August 9 is the feast of the martyr Saint Theresa
Benedicta of the Cross, a jewish convert to Catholicism and Carmelite nun who
was killed in the Nazi Concentration Camp in Aushwitz in 1942.
In 1941, today’s Saint too died a heroic death in Auschwitz.
Born in Poland in 1894, Maximilian Kolbe entered the
Franciscan Order at the age of 16 and was ordained a priest in 1918. As a Franciscan priest he practiced the works
of charity and developed strong devotion to Mary, a devotion that would offer
him great solace in his final days.
In 1939, the Nazis bombed and invaded the Polish town in
which Fr. Kolbe and his brother Franciscans were living; he and his fellow
friars were arrested. Without trial or sentence, Fr. Kolbe was transported to
Auschwitz. Yet, the Lord had work for him, even in that desolate place; there he
heard confessions and celebrated Mass using smuggled bread and wine.
One day, several prisoners managed to escape. As punishment, 10 men from his block were
selected to die. When a married Jewish man
with a family was among them, Fr. Kolbe asked to take his place. The stunned Nazi officer agreed to the
exchange. Fr. Kolbe and the other nine
men were stripped, locked in a cell, and left to starve to death. After two weeks, some, including Fr. Kolbe
were still alive. They were given lethal
injections of carbolic acid, and their remains were thrown into an oven.
Father Kolbe’s death was not
a sudden, last-minute act of heroism. His whole life had been a preparation.
His holiness was a limitless, passionate desire to convert the whole world to
God.
We may not be called to make
the ultimate act of charity today, but each of us are called to die to
ourselves daily.
In 2006, Benedict
XVI visited Aushwitz, he said this: “I have come here today: to implore the
grace of reconciliation - first of all from God, who alone can open and purify
our hearts, from the men and women who suffered here, and finally the grace of
reconciliation for all those who, at this hour of our history, are suffering in
new ways from the power of hatred and the violence which hatred spawns…Let us
cry out to God, that he may draw men and women to conversion and help them to
see that violence does not bring peace.
Saint Maxilmilian once said,
"Hatred is not a creative force: love alone is." Let’s pray today for the conversion of the
world from hatred to love and through Saint Maximilian Kolbe’s prayer and
example may we too be made into instruments of peace for the glory of God and
salvation of souls.
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