Marian Franciscan
He embraced the Mother of Our Lord Jesus with indescribable love because, as he said, it was she who made the Lord of Majesty our brother, and through her we found mercy. After Christ, he put all his trust in her and took her as his patroness for himself and his Friars.
(Bonaventure, Major Life Chap. IX)
The Marian Friars Minor take their inspiration from the primitive Franciscanism of St. Francis himself, who “as he was living there by the church of our Lady, Francis prayed to her who had conceived the Word, full of grace and truth, begging her insistently and with tears to become his Advocate. Then he was granted the true spirit of the Gospel by the intercession of the Mother of Mercy and he brought it to fruition.” (Bon. Major Life, 3:1)
Through this example, therefore, of Saint Francis of Assisi and all the great Franciscan Marian Saints, obtains its specific Marian Franciscan identity from a life of contemplation, which then becomes the source of its apostolic endeavors where it seeks direct personal contact with God's people, living as Our Dear Blessed Lord lived while in this life: going up the mountain to pray and then coming down to teach and admonish his people. In this way too, Saint Francis sought counsel from Brother Sylvester and Saint Clare on whether he was to pray only or also to preach, in response to which they both received from the Lord that he (Saint Francis) was to go out and preach.
So to in our own day the Marian Friars Minor wishes to live an authentic Franciscan form of life renascent of its origin in the imitation of Christ and that of Holy Father Saint Francis in all its simplicity and rigor; seeking to be imbued with the Gospel truth through the maternal mediation of the Ever Blessed Virgin Mary mother of Christ and Advocate of Saint Francis. Seeking therefore as forms of the apostolate, any form of evangelization according to time and location as presented by God’s good providence; local catechism, popular as well as “Street” preaching, and simple good example, but also striving to establish a modern form of the “missions” inspired by Saint Junipero Serra. Seeking to create a spiritual center (retreat) where the faithful can come to be formed and spiritually fed, thus providing the support they need in going out to the world, where they are called according to their state in life, taking Christ to the world, so that they may truly be the salt of the earth and a light set on a stand for all to see, striving to be a sign to all, of the truth of the faith and even of Christ himself.
It is for this we beg Our Lady to be our advocate and to conceive in us and bring to fruition the fullness of the Gospel truth for God's Glory and Honor, our salvation and that of our neighbor. Amen.
