Today's feast falls on the octave day of the Assumption of Mary (15 August). The Gospel is the account of the Annunciation which, of course, was the beginning of a very special story. Responding to the invitation of the angel and after expressing her doubts about being a mother, she then accepts totally and unconditionally - "Let this happen to me just as you have said." In that statement, she gave her unconditional 'Yes' to God's will. It was a 'Yes' that she never took back through all the difficulties she had to face as the Mother of Jesus until the day she stood faithfully at the foot of the Cross and kept vigil with her Son in his last terrible moments. She had yet to know the joyous outcome of the Resurrection. And then, when her time came, her Son took her immediately to himself in what we now call the Assumption. And today, we celebrate the natural consequence - her being crowned as Queen of Heaven, as the first and most faithful of all God's creation. She was the Mother of Jesus but also his First Disciple, carrying out his will at every moment of her life.