![[Morals]](morals.gif)
Allocutio
to the Legion of Mary
by Leonard Athanasius
+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. +
I can't help but be reminded of the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade. If those judges had just been honest and said that they personally didn't agree with the laws against abortion, and stepped aside on principal, perhaps the 30 million plus babies murdered since that decision would still be alive today. Instead they lied and said they discovered a "right" to abortion in the Constitution. This is just one horrid example of what can happen when men are dishonest, phony, deceitful.
The Eighth Commandment is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." "And who is my neighbour?" the lawyer asked Jesus (St. Luke 10:29). Jesus answered him with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Who is my neighbor? The Samaritan, Our Lord says, the outcast, the ENEMY. The Catechism of the Council of Trent says, "It is wrong to think that one may give false evidence against an enemy, since by the command of God and of our Lord we are bound to love him." It says later on that those who deceive their neighbor, even in order to gain good from it, "show thereby that they yield no faith or confidence to these words of God: 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added to you.' (St. Matthew 6:33)"
Not only your enemy, but the Catechism says that it is unlawful for anyone to bear false witness against himself. Don't live a lie. Don't pretend to be something you're not. I hope, I pray, that of all the allocutiones which I have given that this message will be the one you will remember most of all: Don't live a lie. Don't pretend to be something you're not. I shall teach this by example by stepping down from this post of spiritual director.
The Legion Handbook says (on page 114) that the spiritual director should make the members completely familiar with every point contained in the handbook. Since being appointed spiritual director I have endeavored to study this handbook and explain it to you as best as I could. But as I go deeper and deeper into it I cannot agree with many of the assertions which it contains.
On page 200 it claims to be a catechism. Hardly. It stresses the "active" life over the "contemplative" life, an idea condemned by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Testem Benevolentiae. I don't know how many times I've had to interrupt your reports to tell you "You can't report that" because it was a prayer, an evangelization of the soul rather than of the body. "I prayed for someone" can't be reported according to this book. It even goes so far as to call those who choose the "best part" (St. Luke 10:42), that of contemplation and prayer, "auxiliaries." The Legion is supposed to be a spiritual military. Those who pray for us are in the forefront. It is we who are auxiliary, we who help in the fight for souls! God calls the shots, not us!
I said before: Don't live a lie. Don't pretend to be something you're not. I'm not going to be spokesman for a book I don't believe in. I'm not going to lie about what's in this book in order to sugarcoat its errors. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that this Legion Handbook is more important than the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas. This handbook was never placed on the altar before Our Lord and Our Lord never animated the crucifix on that altar and spoke for all to hear, "Thou hast written well, Frank Duff."
Does this allocutio sound negative or harsh to you? Well, "You are the salt of the earth," Our Lord says (St. Matthew 5:13). What happens when you pour salt on an open wound? It burns, it stings, it hurts. But how else are you going to know you have a sore unless it hurts? When Our Lady appeared at Fatima, at La Salette, at Akita, did she appear all happy and giddy to congratulate us on the good job we're all doing? No, she appeared to us extremely sorrowful and sad, weeping, even tears of blood, warning us of our impending doom and beseeching us to pray the Rosary and wear the Brown Scapular. Did God bring those tears to her face? No, mankind did that! Is God mean and cruel? No, we are! We're getting what we deserve and we should dwell on it. When you're being punished you should dwell on exactly why that is, you must learn from your mistakes, or else it was all for nothing. When will I stop being negative? When our Blessed Mother stops weeping, when she stops being
negative, because I mourn with her!
You are Christians, followers of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "You are the light of the world." (St. Matthew 5:14) Don't live a lie. Don't pretend to be something you're not. Don't light your "candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house." (St. Matthew 5:15) Someone may protest that you have to be "practical," that you have to pretend to "go along" in order to get by in this world. All I can say is, "Where is your faith?" "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added to you." (St. Matthew 6:33) "But I could lose my job!" "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added to you." (St. Matthew 6:33) "But I have bills and a family to support!" "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added to you." (St. Matthew 6:33) "But if I don't go along, what in the world will I do?" "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice
, and all these things shall be added to you." (St. Matthew 6:33) "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows." (St. Matthew 10:29-30) God loves you! He will sustain you! Do you not believe in Him and in His promises? Why resort to deceit?? Is not God faithful to His promises?
I conclude this final allocutio with my farewell. I am resigning immediately from the office of spiritual director and from the Legion of Mary. I do realize and understand that there is potential for doing good if I stay, but it is not permitted to do evil that good may come of it. I cannot agree with what the Legion stands for, so I am being honest and leaving it. What will I do? Where will I go? I'm going to be honest: I don't know. What I do know is that two sparrows are sold for a farthing, and not one of them shall fall on the ground without our Father, and that the very hairs of our heads are all numbered. I fear not therefore, for I am better in God's Eyes than many sparrows. He loves you for what you are: His. Don't live a lie. Don't pretend to be something you're not. Be His and be proud of it!
+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. +
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