September Allocutio 2025

The Salvation of Souls

Fr. Paul Churchill, Concilium Spiritual Director

At the centre of the objectives of the Legion of Mary is the salvation of souls. The focus is precisely souls, that inner core of the person which is the source of all our activities. In his last encyclical letter, the late Pope Francis spoke to us of the heart, the “core that lies hidden beneath all outward appearances” (Dilexit Nos, n.4), “It is the part of us that is neither appearance or illusion, but is instead …’who we are’” (ibid. n.5. It is another term for what our objective is. Other groups in and outside the Church may work for laudable objectives but Frank Duff saw that the inner heart of the person had to be the main concern. For Jesus said “It is the spirit that matters, the flesh is of no avail” (Jn 6:63). And he also said that it was from the heart that all kinds of evil intentions emerge (Mk 7:21).

But before we presume to help other souls, we must first take a look at our own and understand it and move it into a healthier place. Jesus once said, “Do not seek to take the speck out of your brother’s eye while there is a plank in your own; remove the plank from your own first and then you will see better how to deal with the speck in your brother’s eye!” (Matt 7:3-5).

We must bring our hearts to Jesus with our desires, loves, hates, hopes, good and bad intentions and not least our tendencies to sin, sometimes glaringly obvious and other times masked. “Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart!” (Matt 11:29). This is not an easy journey but requires a patient life long effort or trial, error, falls and getting following Jesus bearing our crosses.

Frank Duff saw that the soul needed a special attention and so made that the focus of the Legion of Mary’s work. There are other real issues but the soul, not material matters of political issues, was to be the concern of the Legion of Mary. The soul is the deep source of all that happens. “No good tree can bear bad fruit; no bad tree can bear good fruit. By their fruits you will know them!” (Lk 6:42 and Matt 7:16).

In the politics of his time Jesus focused only on God’s will and word and an appeal to individual souls. He dealt with both romans and his own fellow Jews. In each case treating all with respect. His Church is not about issues but about those values and virtues sowed and nurtured in souls who can become centres of the action of the Holy Spirit. This occurs by encountering other good souls who radiate the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. When Frank formed the Legion with others the Civil War was just about breaking out in Ireland. Frank kept out of it taking no sides but focused on souls. That remains the Legions stance.

Frank Duff wrote thus in 1975: “If we commit ourselves to campaigns of opposing and attacking these things (abortion, pornography, contraception) we usually forget about the underlying soil. Even if we should in one place or another by tremendous effort strike down the weeds, the fact is that they will only grow up again. The Legion wants its members to devote themselves to the effort to purify the soil so that it will not produce those weeds.” And he comments that aligning ourselves with campaigns of any sort can put up a barrier to certain souls who would otherwise be open to an approach. God’s good and the good of the Legion is to be politically neutral.

St John Paul II spoke of us human beings as “embodied spirits”. We are spirits who live and act through bodies. The danger is we become too focused on the needs of the latter and ignore that deep spirit is us that is the source of all that happens or does not happen in the world. The inner spirit of each person was made to be a source of love and joy and encouragement and affirmation to others. We were made in the image of God to bear his presence. The soul was made be to noble and good. But it can also be so fragile and vulnerable, so wounded, that fear and non-action grips it. And often it becomes a centre of hate, indifference, self-interest, suspicion, or other forms of negativity. From that all kinds of evil emerge.

What Jesus asks us to do first is to change ourselves, our deep inner souls. Many want to change the world. But if we can turn our own inner selves to be aligned with God’s ways and methods we will bear great fruit. Louis IX of France was first a saint. He is also recognized as being a great King. But his ruling of France came from his putting God first in his own life. Remember again those words of our Lord, “The good tree can only bear good fruit!”

But there is one other essential help needed. It is that of Mary. She brought Jesus, the Redeemer of souls, into the world with the help of the Holy Spirit. Mary bore the greatest fruit and it says much about her inner soul. Let us ask her to send the Holy Spirit to us so that we can be changed more and more inwardly so that our lives will radiate what every other soul is actually seeking: the kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God’s love and beauty. It was she also who brought the Holy Spirit to the first Apostles to enable them to carry on the work begun by Jesus of saving souls. We must enlist her help.

Let me end by summarizing what I wanted to say: It is the individual soul that is our concern. The deep centre in each of us can only be reached by God’s grace. The Legionaries task is to seek out souls. But first we must prepare our own souls so that we become bearers of God to others. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit can we be enabled to touch so many souls wounded by the lack of love in the world. The objective of the Legion is the glory of God through the holiness of its members who thereby can touch souls and defeat the spirits of evil that threaten the world.