Today the handbook began to discuss the matter of membership in the Legion of Mary. This membership hinges upon the concepts of probation and promise. It is useful for us to meditate on the significance of these concepts in our individual Christian lives, so that we can better appreciate their role in the structure of the Legion of Mary.
First, it should be noted that we can and indeed should look upon the entire life of this world as probation. On a recent Sunday, Meatfare Sunday in the Byzantine Rite, we heard the parable of the Last Judgment as it is recounted in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25. There we see the final result: those who successfully passed the probation and those that failed it.
It is incumbent on us to always take our lives seriously as probation for the inheritance in the Kingdom of God. We have the lives of the saints to provide almost boundless encouragement in this regard. St. Alphonsus Liguori, for example, early in his life, made the determination to never waste any time. This fact alone explains how he became such a prolific writer (writing more than forty books during his lifetime, which includes the encyclopedic Moral Theology). Really, when St. Alphonsus made that resolution early in his life, he was only reiterating the determination of so many others, who had gone before him. Although they were not as prolific in written work, the early monks, the inhabitants of the desert, were animated by a similar resolution. They would rise to pray, sit down to their work, rise for prayer again, and so on throughout their days, concentrating on the faithfulness of the moment. This was important because their lives were probation for the Heavenly Kingdom.
In the same way that the Church teaches us to look upon the whole of our life in this world as probation, she also teaches us to regard significant segments of it as probation. For example, preparation for the Lord's Mysteries, especially Baptism, are marked by periods of preparation, and certain celebrations of the feasts of the Church are too preceded by periods of preparation. The greatest example of this last point is the season of Great Lent in which we find ourselves. At the end of Great Lent is the joy of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, just as, at the end of the probation of this life is the joy of our entry into the Kingdom of God and, ultimately, our resurrection in Christ.
Just as we see in the example of Baptism, probation brings us to promise. Promise is the image of our inheritance in the Kingdom itself. Promise is no longer the way to reward. It is the reward. At the culmination of our probationary life in this world, we enter into the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven. The completion of probation in this life is a foretaste of that inheritance. We will always have the duties and obligations of working for God, being His viceroys in His Creation. Here, in this world, we exercise that role with toil. In the next world, the aspect of toil is taken away. We can call toil our punishment for sin. Certainly, this is suggested by the wording of God's sentence upon our first-father Adam. But, on the other hand, we must remember that toil is instructive. This fact, I think, is the evidence of the seamless goodness of God. Even though, in strict justice, He has a right to punish, He chooses to chide, to chastise us in a way that teaches and benefits us. Toil teaches us virtue in ways that nothing else can.
Fulfilling your duties, your assignments as members of the Legion of Mary is a good example of working for God in this life. It is a foretaste of the life of the Kingdom of God, but it also contains toil. What we must do is embrace the toil and embrace it fully. Gather in everything that God is trying to teach us, learn the virtues that God wants to impart. Toil comes to us in a multitude of forms, and we must respond as to God Himself. Obedience to circumstance is obedience to God.
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