In the Gospel reading today for this feast of Our Lady Queen as a Seraphic Order, we
hear Our Lady speak to the angel and with her heart, in her heart, listening and taking
in what God had to say to her.
We know that her heart was open to God completely.
And that she was prepared at each and every moment to do his holy will.
And we read about the Blessed Virgin's openness and docility in today's Gospel because in
St. Francis we find a mirror of it.
When St. Francis saw Our Lord on the crucifix of San Damiano.
And Our Lady standing beside his side.
And St. John the Apostle pressed between the heart of Jesus and the heart of Mary.
St. Francis saw himself in that position.
And when Our Lord said to St. Francis, rebuild my church for as you can see it is being destroyed.
He listened to the words and took them to heart.
And immediately after he began to rebuild the little church of San Damiano in which he stood.
And after he had finished San Damiano he went on to another little church inside the walls of the city of Assisi called St. Peter's.
And when he was done there he went down onto the plain below the walled city to the little abandoned church of St. Mary of the Angels.
And he went there we're told by his early biographers because this place was more loved by Our Lady than anywhere else.
And it was there that he began to pray.
And he began to understand the full meaning of Our Lord's words.
When Our Lord said, rebuild my church for as you can see it is falling into ruin.
It is being destroyed.
St. Francis saw with his eyes the church of San Damiano and its dilapidated state.
And when he was finished there he saw with his physical eyes the next church that was in bad repair.
And so he rebuilt three churches.
But when he got to the third church.
Down on the plain which belonged to the Blessed Mother.
He saw with his spiritual eyes the full truth of what it was Our Lord desired him to accomplish.
And that was to live the gospel life the way the Blessed Mother had lived the gospel life.
Later on he would say to the sisters, the poor Clares, that his inspiration was to live the life and poverty of my most holy Lord Jesus Christ.
And his holy mother, Mary.
And it was in this enclosed space of the Portiuncula, the little church of Our Lady of the Angels.
That St. Francis spent time with the Blessed Mother as the Apostle spent time with her in the Cynical before Pentecost.
And prepared for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
And so in Matthew.
In modern times it has become the custom with the blessing of the church for the Franciscan order to celebrate Our Lady's queenship over the order itself on this the octave day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
And it's another little Marian feast that we have the privilege of celebrating during the season of Advent.
The Immaculate Conception.
And Our Lady of Guadalupe and then the Feast of Our Lady Queen of the Seraphic Order.
And for us as Franciscans it's a blessing to have these Marian feast days as we wait for the coming of Jesus.
We prepare for that coming by turning to the Blessed Mother.
As Franciscans we follow the example of our Holy Father Francis.
We try to follow the example of our Holy Father Francis that is our goal and our ideal and he brings us to the foot of our Blessed Mother and asks us to turn to her for the graces that we need especially the grace to see as she sees and to think as she thinks and to respond as she responds.
The next verse beyond what we read today and the narration of the Annunciation of the words of our Blessed Mother to the angel.
How can this be done because I do not know man.
Our Lady was totally open to the Holy Spirit but she just wanted to know what the will of God was.
And the tradition of the church in this regard is that Our Lady was testing the angel to see where he came from.
Seeing if what he was asking her was actually the will of God.
She had made a vow of virginity.
How was it that she was to become a mother?
And the Holy Spirit, the angel revealed that it would be through the power of the Holy Spirit that she would conceive the child.
St. Francis wanted to know the will of God and as soon as he knew it, as soon as he discerned it, he put it into practice.
You know when he rebuilt three churches he was discerning.
He was doing the best.
He could with the knowledge that he had.
And as soon as his knowledge became more perfect, he fulfilled it with great devotion.
The will of God with great devotion.
Likewise later on when he was trying to discern whether or not it would be the will of God for him to remain always in prayer or to also preach the gospel.
He turned to prayer and to discernment and asked St. Clair and Brother.
He asked Sylvester to pray for him and the three of them came up with the same answer, that it would be the will of God that he should both pray and preach.
So in the heart of our Blessed Mother, we can also turn and ask for the grace of discernment, the grace to know the will of God and to put it into practice.
And in doing this, we acknowledge Our Lady's queenship.
We know that she is our mother.
And that she has rights over us as our mother and as the mother of Jesus most especially.
And we want her to have her way with us.
If she were to be allowed to govern our hearts and our minds, we would become like St. Francis, a true disciple of Jesus Christ on fire with love for him.
And prepared to do everything and anything for his glory.
Thank you, Father.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.
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