"Our Lady Of The Epiphany"
Legion of Mary
*THE LEGION OF MARY PICTURE*
notes from a CD by Father Fran Peffley
Spiritual Director, Arlington Regia
All our Legion of Mary prayers from the Tessera are represented in the Legion of Mary picture.
First, we invoke the Holy Spirit as seen as the dove hovering over our Blessed Mother. This represents the Annunciation...the most important event in history when God became man. Mary said yes to God which is represented by her open arms. She is also the mother of each one of us as her arms are open wide to embrace us. She is also the mediatrix of all graces also shown by her open arms...she is the channel of all God's graces. Every Legion meeting is a little Annunciation . Mary is surrounded by flames of fire as we pray for the Holy Spirit to enkindle the fire of His love. The Holy Spirit is also represented by the red halo. Normally, the Blessed Mother is represented in blue but in the Legion, she is seen with a red halo because she is one with the Holy Spirit. This also represents Pentecost as Mary was present with the apostles in the Upper Room. We pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we gather with our Blessed Mother in our meetings. We are called to renew the face of the earth.
The Tessera is actually a token of our Legion of Mary membership...our membership card. Catena in Latin means "chain"...every circle is a link in the chain as presented by the border. All Legionaries are united in prayer each day and we don't want to be the one to break the chain of prayer.
Also the antiphon is represented in the picture. "She comes forth as the morning rising" which is represented by the star on Mary's forehead and also the blue background. "Fair as the moon" is her peacefulness. "Bright as the sun" because she is wrapped in the Holy Spirit. "Terrible as an army set in battle array" is represented as she leads forth the troops.
The Magnificat is shown in the Latin words above Mary's halo which translates into "My soul magnifies the Lord." The red letters again stand for the Holy Spirit. Mary magnifies the Lord...she does not get in our way as we come to Jesus. She is the magnifying glass to see Jesus better. Her humility is why God chose her to be the mother of God. "Mary conceived without sin" is the prayer of the Immaculate Conception. We see that she is crushing the head of the serpent. She was conceived without sin. We see in Genesis 3:15 when God says "I will put enmities between you and the woman...between your seed and her seed...and she shall crush the head while you snap at her heel." This is shown in the Latin words around the border. We see the Blessed Mother advancing with the Legionaries while crushing the head of the serpent. The bad souls at the bottom of the picture are retreating.
The other Scripture quote around the border is "Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother." These are the words spoken by Jesus on the cross when He declared Mary to be our mother.
The concluding prayer is more like a commissioning prayer...we are being sent out to convert the world. This is found throughout the picture. The Legionaries are shown carrying the vexillum and the Legion banner. The vexillum is modeled after the Romans but instead of an eagle, we use a dove. Instead of a picture of the Roman emperor, we use the Miraculous Medal. The Roman army wanted to conquer all for Caesar...we want to conquer all for Jesus. The Legionaries are also holding a Rosary and a Crucifix. St. Louis Marie De Montfort said that those in end time we be carrying a Crucifix in the right hand to represent their love for Jesus and the Rosary in the left hand to represent their love for the Blessed Mother. Earthly weapons don't stand a chance against prayers...prayers will win the war.
Faith is mentioned five times in the closing prayer. The Old Testament says a pillar of fire led the Israelites to the Promised Land...Mary is our pillar of fire to lead us to the promised land. The Latin words at the bottom left of the border translate into "Blessed is she who believes" which are the words said by Elizabeth.
We pray to the Holy Spirit in the opening prayers, with Mary in the Magnificat and to Jesus in the closing prayer. If you turn the Legion of Mary emblem upside down, you will see a chalice and host. Satan wants to turn things upside down and put himself in place of Jesus. The Legion picture contains all the Legion prayers...we pray none of us will be lost and the Blessed Mother will lead us to heaven. We should explain this to all active and auxiliary Legion members.
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