Frank Duff Prayer

God our Father, You inspired your servant Frank Duff with a profound insight into the mystery of your Church, the Body of Christ, and of the place of Mary the Mother of Jesus in this mystery. In his immense desire to share this insight with others and in filial dependence on Mary he formed her Legion.

Here we have what might be called the founding message of the Legion and the key to our own Legion of Mary life. The primary principle of the founder was not a mere pragmatic one. In other words, apostolic outreach was not the driving force that moved Frank Duff to give birth to the Legion of Mary. Rather was it that others might share his vision. Frank was a prophet, a mystic with a dream that brought him to the heart of the Church the Body of Christ and the role of Mary in that Mother and Child Scheme of Salvation. That dream, that vision is our privilege to share and to promote. The vision is described in the Legion of Mary Handbook in the section entitled:

Mary and the Mystical Body of Christ: The various offices which Mary fulfilled, of nourishing, tending, and loving the actual body of her Divine Son, are still her offices in regard to each member of the Mystical Body, the least brethren as well as the most honourable. So that, when "the members may have the same care for one another" (1 Cor 12:25), they do not act independently of Mary, even when, through thoughtlessness or ignorance, they fail to recognise her presence.

They but join their efforts to Mary's efforts. It is already her work, and she has been exquisitely busied on it from the time of the Annunciation to this very day.

Legion work, can never be chore or a mere service. We have been chosen to share a work already in the hands and the heart of our heavenly Mother. In a sense she has need of no one, but it is God’s plan and purpose that we should have the privilege of lending her our hands and hearts.

The Legion system embodies a profound spirituality a whole mystical way of life. While it inserts us into the institutional life of the church, it immerses us in the mystery of the Church as the Body of Christ, making us members of that body and taking us to its very heart which is the Immaculate Heart of his Mother.

Every meeting , every prayer and every breath we breathe in our Legion life, is more than a simple devotional exercise. It is a sharing in the very life of Christ. Like St. Paul we can exclaim: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Gal 2:20

Our Lady’s Birthday

^{Welcome to this celebration of Our Lady’s Birthday. If you have the heart of a child, then its a party and all are invited. Here are some things to remember when invited to a party.}

^{Acknowledge the situation and respond appropriately. You dare not ignore or forget. Either Accept graciously or express regret that you cannot come.}

^{Focus on the one whose Birthday it is, rather be wrapped up in yourself.}

^{Have a good time but above all reach out and rejoice with your host. The food and drink are important, but more important are the relatives and friends around the table with you. When we pray we have words and thoughts to share, but above all we try to be totally present to the sacred persons we are meeting with.}

^{Since it is our Mother Mary’s Birthday we are speaking of I am reminded of a four-year old child who was pestering his Mum for something that was not good for him, she gently said: “No!”}

^{“You stink!” he snapped}

^{“Is that so son?” Mum quietly replied.}

^{Remembering what he heard in play- school from his pals, the four-year old came back. “Yes, you stink the whole world!”}

^{There are times when we adults act like that four year old and treat God and his Blessed Mother in more or less the same fashion. How often we hear the remark: “I’m sick and sore of asking. If I don’t get my request this time, that’s the end of it. I’m giving up on prayer and going to Mass. It’s all a cod or a con job!”}

^{Perhaps Our Lady replies in her gentle way. “Is that so child?” Mothers being what they are understand our frustration and what is really best for us.}

^{But surely we are called to grow up and find a better way of relating to life and to the ways of heaven. The secret is to realise that heaven knows what is best for us. At the Birthday party we take the focus off ourselves and reach out to the one who has invited us.}

^{Mary is a Mother, with a large family to care for. So our prayer should never be self-centred or selfish. We should have something of her mind and heart and pray But mothers But mothers as she did: Behold the Handmaid of the Lord. Let your word be done unto me.}

Rosary Retreat

I am looking forward to meeting you, even for a day or two at the Six day Retreat that begins as the Dominican Retreat Centre, Tallaght Village. It begins Saturday August 14, at 7.30pm.

The Theme I hope to share with you is: The Rosary-- Stepping Stones to Silence.
If coming for part or for the whole of the Retreat, please contact:
The Secretary,
Dominican Retreat Centre,
Tallaght, Dublin 24
Tel: 01-- 404 8189 0r 404 8123
email; retreathouse@eircom.net

God bless you
Fr. Gabriel

A Home in Heaven

Ascension Day is a day of Mercy,-- the day when Jesus goes to prepare a home for us:
I go to my Father and to your Father, I go to prepare a place for you. In my Father’s House, there are many mansions.

It helps me appreciate this work of mercy, when I think of my own earthly Father and mother who went to such trouble preparing a home for us. It happened quite a lot because we never really owned a home but simply rented a place, and every few years depending on working situations, we were on the move to a new home. So I have vivid memories of all the loving caring work of preparation. Carpets, curtains, lights and mirrors not to mention the mountains of bedding and kitchen stuff.

In this work of preparing a home in heaven, God wants our co-operation. He has a great task in hands-- keeping this whole creation ticking over, seeing to it that souls are saved and getting all his faithful ones into heaven. He could do it all on his own, but he calls us to share in his work. While God has an infinite supply of mercy to pour out on the world, he ask us to share in his outpouring by being merciful ourselves.

