Bible
Study: Joshua 24:1-13. / Matthew 19:3-12.
The beautiful
thing about being a Christian in our own day and time is that we have a cloud
of witnesses who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. Meaning: -
We have a lot of men and women who were once like us and decided to take the
difficult path following God with all their heart and are now in heaven. The
Saints are the greatest mentors we have as we too journey along; their lives
are beautiful sources of inspiration and when we reflect on their biographies,
it suddenly dawns on us that the Christian life in its ideal sense is very
possible.
Today, we
shall be looking at the life of one man whose story is quite touching. His name
is Maximilian Kolbe. He was the second of three sons born to a poor but pious
Catholic family in Russian occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan lay
tertiaries, worked at home as weavers. His father, Julius, later ran a
religious book store, then enlisted in the army of Pilsudski, fought for Polish
independence from Russia, and was hanged by the Russians as a traitor in 1914.
His mother, Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun. His brother
Alphonse became a priest.
Maximilian
(initially called Raymond) was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered
wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve
and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin
Mary that changed his life.
"I
asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding
two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept
either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity,
and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them
both." - Saint Maximilian
He entered
the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in
mathematics and physics. For a while he wanted to abandon the priesthood for
the military, but eventually relented to the call to religious life, and on 4
September 1910 he became a novice in the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16.
He took the name Maximilian, made his first vows on 5 September 1911, his final
vows on 1 November 1914.
Studied
philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912 to 1915, and
theology at the Franciscan Collegio Serafico in Rome from 1915 to 1919. On 16
October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six friends founded the
Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted
to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry (which was extremely
anti-Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as
their habit), and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with
tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest
of his life. Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor
of Theology on 22 July 1922; his insights into Marian theology echo today
through their influence on Vatican II.
Maximilian
returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Krakow seminary. In
January 1922 he began publication of the magazine Knight of the Immaculate to
fight religious apathy. At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press
run of 750,000 copies a month. In 1935 the house began printing a daily
Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days,
225,000 on Sundays and holy days.
Not
content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in
1930. Within a month of their arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian
was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi
grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in
Nagasaki, Japan. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves
today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
Poor
health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936.
On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station. By 1939 the
monastery housed a religious community of nearly 800 men, the largest in the
world in its day, and was completely self-sufficient including medical
facilities and a fire brigade staffed by the religious brothers.
Arrested
with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following the Nazi invasion
of Poland. Others at the monastery were briefly exiled, but the prisoners were
released on 8 December 1939, and the men returned to their work. Back at
Niepokalanow he continued his priestly ministry, The brothers housed 3,000
Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish, and continued their
publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the
presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed,
and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February
1941.
On 28 May
1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. At one
point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The prisoners managed to
smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing
confessions. When he returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other
prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled
bread and wine.
In July
1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol, designed to make the
prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be slaughtered in retribution
for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with young
children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his
place, and died as he had always wished - in service.
The life
of St. Maximilian reflects one whom Jesus talked about in the Gospel passage
today when he said: “Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some,
because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept
it.” Maximilian was not incapable of marriage, he freely chose to give up this
natural right for the sake of the spreading of the kingdom of God. Even as a
priest, he was relentless in using the available means of communication in the
spread of the kingdom of God. And finally, he chose to die in place of married
man. He had a great respect for marriage and saw his life as not as important
as that of man who had children to care for. Maximilian gave it all for God!
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, I give my life to you. Use me as you wish to further your kingdom on
earth. Amen. St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
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