Aug
14
St. Max
August 14, 2008 |
Today is the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe. He is my parish’s patron saint and there is a big stain glass window of him in our church. So I’ve done quite a bit of studying his life and praying to him and, through the years, I’ve grown in devotion to this rather remarkable man.
Most people only know him as the martyr of Auschwitz; the priest who took the place of a condemned man in the torture chamber of that gruesome, evil place. But his life and sainthood did not begin there.
He was brilliant, having received one doctorate at age 21 (philosophy) and another at age 25 (theology). He was a leader in the Conventual Franciscans. He had a deep devotion to Mary and, at age 23, founded what would become a worldwide order, the Militia of the Immaculata, so others would be drawn to our Blessed Mother. He published magazines and did radio shows. He was a missionary in Japan and India. All the while, he was suffering from tuberculosis. And then came those fateful months in 1941 when he was arrested by the Gestapo and ultimately sent to Auschwitz. It was at this point when he truly lived the life of Christ in giving his life for another; dying on the vigil of the Feast of the Assumption, the day we commemorate Mary being taken up into heaven. It was on this day when he was forever tied to the Blessed Virgin to whom he was so devoted and in whom he placed so much trust.
His was a life well-lived. He followed Christ’s path and God’s plan for him. It led him from a simple life in Poland, to Rome, to Nagasaki, to India, to Auschwitz. He went whenever and wherever the Spirit called him and did whatever he was asked to do. And through it all, he remained a humble friar who cultivated and relied on his deep love for Mary.
St. Max, on this your feast day, pray for us so that we may follow Christ’s path and God’s plan for us no matter where it shall lead.
