FRIDAY 14TH AUGUST 2020
MEMORIAL OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE (MARTYR)
Ezekiel 16:1-15,60,63, Matthew 19:3-12
HOW MUCH CAN YOU LOVE?
Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe. He is a saint of our time who lived in the 20th century. This shows that holiness of life and witness to the faith even with our life is still very possible in our time.
He was born in 1894 in Poland and he joined the Franciscans in 1910, where he was ordained a priest 8 years later. Seeing the spiritual laxity among the people, he believed that the world is in need of spiritual renewal which can be done through modern communication.
He was very active in the media and communication especially through the radio and newspapers. Apart from his own country Poland, he went to various parts of the world such as Spain, Russia and even Japan, where in Nagasaki he established the garden of immaculate which survived the atomic bomb. He was later recalled to Poland because of his health condition.
In the Nazi regime, the Germans invaded Poland in 1939 and carried many people especially the Jews to the concentration camp. In 1941, they arrested Maximilian fir helping the inmates and ministering to them, and they took him to the camp. While in camp, he continued to encourage and minister to his fellow inmates. In August of that year a prisoner escaped and to punish others in the camp and deter them from trying it also, 10 people were chosen randomly to be killed by starvation. A man began to cry that he had a wife and children and that they would suffer if he dies. His tears moved St. Maximilian who as a catholic priest as described by Jesus in the gospel reading of today as a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom and therefore does not have wife and children, to request that he take the place of the man and be killed. He was exchanged for the man just as Jesus was exchanged for us on the cross as he died for our sins. It was not just the love st. Maximilian had for the man, but also his love for Jesus that he was ready to witness to Jesus with his life. Jesus tells us in John 15:13, that until we are ready to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters, we cannot claim to love them. We cannot claim to love God who we do not see when we have not been able to love and sacrifice even our lives for our neighbours. God help us. Amen.
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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