May 30, 2020

HOMILY for 7th Sat of Easter 

Legion of Mary Ven. Edel Quinn Pilgrimage

Acts 28:16-20. 30f; Ps 10; John 21:20-25

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“The disciples devoted themselves with one accord to prayer with the women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and his brethren, alleluia.” These words from Acts 1:14 are the Entrance antiphon for today’s Mass, and they set the tone for this Mass, and also for this entire period, these past nine days that are the first and original Novena. For the disciples and the women and the relatives of Jesus have gathered with Our Blessed Mother, and altogether, the whole Church was united in a novena of prayer, awaiting the promised gift of the Holy Spirit.

So, too, every year at this time, and today in this Mass albeit in this unusual way, it is good that we come together and are united in prayer, and we ask the Lord to give us the Holy Spirit once more, to deepen his love in our hearts, to unite us in deep love for one another. Assembled today as Our Lady’s Legionnaries, we gather here with Mary, here at her Altar in London’s Rosary Shrine, and we pray with her; we entrust our cares to Jesus through her. May we share Our Blessed Lady’s docility and humility in saying “Yes” to God in all the circumstances of life. And just as the disciples were united in prayer “with the women”, so we are united today with one special woman in particular, the Venerable Edel Quinn, and we ask her to pray with us and to intercede for us. We follow her example and her wisdom in gathering here today in the Lady Chapel, at the Altar of Our Lady of the Rosary. For Edel Quinn would often say: “Our Lady will see after things”, and she would urge us to turn to Mary with childlike trust. Therefore, in these current difficult and uncertain circumstances, we make recourse to Mary and we entrust all our worries, our cares, our deepest desires to her.

Therefore, we, my fellow Legionnaries, are present here today with the disciples, with Our Lady, with the relatives of Jesus and with the women, with Edel Quinn. Like you, they are not visibly or physically standing in this Rosary Shrine, but we know, in faith, that they are present. So, too, I know that you who are watching this Mass from your own homes this Saturday are present. Gathered spiritually in this way, let us “devote ourselves with one accord to prayer” (cf Acts 1:14)

The Blessed Virgin Mary leads us in prayer, and indeed at this time of year, during these days of the Pentecost Novena, it is clear that all genuine prayer is essentially about receptiveness to the Holy Spirit. The disciples await the coming of the Holy Spirit to direct and strengthen their evangelising mission. So must we. The women await the coming of the Holy Spirit to inspire them to good works of hospitality and witnessing to the hope of the resurrection. So must we. The cousins and relatives of Jesus await the coming of the Holy Spirit so that they are filled with the charity, the divine love that makes them truly “brothers and sisters of the Lord”. So must we. And the Blessed Virgin Mary herself awaits the coming of the Holy Spirit, even though she, the Immaculate One, is already “full of grace”. But nevertheless, she awaits the Holy Spirit because divine love is infinite, and so she longs always for more of God, for a more intense union with him in prayer, for more love. So must we.

My dear friends and fellow Legionnaries, Our Blessed Mother, therefore, knows the depth of your desire for God at this difficult time. May she firstly be with you to console you and comfort you and lead you. May she purify our intentions and our dispositions so that we will receive the grace of a good spiritual communion – not only today but every day. For even when we shall be able to come to Mass and receive the Sacred Host, we need to do so with the right disposition, with a deep longing for charity, for union with our Crucified and Risen Lord. In other words, through our union of prayer with Mary, let us be found in a state of spiritual communion with Christ that enables us to receive the Eucharist fruitfully and powerfully when the time comes. Difficult though it is, let this time, therefore, be a period of intense preparation for the Sacrament, and let our desire be intensified and purified to not just receive Jesus sacramentally but to become like Jesus in all ways.

Venerable Edel Quinn, you know, had a deep devotion to the Eucharist, drawing her strength from the Blessed Sacrament. So, she too shares in our pain. But she also had a deep awareness of the abiding and indwelling Presence of the Blessed Trinity in the soul through grace. So, God is with us always, and faith in this profound truth is our peace. Therefore, we ask Ven. Edel Quinn to intercede for us and to teach us. Venerable Edel Quinn, pray to God for the re-opening of our churches so that we can adore the Blessed Sacrament in our tabernacles. Venerable Edel Quinn, pray to God that public Masses will resume in our lands, and that we can once more meet in person as Mary’s Legion. And Venerable Edel Quinn, pray for us, with Our Lady and with all the apostles and saints, for an end to this pandemic and all its destructive effects. May faith be strengthened, may hope be focussed, and may love be enkindled.

To this end, therefore, we pray with Our Lady and the Saints, with the entire Church, for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of all holiness. May he make manifest the holiness of Edel Quinn through many miracles! May he sanctify us and enable us, as children of Mary, to suffer all things for love, and with Edel Quinn’s patience and humility. The Holy Spirit is the Advocate and the Counsellor. May he inspire us to pray, even when we don’t know what to say, and may he come alongside us and live in us to give us comfort, strength, and healing. The Holy Spirit is the Giver of Life. May he renew the Church and transform the world with his all-powerful grace. Indeed, may the Holy Spirit renew you, renew me. As Jesus says in the Gospel today: “You are to follow me.” So we pray that the Holy Spirit will empower us to follow Jesus. Lord, make us true disciples; make us followers of Jesus, in word and in deed. Lord, turn us away from following anything, and any words, and any thoughts, and any persons, and any divisive attitudes that take us away from Christ. Lord, make us instruments of your unity and of your peace in our Legion, in our Church, and in our world.

“The disciples devoted themselves with one accord to prayer.” By the gift of the Holy Spirit, let us now become those disciples too: let us be united, let us be devoted, let us pray.

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