Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
I tell you, brothers, the time is running out.  
So St. Paul says in the reading today: the time is running out. Most of us here are over the hill, as the expression goes, including myself. That's a good expression, a good image, because it's so different when you're still climbing that hill than when you've already reached the top and then you go over. If you haven't gotten there yet, it's just something you have to believe—that it's very different.  
When you're still climbing, the destination, the end, is not yet visible. It's on the other side of the hill, right? We know it's there, but it's not on our minds so much. We only know that it's going to be there. We're still climbing against gravity. Time even seems to go slower. It seems like we have so much more control over our life, maybe because there's so much ahead. But then you reach the top, and you go over the top, and you see—wow, there is a destination.  
I am a mortal, and there it is. It's in front of my eyes, and now there's a lot more behind me than in front of me. Now, I'm not fighting gravity; actually, gravity is speeding me up, so to speak. Time is going by faster and faster and faster, and there's nothing I can do to slow it down. I don't know if you can relate to this experience. I'm kind of making it dramatic, but wow, we realize every little deviation can have such a terrible consequence.  
Of course, there's a feeling of peace, but we have to surrender ourselves to God all the more when we're over the hill. At least, I would say so. At least, that's how I would describe the experience. We have to utterly surrender ourselves and trust because the speed is just picking up, the path is so narrow, and all we can do is trust in our Lord and our Lady.  
Now, to illustrate this with an anecdote: St. Maximilian Kolbe, in 1937, when he was already over the hill—43—and through many graces that he received, knew, probably in some detail, how he would die—that he would die a martyr. He knew. But even humanly speaking, World War II was clearly on the horizon. He knew that tribulations were coming for himself and for his friars, so he shared something with the friars and his community to prepare them for that. The time is running out. Be ready. 
And he shared with them a grace that he had received. He called them all together, and one of the brothers who was there to hear this story I actually met. I didn’t realize what a grace I was receiving when I was still a postulant in the summer of 2007—this brother, Leon Romanowski, one of the friars who was there to hear the story from St. Maximilian, then told it to me and to some other Franciscans of the Immaculate.  
Basically, the story is the following: St. Maximilian calls these brothers and tells them, "Brothers, I just want to share something with you. I have such joy and peace in my soul that I cannot describe it, so I just wanted to tell you I love the Immaculate, and She will give you that joy and that peace." That was nothing new. The friars were always hearing that from St. Maximilian, so they were like, "Okay, we know you have more to tell us. What is it, Father Maximilian? Tell us more."  
He says, "Do you really want to know?"  
"Well, of course. You called us together. We know you have more to tell us."  
So he tells them, "Okay, I have this joy, I have this peace, because Our Lady has given me the certainty of Heaven. Love Her, serve Her with your whole heart, and you, too, will have the same joy and the same peace."  
"Okay, is that enough now?"  
They say, "Well, no. Obviously, there's something more. Tell us more. Tell us everything. What is this grace? How did you receive it?"  
St. Maximilian finally gives the last detail: "Brothers, it was in Japan that I received this grace, that Our Lady assured me of Heaven. And now, even though I'm going through trials and tribulations and tests of faith and all of the above that all human beings will go through until the end of their life, there's this joy and peace and certainty in my soul that Our Lady will lead me to the destination safely."  
"Therefore, brothers, don't try to do extraordinary things. Just love Our Lady. Do Her will every single day, and trust and surrender yourself to Her, and She will lead you safely home."  
And that was it. He said, "Don't ask me anymore. That's all I'm going to tell you. Just live what I told you."  
That's what it means when we say that devotion to Our Lady is a sign of predestination. It doesn't mean that we've already reached our goal. It's still ahead of us, and it's approaching fast. Our Lady is for us a sign of predestination because She indicates to us that we're going in the right direction, if we surrender ourselves to Her and let Her guide us. Let's do what St. Maximilian said. He received a very unique grace, that confirmation in grace—that extraordinary, mystical grace that few saints receive—but he wanted to share that joy with others and tell them, "Do the will of Our Lady. Love Her, and you, too, will have that peace in your soul."  
Brothers, time is running out. So surrender yourselves to Our Lady and let Her lead you home.  
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.