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192 BASIC DUTIES OF LEGIONARIES CHAPTER 33
the pleasure of the individual legionary. Prayers or other
spiritual exercises, however considerable, do not satisfy this
obligation, or even supply in part the place of active work.
(b) The work is but prayer in another form, and the rules of
prayer must be applied to it. No work will persist for long
without that supernatural framework. Either a duty will be
easy, in which case it will become monotonous; or if
interesting, it will most probably be difficult and marked by
rebuffs and seeming failure. In either event, human
considerations will quickly urge its abandon ment. Instead,
the legionary must be trained to look through the mists of
human sentiments, which obscure every work, for its true
outline which is the supernatural. The more that work is like
a cross, the more it is to be esteemed.
(c) The legionary is a soldier, and duty should not be a less
virile thing to the legionary than it is to the soldiers of earthly
causes. Everything that is noble and self-sacrificing and
chivalrous and strong in the soldierly character should be
found at its height in the true legionary of Mary, and of
course reflected in that legionary’s work.
Soldierly duty may variously mean death, or the monotony
of a sentry beat, or the scrubbing of a barrack-floor. But in
each case, duty alone is looked to, not what that duty
comprises. In all circum stances is found the same fidelity, and
defeat or victory do not affect duty. No less solid must be the
legionary’s conception of duty; no less thorough its
application to each item of work, the most insignificant as
well as the most difficult.
(d) The legionary work is to be done in closest union with
Mary. But, in addition, it must be regarded as an essential aim
of that work to instil into those who are the object of it a
knowledge of Mary and a true love of her, which will cause
those souls to undertake some form of service of her. An
understanding of Mary and a devotion towards her are
necessary to the health and development of souls. “For she is a
partner in the Divine mysteries and may indeed be described
as their guardian. On her, as on the most noble foundation
after Jesus Christ, rests the faith of all generations.” (AD 5) The
consideration of legionaries is invited to other thought-
provoking words of Pope St. Pius X: “As soon as devotion to