Legion Maria Sunday Mass Readings Second Sunday after Pentecost, 2/6/2024

 

Introit

The Lord has become my protector, and he brought me forth into a large place: he saved me, because he was well pleased with me.

Ps: I will love you, O Lord, my strength: the Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer.

V. Glory …

Collect

Grant us, O Lord, both a constant love and fear of thy Holy name: since you never withdraw your protection from those whom you solidly ground in your love. Through…

(Here at the Collect, at the Secret, and at the Post communion, is made a commemoration of Corpus Christi)

Epistle 1 John 3:13-18

Dearly beloved: Wonder not if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer.  And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because he has laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that has the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need, and shut up his bowels for him: how does the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth.

Gradual

In my trouble I cried to the Lord, and he heard me.

V. O Lord, deliver my soul from the wicked lips and a deceitful tongue. Alleluia.

V. O Lord, my God, in thee have I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me. Alleluia.

Gospel (Luke 24: 16-24)

At that time: Jesus spoke this parable to the Pharisees: A certain man made a great supper, and invited many, and he sent his servant at the hour of the supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things were ready.  And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm and must and must go out and see it: I pray thee, hold me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them: I pray thee, hold me excused. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

And the servant returning told these things to the lord.

Then the master of the house being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame. And the servant said: Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges; and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited shall taste of my supper. CREDO

Offertory

Turn to me, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O save me for thy mercy’s sake.

Secret

May this sacrifice offered to thy name purify us, O Lord: and make us every day advance towards a heavenly life. Through …

Communion

I will sing to the lord, who gives me good things: and I will sing to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

Post-Communion

Having received, O Lord, this sacred oblation, grant, that by frequenting these mysteries we may hasten our salvation. Through…

Legion Maria Sunday Mass Readings for Trinity Sunday 26/5/2024

Introit

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and undivided unity. We will praise Him because He hath shown his mercy to us.

Psalm: Lord, our God, how wonderful is thy name in the whole earth.

V. Glory…

Collect of the Trinity

O Almighty and everlasting God, who has granted your servants, in the confession of the true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of majesty, to adore the unity; we beseech thee that, by the strength of this faith, we may be defended from all adversity. Through…

Collect of the first Sunday after Pentecost

O God, the strength of such hope in thee: mercifully hear us calling on thee, grant us the assistance of thy grace; that in observing thy commandments, we may please thee, both in will and deed. Through…

Epistle (Romans 11:33-36)

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, and recompense shall be made him? For of him, and by him, and in him are all things: to him be the glory forever. Amen.

Gradual

Blessed art thou, O Lord, who beholds the depths, and sits on the cherubim.

V. Blessed art thou, O Lord, in the firmament of the heavens, and worthy of praise for ever. Alleluia, Alleluia.

V. Blessed art thou, O God, the God of our fathers, and worthy of praise for ever. Alleluia.

Gospel   (Mathew 28:18-20)

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going, therefore, teach all the nations: Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. CREDO

Offertory

Blessed be God the Father, and the only-begotten Son of God, as likewise the Holy Ghost; for he has shown his mercy to us.

Secret (of the Trinity)

Sanctify, we beseech thee, O Lord, our God, by the invocation of thy Holy Name the victim of this oblation: and by it make us an eternal offering to thee. Through…

Secret (of the first Sunday after Pentecost)

Mercifully receive, we beseech thee, O Lord, the sacrifice we offer thee, and grant that it may be a continual help to us. Through…

Communion

We bless the God of heaven, and we will give glory to him in the sight of all that live: because he hath shown his mercy to us.

Post-Communion (of Trinity)

May the receiving of this sacrament, O Lord, our God, avail us to the salvation of body and soul: together with the confession of an everlasting Holy Trinity, and of the undivided unity thereof. Through…

 

Post-Communion (Of first Sunday after Pentecost)

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that the great sacrifice of which we have partaken, may avail to us salvation, and make us never cease praising thee. Through…

 

Reflections on the Trinity as Practiced in Legion Maria

The first Sunday after Pentecost, this 26th May 2024, is the Trinity Sunday. On this day, Legion Maria, alongside Western Christendom, commemorate the Trinity. 

The Trinity as understood in our church, Legion Maria of African Church Mission, is still a developing doctrine, though more or less a settled tenet of Christianity. In Legion Maria, the foundations of our beliefs in the Trinity are drawn from the Bible and the church traditions as laid out by the church fathers. However, there are some beliefs that are uniquely Legion.

Bikra Maria Mama and the Trinity

A gradually developing belief in the Legion Maria of African Church Mission is the deity of Mama Maria.

