May 2022 Allocutio
Mary our Mother
Fr. Eamon Devlin CM
The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima this year has a renewed urgency for us and for our troubled world. In 1917 as war raged across the world other important events were also taking place: in Russia with the rise of atheistic Bolshevism; and in Fatima where the Mother of God herself intervened in world affairs, appearing six times to appeal through children to our war-torn world. Fatima, like most of the Marian apparitions through history, is an expression of Mary as mother, doing what mothers do, intervening to guide, guard and goad their children for their safety and wellbeing, especially at a time of danger. The reason, perhaps, that most of Our Lady’s apparitions involve children and young people is to highlight the motherhood of Mary. And the call of Our Lady at Fatima is to cooperate with her by praying the rosary and doing penance for peace in the world. As Legionaries we know ourselves to be children of Mary. Her motherhood instils in us the spontaneity and freedom of children to express our faith with confidence and joy and to share her message of faith and peace with others in a simple and straightforward way. Our annual consecration is to Mary as Queen and Mother, Mother of the Church, Mother of the Legion. In the Scriptures it is the motherhood of Mary that shines out from beginning to end, from the Annunciation to the foot of the cross. Mary’s motherhood is linked to her total self-giving to God. Our response might reflect the gift of ourselves. Does it? Has it the totality of those words we pray “all yours, and all I have is yours?” To the extent that it has such selfless giving, to that extent will the motherhood of Mary free us up as her children to be evangelisers of good news with joy and confidence . It is part of our heritage as legionaries so that we can bring Our Lady, our Mother to those orphaned from faith, from hope, from Church, from belonging, from grace and mercy. ‘Monstra te esse matrem’, show yourself our mother, the prayer of the children of Mary might be the prayer on our lips and in our hearts as we live and proclaim our faith and serve Mary our Mother as her legionaries.