Page 113 - 聖母軍團員手冊（英文版，2014年5月-2022年1月更新版）

Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 111

CHAPTER 18 ORDER OF THE PRAESIDIUM MEETING 111
mumbling her words, or talking in such a fashion that those
close to her could not hear what she was saying? O
legionaries! Imitate your Queen in this, as in all other ways.
Presidents must refuse to accept reports which require an
effort to hear. But first let them be above reproach themselves.
The President sets the tone for all the members. Usually, the
members speak less loudly than the President. If the latter
speaks only in a moderate or conversational tone, the
members’ reports will come back in whispers. For, members
speaking clearly when the President is speaking softly, will
imagine themselves to be shouting, and will reduce their
tones to inaudibility. The members must insist on all,
including the President, speaking out. Like a doctor, let the
Spiritual Director make his own demand for audibility as a
vital element in the health of the praesidium.
In its own way the report is as important to the meeting as
the prayers. They supplement each other. Both elements are
necessary to a praesidium meeting.
The report connects the work with the praesidium and
therefore it must be a clear presentation of the doings of the
member — in a sense as vivid as the picture on a cinema
screen — such as will enable the other members mentally to
engage in that work, to judge it, to comment on it, to learn
from it. Accordingly, the report must show what has been
attempted and achieved, and in what spirit; the time spent;
the methods used; what has not been gained and the persons
who have not been touched.
The meeting should be bright and cheerful. Therefore, the
reports should be such as will interest as well as inform the
meeting. It is impossible to believe that the praesidium is
healthy if the meeting is deadly dull, and undoubtedly it will
repel young members.
Some classes of work are so full of variety that it is easy to
make a good report. Other works do not offer the same
possibilities, so that each unusual feature, however small,
should be remembered for mention in the report.
The report must not be too long; nor too brief; above all, it
must not be a routine phrase. Failure in these directions not
only shows that the member is neglecting his duty but also
that the other members are assisting him in that neglect. This
strikes at the whole legionary idea of the supervision of the