Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Let us be thankful to our Blessed Mother today
for giving us the joy and the privilege to celebrate
this beautiful Franciscan feast,
Mary as Queen of the Seraphic Order.
This feast was given, offered as a gift to the Seraphic Order
by Pope Pius XII.
Considering the love our Seraphic Father had towards our Blessed Mother,
great love, great devotion to Mary.
St. Bonaventure says that St. Francis said to his brothers
that the vocation and the establishment of the Order
was a gift of Mary.
And ever since, our Seraphic Father was very, very close to Our Lady
for so many, many reasons.
At the end of his life, he wanted the Seraphic Order,
the Order would be always under the patronage of our Blessed Mother.
And she was invoking Mary as advocate of our Order.
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And these days also, St. Francis chose that small beautiful church,
Port Siuncula, Our Lady of the Angels, as her own dwelling for himself and the Friar.
Because he said that there, he felt very, very much the presence of our Blessed Mother of the Angels.
And the told the Friars and never to go out from that house because there was a grant.
There was a great passage as he added.
felt very, very much the presence of Our Blessed Mother of the Angels.
And he told the Scripture in his Christina,
great presence of Mary there. And so there are many episodes of the life of Saint Francis
related to his devotion to Mary. But that is the start of the golden thread,
which came along with the centuries of the Seraphic order. Many saints, all saints,
all the saints of the Seraphic order were so much devoted to Mary.
We remember Saint Bonaventure in a special way, Blessed Duns Scotus, which you have come to know
better in these days because of the movie.
And then we go to Saint Maximilian Kolbe,
whom you know very well also the life and whatever he has done for Our Lady,
particularly inviting friars and people to consecrate themselves to Mary.
And in this we find also the reason of our feast today. We consider Mary the
Queen of our Seraphic order.
What does it mean to be a queen?
She needs a territory where to exercise her queenship.
Most beautiful territory is our souls.
Territory in which she must expand her queenship.
And she really likes to be the queen.
And this we see the reason of the consecration.
The consecration is really the way how to belong totally to Mary.
And through that way Mary really governs, enters, occupies our soul and becomes the queen of our souls.
So we rejoice for this beautiful feast.
And this connection after the Mass will have
a very simple but very, very significant and deep meaning of the
wearing of the habit of six brothers who are present here.
They will start officially to belong to our Seraphic Institute.
Wearing the habit is an external sign of what there should be, I'm sure.
They are already prepared for this.
To let Our Lady enter more and more in their souls.
The Franciscan habit in the form of the cross remembers us what Saint Francis has done.
Once he felt to be called with a special vocation to serve God, he abandoned all things.
And they start wearing a new habit, a particular habit.
This is also the meaning what they are going to do, these five brothers of ours.
They have already felt the vocation.
They have been called already.
And today they wear the habit as postulants in order to start officially this journey.
Franciscan journey, Franciscan Marian journey towards perfection, towards the
complete transformation into Jesus likeness.
Certainly, do you remember the episode of the Gospel when the first, the Apostles of Jesus,
were first Apostles, disciples of Saint John the Baptist?
When they saw Jesus, they ran after him.
And Jesus said, what are you, what do you want, what do you want from me?
And they answered, we want to know where you are, where are you?
And the answer of Jesus, come and see.
The two, the disciples, the Apostles John and Andrew, they went and stayed one day with Jesus.
It was so exciting for them that day.
They never forget that first meeting with Jesus.
It was so deeply rooted in their hearts that Saint John remembered also the time when this happened.
He was already old when he wrote the Gospel, about a hundred years.
He remembered the time when they meet first time Jesus, at four o'clock p.m.
And that was the start also of their
journey with Jesus, their vocation, their mission.
They never separated from him anymore.
So this is also for the six brothers of ours today, they start this journey officially.
Come and see, remember, this is your experience.
Come and see the beauty of the religious life, the beauty of following Jesus, the beauty of giving up all things.
Come and see.
It should be an experience which will never end, not only during postulancy or novitiate, but always, always.
And even more joyful and deeper, the experience with Jesus.
It is a treasure which never becomes, it never ends.
It is a treasure which we have to dig every day more, to discover the mysteries, the beauty.
Of following of Jesus.
For this reason, it is very beautiful also to start this, the postulantship,
with this particular Marian feast of the Queenship of Mary.
Queenship of our Seraphic Order, Mary, Queen of the Seraphic Order.
So what to wish for these brothers, that
as today, today, I'm sure they are so happy to receive the habit,
that they continue this journey with a better, happier way.
Remember, along the journey toward Jesus, there is our Blessed Mother.
As she was giving you the gift of vocation, she will be beside you all times, throughout all your life.
So never be far away from her.
Open your heart.
Open your heart more and more.
Open your soul to her, because she really wants to enter and occupy totally your mind, your heart,
your soul, whatever you are, your sentiments, your affections.
So do not hesitate to give to her all things and living the consecration as we profess.
Especially then, later, Marian vow, you will experience,
the greatest joy of this earth.
The greatest joy of following Jesus, the greatest joy
of being one in full communion with our Blessed Mother and Jesus.
May our Blessed Mother keep you in her heart, enlighten you and strengthen you to be faithful
up to the end.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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