Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest & Martyr
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD, your God, ask of you but to fear the LORD, your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and server the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul.” What is it that God asks of us? What does it mean to fear the LORD and to follow his ways exactly, to love and serve God will everything we are? Our answer comes to us in the first part of the Gospel when Jesus says, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” To love and serve the Lord is to sacrifice our lives as Christ gave of himself for us. We are to follow his ways exactly, which means to live our lives in the Love of God and of our brothers and sisters.
Our saint today embodied this exactly. St. Maximilian’s love for God and the Blessed Virgin Mary gave him the strength and courage to give his life as a Franciscan and to trade his life for another who was to be executed in the consecration camp at Auschwitz. We too are called to live in this love and to live it with courage. We may not be called to be martyrs, but we are called to love heroically and to give this sacrificial love to God and our fellow man.
Reflection by Br. Placid Dale, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections