(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 27 February 2010)
During this Year for Priests, you have heard about how the vocation of the priesthood is so wonderful and how it is also closely associated with Mary our Mother.
The story begins in 1894 - Raymond Kolbe was born in Poland. In his childhood Raymond seems to have been normally mischievous but one day, after his mother had scolded him for some mischief or other, her words took effect and brought about a radical change in the child's behaviour.
Later Raymond explained this change: 'That night 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.' Thus early did the child believe and accept that he was destined for martyrdom.
In 1910 he became a Franciscan, taking the name Maximilian. He was ordained in 1918.
Right after his ordination, he went about his mission:
He is an outstanding promoter of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary through the modern media of writing, radio and, since his day, television. He published the magazine, "Knight of the Immaculate." The Franciscan Friars built a town called the "Town of the Immaculate," outside of Warsaw. There he began training people with vocations and prospective Religious and Priests, to become apostles of Mary.
The spirituality of St. Maximilian is based directly on this truth: that the Immaculate Virgin Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces. That is the first basis of his Marian thinking. If this were not so, Maximilian explains, all our strength and effort in the spiritual life would be in vain. In other words, our spiritual life depends on grace. That's obvious, but it also depends on the grace that we receive through Mary.
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, he knew that the friary would be seized, and sent most of the friars home. He was imprisoned briefly and then released, and returned to the friary, where he and the other friars began to organize a shelter for 3,000 Polish refugees.
Inevitably, the community came under suspicion. Then in May 1941 the friary was closed down and Maximilian and four companions were taken to the death-camp Auschwitz.
Prisoners at Auschwitz were slowly starved, and their pitiful rations were barely enough to sustain a child. When food was brought, everyone struggled to get his place and be sure of a portion. Father Maximilian however, stood aside in spite of the ravages of starvation, and frequently there would be none left for him. At other times he shared his meager ration of soup or bread with others.
In the harshness of the slaughterhouse Father Max maintained the gentleness of Christ. At night he seldom would lie down to rest. He moved from bunk to bunk, saying: 'I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?'
A prisoner later recalled how he and several others often crawled across the floor at night to be near the bed of Father Kolbe, to make their confessions and ask for consolation. Father Kolbe pleaded with his fellow prisoners to forgive their persecutors and to overcome evil with good. When he was beaten by the guards, he never cried out. Instead, he prayed for his tormentors.
Such was the first episode of the life of a saintly priest. In the next instalment, which I will share with you next week, you will hear very touching moments on how he was martyred.
Amen.
