14 Aug – Memorial for St. Maximillan Mary Kolbe, priest, martyr
Kolbe is the patron saint of our difficult century. – Pope John Paul II
St. Maximillian Kolbe (1894-1941), was the second of three sons born to a poor but pious Catholic family in occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan lay tertiaries, worked at home as weavers. His brother Alphonsus became a priest, and his mother later became a Benedictine nun.
Maximillian whose birth name was Raymond, was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906, at the age of 12 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.” – St. Maximillian
Raymond joined the Franciscan junior seminary in Poland in 1907 and professed his final vows in the Conventual Franciscan Order in 1914.
While still in the seminary, he and six friends founded the Immaculata Movement 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. He was ordained in Rome in 1918, and received his Doctor of Theology in 1922. His insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.
In 1922, he began publication of the magazine Knights of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy. At its peak, it had a press run of 750,000 copies a month. He also founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate which was consecrated in 1927. In 1938, it had its own radio station, and 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.
Maximillian later travelled to Japan in 1930 and within a month of his arrival, and knowing no Japanese, he was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. He also founded a monastery in Nagasaki which survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and today serves as the center of Franciscan work in Japan.
He was arrested with several of his brothers in September 1939 following the Nazi invasion of Poland, but released in December that year. He went back to continue his priestly ministry at Niepokalanow, which now housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of which were Jewish. He continued his publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work, the presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximillian was imprisoned in Warsaw in February 1941.
In May that year, he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. 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, Maximillian ministered to other prisoners, including celebrating 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 men with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximillian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished – in service.
St. Maximillian was canonized on Oct 10, 1982, by Pope John Paul II and declared a martyr of charity. He is patron for drug addiction, drug addicts, families, imprisoned people, journalists, political prisoners, and the pro-life movement.
- Source: Patron Saint Index
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Deuteronomy 31:1-8
Moses proceeded to address these words to the whole of Israel, “I am one hundred and twenty years old now, and can no longer come and go as I will. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’ I t is the Lord your God who will cross it at your head to destroy these nations facing you and dispossess them; and Joshua too shall cross at your head, as the Lord has said. The Lord will treat tem as he treated Sihon and Og the Amorite kings and their land, destroying them. The Lord will hand them over to you, and you will deal with them in exact accordance with the commandments I have enjoined on you. Be strong, stand firm, have no fear of them, no terror, for the Lord your God is going with you; he will not fail or desert you.”
Then Moses summoned Joshua and in the presence of all Israel said to him, “Be strong, stand firm; you are going with this people into the land the Lord swore to their fathers he would give them; you are to give it into their possession. The Lord himself will lead you; he will be with you; he will not fail you or desert you. Have no fear, do not be disheartened by anything.”
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Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
The disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” So he called a little child to him and set the child in front of them. Then he said, “I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
“Anyone who welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me.
“See that you never despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven.
“Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray? I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will of your Father that one of these little ones should be lost.”
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Have you ever been lost before? It’s an honest question, because some people have never been lost before. I remember when I was a child, I got lost in Thomson Plaza. My father had left me at the toy section while he went grocery shopping. I got bored and decided to go in search of him, and ended up completely lost. So I did what I knew best – I wailed. A kind woman heard me and took my hand. She brought me to the supermarket counter where they made a public announcement, and soon my father came to get me.
When I followed the kind woman, I never stopped to wonder whether this woman was out to harm me or not. If I had thought about it, and I had been more wary, I might have suspected that she was out to kidnap me or something. Fortunately, I didn’t think that way, otherwise I might have spent even more time being lost.
The lesson that we learn as children, “Don’t talk to strangers” is something that should remain in our childhood, yet it is not exactly the best lesson to remember when we are lost. In fact, talking to strangers is probably the best, if not only, way to find our way back to our parents. A good many of us as adults may not be physically lost, but at times, we might find ourselves spiritually lost. We remember that childhood lesson “Don’t talk to strangers” and we spend a lot more time being lost than if we had talked to strangers about our problem.
The other day, I was on the bus, when a total stranger started talking to me. He was a migrant student and was in need of a job. He shared with me his problems and his woes, saying that, “Some people don’t like to talk to strangers. But I love to talk to strangers. I believe that if I throw many stones, one of them is bound to hit someone.” I wasn’t able to help him find a job, but I was able to direct him to a place where he could find help. I guess one of his many stones hit me!
That was a few weeks ago, but that encounter has left a deep impression on me. It reminded me that when we are lost, or in need of help, the worst thing that we can do is to try and figure a way out for ourselves. The best thing that we can do is to talk to strangers. We never know who can help us in our situation, and we know that God often sends us people to help us out.
As worldly people, we tend to be cautious about trusting another person, especially if he or she is a total stranger. But when you have nothing to lose, and are in need of help, talking to strangers can sometimes be a godsend.
A note of caution, I suppose, is in order, and that talking to strangers might end up with money leaving your hands. A rule of thumb would be to not give money, but give in kind.
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Prayer:
Dear Lord, help us to be like little children, especially when we are lost. Give us the courage to approach strangers to ask them for help. Amen.
Give Thanks to the Lord for: Sending the right people our way.
Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 15 Aug – Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56; Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Thu, 16 Aug – Joshua 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17; Matthew 18:21 – 19:1; Memorial for St. Stephen of Hungary
Fri, 17 Aug – Joshua 24:1-13; Matthew 19:3-12
Sat, 18 Aug – Joshua 24:14-29; Matthew 19:13-15
Sun, 19 Aug – Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53; Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Singapore: Lay Apostolate Sunday)
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.
