual development is taken by each new member after three months.
As a confirmed Catholic you have been given the gifts by the Holy Spirit. By joining the Legion of Mary, you will, through its system of prayer and apostolic work, grow your vocation to holiness. Mary the Mother of
God, and spouse of the Holy Spirit will through her Legion be with you every step of your journey. Come and join your efforts with hers.
"The Legion is the lay
substitute for a religious order, the translation of the Christian idea of perfection into the lives of lay folk, the extension of Christ's Kingdom into the secular world of today!
The Legion of Mary aspires after our Blessed Mother's profound humility, perfect obedience, continual prayer, altogether spotless purity, heroic patience, heavenly wisdom, self-sacrificing courageous love of God, and above all faith.
The Prayers of the Legion of Mary
Opening Prayers
(Make the Sign of the Cross)
In the name of the Father, etc.
Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
v.
Send forth Your Spirit, O Lord, and they shall be created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray.
God
our Father, pour out the gifts of Your Holy Spirit on the world. You sent the Spirit on Your Church to begin the teaching of the gospel: now let the, Spirit continue to work in the world through the hearts of all who believe. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
v. You, O Lord, will open my lips.
R. And my tongue shall announce your praise.
v. Incline unto my aid, O God.
R. O Lord, make haste to help me.
v. Glory be to the Father, etc.
R. As it was in the beginning, etc.
Then
follow five decades of the Rosary with the Hail, Holy Queen.
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to you we send up
our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, O most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile, show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
v. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, Whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation; grant, we beseech You, that meditating upon these mysteries in the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate
what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.
v. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
R. Have
mercy on us.
v. Immaculate Heart of Mary
R. Pray for us.
v. St. Joseph
R. Pray for
us.
v. St John the Evangelist
R. Pray for us.
v. St. Louis-Marie de Montfort
R.
Pray for us.
Make the Sign of the Cross)
In the name of the Father, etc.
The Catena Legionis
Antiphon. Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?
(Make the Sign of the Cross)
v. My soul glorifies the Lord.*
R. My spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.
v. He looks on His servant in her lowliness;*
henceforth all ages will call me blessed.
R. The Almighty works marvels for me.*
Holy His name!
v. His mercy is from age to
age,*
on those who fear Him.
R. He puts forth His arm in strength*
and scatters the proud-hearted.
v. He casts the mighty from their thrones*
and raises the lowly.
R. He fills the starving with good things,*
sends
the rich away empty.
v. He protects Israel His servant,*
remembering His mercy,
R. The mercy promised to our fathers,*
to Abraham and his sons for ever.
v. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit..
R. As it was in the beginning is
now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon. Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?
v. O Mary, conceived without sin.
R. Pray for us who have recourse to you.
Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator
with the Father, Who has been Pleased to appoint the Most Blessed Virgin, Your mother, to be our mother also, and our mediatrix with You, mercifully grant that whoever comes to You seeking Your favours may rejoice to receive all of them through her. Amen.
Concluding Prayers
Make the Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, etc.
We fly to
your patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our prayers in our necessities, but ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
v. Mary Immaculate, Mediatrix of all Graces
or Invocation appropriate to Praesidium)
R. Pray for us.
v. St. Michael and St. Gabriel
R. Pray for
us.
v. All you heavenly Powers, Mary's Legion of Angels
R. Pray for us.
v. St. John the Baptist
R. Pray for us.
v. Saints Peter and Paul
R. Pray for us.
Confer, O Lord, on us, who serve beneath the standard of Mary,
that fullness of faith in You and trust in her, to which it is given to conquer the world. Grant us a lively faith, animated by charity, which will enable us to perform all our actions from the motive of pure love of You, and ever to see You and serve You
in our neighbour; a faith, firm and immovable as a rock, through which we shall rest tranquil and steadfast amid the crosses, toils and disappointments of life; a courageous faith which will inspire us to undertake and carry out without hesitation great things
for your glory and for the salvation of souls; a faith which will be our Legion's Pillar of Fire - to lead us forth united - to kindle everywhere the fires of divine love - to enlighten those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death - to inflame those
who are lukewarm - to bring back life to those who are dead in sin; and which will guide our own feet in the way of peace; so that - the battle of life over - our Legion may reassemble, without the loss of any one, in the kingdom of Your love and glory. Amen.
May the souls of our departed legionaries and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
Make the Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, etc.