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Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 282

282 CARDINAL POINTS OF THE LEGION APOSTOLATE CHAPTER 39
of me is sweeter than honey, and the possession of me sweeter
than the honey comb.” (Sir 24:20) Others may effect good by
stronger methods. But for the legionary, there is only one way
of doing God’s work—the way of gentleness and sweetness.
Let him not depart from that way under any circumstances
whatsoever. If he does, he will not achieve good; he will
rather work harm. Legionaries who stray outside that realm of
Mary lose touch with her on whom their work depends. What
then can they hope to accomplish?
The very first praesidium of the Legion was given the title
of Our Lady of Mercy. This was done because the first work
undertaken was the visitation of a hospital under the care of
the Sisters of Mercy. The legionaries thought they were
choosing that name, but who can doubt that in reality it was
conferred by the sweet Virgin herself, who thereby indicated
the quality which must ever dis tinguish the legionary soul.
Ordinarily, legionaries are not found remiss in their pursuit
of the sinner. Frequently years pile up in the tireless following
of some determined defaulter. But sometimes persons are
encountered who put one’s faith and hope and charity to trial.
They appear to be outside the category of the ordinary sinner;
persons of superlative badness, incarnate selfishness, or
bottomless treachery, or full of hatred of God or of a revolting
attitude towards religion. They seem not to have a soft spot in
them, a spark of grace, or a trace of the spiritual. So utterly
detestable are they, that it is difficult to believe that they are
not equally repellent to God himself. What can he possibly see
in the midst of disfigurements so frightful to make him desire
closest intimacy with them in Holy Communion, or their
company in Heaven?
The natural temptation to leave such a one to himself is
almost irresistible. Nevertheless, the legionary must not let go.
Those human reasonings all are false. God does indeed want
that vile disfigured soul; so much, so ardently, that he has sent
his Son, our most dear Lord, to that soul, and he is with it now!
Here is the motive for legionary perseverance, exquisitely
put by Monsignor R. H. Benson: “If a sinner merely drove
Christ away by his sin, we could let such a soul go. It is
because — in St. Paul’s terrifying phrase — the sinful soul
holds Christ, still crucifying him and making him a mockery
(Heb 6:6), that we cannot bear to leave it to itself.”