Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
Saint Maximilian wanted to become a saint and a great saint.
Those were his words.
I must become a saint and a great saint.
And that's exactly what he did.
That's exactly what we read in the story of his martyrdom.
Saint Maximilian is truly a great saint.
And Saint Maximilian exhorts all of us to follow his example.
He exhorted all of his brothers in his own time.
And he exhorts all of us today through his letters and through the memory of his example.
Saint Maximilian writes the letter that we read in the first reading.
It is not an act of humility to ask our father, Saint Francis, to obtain for us a portion of his love for God or a love equal to his.
Rather, our seraphic father will be perfectly content.
Only when we ask God, through his intercession, for a love greater than his, or better yet, for a love infinitely greater.
He desires for his spirit to grow within his children, not to set his own sanctity as the terminus or limit to our perfection.
The seed which he planted in the order must continue to develop without limit.
And so here we see the great desire.
He had infinite desires of Saint Maximilian.
He had infinite desires to desire an infinitely greater love than that of Saint Francis.
To give glory to God.
To give glory to the Immaculate Virgin.
To save the souls of his brothers and sisters.
And this is what he exhorts each and every one of us to.
Now remember Saint Maximilian says that,
It is a mistake to think that the saints were not like us.
That they did not experience the difficulties that we experience.
That they did not have weaknesses as we have weaknesses.
But all of us can become saints and become great saints.
And he shows us the path to that high ideal of sanctity.
The path.
Is that of total consecration to the Immaculate.
Of becoming entirely hers.
Unlimitedly.
Unconditionally.
And irrevocably hers.
To live our religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the light of the Immaculate.
So that our religious obedience is her obedience.
Her fiat.
That our poverty.
Is the poverty of the Virgin.
That our chastity will be her perpetual virginity.
And Saint Maximilian says that all of this is not abstract theory.
But what we have to put into practice concretely in our daily lives.
Every day of our religious life.
Here in the friary and outside.
Doing the apostolate.
And he says that this is the solution to the evils of our day.
The evils in his day.
And the evils of our own day.
Saint Maximilian says we mustn't think that all these things are merely abstract theories.
That cannot be put into practice.
I have been in many countries.
I have seen many things and spoken with various people.
But believe me.
There is no means more suitable for remedying the evils of our age than our own seraphic order.
If we only allow the spirit of our Father Saint Francis to develop therein.
With courage, promptness, rapidity, and constancy.
And so this is the task that is set before us.
The high ideal of sanctity.
Which is very possible.
To remedy the evils of our day.
Which is very possible.
All of it depends on our constant fidelity.
All of us can arrive and become great saints.
Like Saint Maximilian.
It all depends on our fidelity.
Fidelity to our vows.
Fidelity to observing the book of sanctification.
Fidelity to living out our Marian consecration.
So let us ask Saint Maximilian tonight, this evening.
And I am sure he will be very pleased to hear our prayer.
As we ask him to give us not a portion of his spirit.
Not a portion of his love for the Immaculate Virgin.
Or not a love equal to his.
But let's ask Saint Maximilian to give us, through his intercession.
A greater love than his.
An infinitely greater love.
Saint Maximilian, pray for us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.