St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
Born in 1894 in Poland, Kolbe was a Conventual Franciscan priest. He started the Militia of Mary Immaculate and worked as a missionary in Japan before World War II. On returning to Poland, he was imprisoned in Auschwitz. Offering his life in place of another prisoner in charity, he became a martyr.
"The burning zeal for God's glory that
motivates you fills my heart with joy. It is sad for us to see in
our own
time that indifferentism in its many forms is spreading like an epidemic not
only among the laity but also among religious. But God is worthy of glory
beyond measure, and therefore it is of absolute and supreme importance to
seek that glory with all the power of our feeble resources. Since we are
mere creatures we can never return to him all that is his due....
"Obedience is the one and the only way of wisdom and prudence for us to offer glory to God. If there were another, Christ would certainly have shown it to us by word and example. Scripture, however, summed up his entire life at Nazareth in the words: He was subject to them; Scripture set obedience as the theme of the rest of his life, repeatedly declaring that he came into the world to do his Father's will.
"Let us love our loving Father with all our hearts. Let our obedience increase that love, above all when it requires us to surrender our own will. Jesus Christ crucified is our sublime guide toward growth in God's love.
"We
will learn the lesson more quickly through the Immaculate Virgin, whom God
has made the dispenser of his mercy. It is beyond all doubt that Mary's will
represents to us the will of God himself. By dedicating ourselves to her we
become in her hands instruments of God's mercy even as she was such an
instrument in God's hands. We should let ourselves be guided and led by Mary
and rest quiet and secure in her hands. She will watch out for us, provide
for us, answer our needs of body and spirit; she will dissolve all our
difficulties and worries."
From the Letters of Maximilian Mary Kolbe
Courtesy of Catholic Information Network (CIN)