 It is now generally an undeniable fact that every 8 out of 10 members of the faith see Mama Maria not as a saint but as deity--or put more plainly, as God.

 No, she isn't seen as a goddess separate from the Godhead.  But strictly as part and percel of Godhead, and even as the principal being from whom God the Son and God the Holy Spirit unite to in forming the Trinity.

Mama Maria as is known in Legion Maria therefore is radically different from the Virgin Mary of Christendom. Having her foundational doctrines based on the role played by Mary and then on Mariology as developed in Roman Catholic church, the Mary of Legion Maria has become not just the mother figure of the spirituality of Legion Maria, but the originator and source of the faith, the "Father".

With Mama Maria's rise and rise, the Godhead is shifting from being described as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the sense of the Father being the masculine principle. Instead the Godhead is being described in terms of the First, Second, and Third Principals or Persons. 

In this sense, the First Person being both Masculine and Feminine, the Second Person having Masculine and Feminine Principles, and the Third Person having both Masculine and Feminine Principles. 

So Mama Maria, though incarnate as a female person, revealed with observable feminine principles, is believed to have masculine principles, latent in her physical feminine appearance. Similarly, Baba Messiah, incarnate with observable masculine principles, has unseen or latent feminine principles. Likewise for the Spirit, being revealed observably with masculine and feminine principles. 

Therefore, the Legion Maria contemporary doctrine of the Trinity positions Mama Maria as the First Person of the Godhead, what is called the Father by Western Christendom and Roman Catholic, but who Legion Maria now calls the Mother, though not this blatantly. 

Baba Messiah is the Second Person, the Christ and Logos or the Word, what Western Christendom calls God the Son. Then the third person of the Trinity is still called the Holy Spirit.

So the current, predominant Legion Maria teaching on the Trinity, though not decreed yet by the church, is by practice, The Mother, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Baba Messiah and the Trinity

There is no doubt that the Christ, the Messiah, the Second Person of the Trinity in Legion Maria is Baba Simeo Melkio Messiah.  

This of course has been a long settled tenet of the church since 1964 following the Legion Pentecostal Day that occured at John Baru's home in Suna Migori. During the event, Simeo was declared the Christ, Son of God by the Holy Spirit and Mama Maria declared his mother.

 So while the position of Mama Maria in the Trinity has been a slowly developing area, the position of Simeo Melkio Messiah was settled long ago.

 Of course, there were and still are few members of the church, the minority, who believe him as just the founder and initial leader of the church. 

For instance, the departures of Mercelinus Orongo and Gaudencia Aoko from the faith had a lot more to do with their questioning the position of Simeo Melkio Messiah in the church. 

Likewise, Okello Oketa differed and parted ways with Simeo Melkio Messiah majorly because of the doctrine of christology. Okello rejected and argued against increased adoration and eventual worship of Baba Messiah, with his warnings captured aptly in books such as Legion Maria gi Kukune.

 Nevertheless, these people who left Legion Maria and a few others who are minority members who do not believe the doctrine of the Sonship and Messianism of Simeo Ondeto have their beliefs and practices outweighed and overwhelmed by the majority believers. 

Until his last day on earth, Baba Messiah was and to date occupies the Christ Position in the Legion Maria Trinity.

The Holy Spirit and the Trinity 

Reflecting on the Holy Spirit as revealed, experienced and believed in Legion Maria, one finds the biggest departure from the Holy Spirit as is seen in Christendom.

 Here, the Holy Spirit occurs as waves of different wavelengths or energy of different forms; and not merely as the almost homogeneous wave taught in traditional Christianity. 

To break this down, while in traditional Christianity the Holy Spirit is purely the single/one spirit of an abstract God, in Legion Maria it is a mix of different holy spirits, with saints and persons of the Godhead all experienced in their spiritual nature as that spirit.

 So whereas the First Person of the Godhead, often seen and experienced in the feminine Mama Maria, and the Second Person of the Godhead, Baba Messiah, can both come, work, and speak through the Holy Spirit, other persons, typically saints and angels also descend, work, act, and speak via the Spirit. 

This clearly shows that the Spirit as seen in Legion Maria is not limited to the Godhead, but the Holy Spirit encompasses both the Godhead and all those who have been glorified by the Godhead.

The Trinity is a steadily developing doctrine in Legion Maria.  As more members reflect on this practice, it will become more refined and perhaps become an area of clear Apostolic Council decree and teaching. 

For now, as we mark this year's Trinity Sunday, let us take time to reflect on our trinitarian ideas, particularly as we practice it in our worship. 

Happy Trinity Sunday to all. Baba and Mama bless you all.

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