The Almighty has no need of our acts of mercy. But as Leon Bloy has written: We have the privilege of being needed by him who has need of no one. We are asked to give from the little we possess, but only to receive much more in return: By way of illustration let me tell of a couple who loved to work together in their garden. But this day husband was on his own in the back garden. He was preparing to dig out the stubborn roots of an old tree. He toiled and sweated for over an hour until at last he knew it was coming. There was a surge of pride.... but then another emotion took over. He wanted his wife to share his little victory with him. He wanted her to have the thrill of pulling the old root out together with him.

He didn’t really need any assistance. At least not in the physical sense. He had all the strength he needed for that. For love’s sake however he needed her. He knew that she would like to part of his achievement. So he called her and together they pulled the old root out and dumped it.

Don’t we all want to be needed? On the other hand there is the trauma of not being needed not wanted. Not on the team. Surplus to requirement. Rejected redundant. In God’s plan of mercy, we all pull together. There is no redundancy. We have the privilege of being needed by the One who has need of no one. Let's work together with our heavenly Father to build the home in heaven where we hope to spend eternity.
hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

Teresa of Calcutta

I have loved Jesus in the night:
Teresa of Calcutta
A Secret revealed by Paul Murray,OP
Darton, Longman & Todd

This is more than a book about a saint. It is a treasure in a whole field of literature around Mother Teresa. Paul Murray writes as a poet and a mystic and from beginning to end, this is a work that scintillates and shines in the darkness. Fr. Paul brings us into the heart of the Saint and reveals something of the inner secret of her being.

Three characters came across to me as I eagerly read through these pages: I was introduced to the light that shone in the night for Mother Teresa herself. The references to John of the Cross were a welcome ray of light in the darkness that for so many, surrounds this Spanish saint. Thirdly, the person of the author himself seems to speak as he writes in intimate personal tones, weaving a mystic magic into the heart of the reader. He certainly did that for me.

Page 92 tells of the Desert Father whose fingers became like lamps of fire and said if you will, you can become all flame. I could only rejoice that the fingers that typed out the words of this beautiful book are indeed lamps of fire and I believe that many of its readers may become all flame.

A credit to the publishers who have presented a delightful production, the kind of thing one would want to give as a Birthday or Christmas present. Looking at the photos of Fr. Paul communing, (not just speaking) with Mother Teresa, I felt like one who had slipped in secretly on sacred moments.

Stand in your Presence

At Mass say: We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you. The presence of God in our lives is what enlightens our darkness and keeps us from fainting on the way. We are called to be totally present to the One who is the

Ps: 5:5 "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence." There is a time for standing in readiness to serve, as there is a time for resting and being refreshed. Come aside and rest awhile. This is what takes place during our meditation when we wait upon the Lord. Meditation prepares us to take our stand. We wait with expectation with patient an hope-filled expectation. For what?

Isaiah 40:31 Shows both the resting and the serving in one magnificent statement: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Strength is for action, to enable us to serve. Meditation is meant to overflow in service to God and to others.

Mount up like eagles
An eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks It will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm, it simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. When the storms of life come upon us ... and all of us will experience them ... we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God.

The storms do not have to overcome us, we can allow God's power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure, and disappointment into our lives. We can soar above the storm. This heaven-inspired soaring is what gives us the strength to stand in the Divine Presence and serve the King of Heaven.

They shall run and not be weary : Walking is too slow sometimes, to reach the prize, There is a need to pay the price and RUN towards it. The secret of coming into the presence of God or any human being, is being ourselves totally present, with all our attention and all our faith in the other. Lack of faith in God's power and God’s love for us, sets up a new god. For if there be anything which usurps the power of God, something that is more potent than God, then that something must be god!

DOOR INTO THE SACRED

This new work by Fr. Paul Murray is a Meditation on the Hail Mary. In his introduction, the author writes: "My hope in writing this tiny book is that, by giving space to some of the most moving and most profound reflections ever written on the Hail Mary, a door will open for the reader into a world in which the strenuous task of thinking and the easeful grace of feeling can both be considered sacred, and where wisdom and enchantment, theology and devotion, are found, at core, to be one and the same thing. For almost an entire millennium the most commonly repeated prayer in the Church, apart from the Our Father, has been the Hail Mary. It’s a prayer that, with great simplicity and ease, brings us at once into the mystery of God incarnate, the mystery of Jesus, son of Mary. For countless numbers of people over the centuries it has proved to be a threshold of grace, a real opening into the mystery and meaning of God’s love, a ‘holy door’."

For myself, I find this latter to be so true. How often on entering an old Church in Italy or France, I have observed the Angel Gabriel carved on one side of the main door and the Virgin Mary on the other side. It made me feel that I was being ushered in to the wonderland of the sacred and secret mystery of God. I hope to have this precious work of Fr. Paul available for our Rosary Retreat in the Retreat Centre, in Tallaght
August 14th--20. If you cannot make the full five days it i possible to drop in for a single day or more.