Mass @ 11am – Newbridge College
Introduction:
It’s August 14th – the Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe – priest and martyr. We know his story well. A Conventual Franciscan Friar who worked in the apostolate of the press in Poland and Japan, and died in Auschwitz.
Last year, during the Youth 2000 Summer Festival, I celebrated with you the Memorial of Edith Stein. Another one of our saints whose story came to prominence in the same concentration camp. Edith or St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross as she is known now, died on August 9th, 1942. Maximilian Kolbe died a year earlier on August 14th, 1941.
‘Died’ isn’t the correct word for it; historians estimate 1.1M perished in Auschwitz over its five years of existence.
The prophet Ezekiel exhorts us to live life to the full. Israel is described as an unfaithful wife. He pardons her because of the covenant he had made with her. And so we pray for God’s love and mercy as we call to mind all that impedes our relationship with God, with one another and with self …
- Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – you are the wellspring of mercy:
A Thiarna, déan trócaire
- Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – you are the way of Truth:
A Chríost, déan trócaire
- Bí linn i gcónaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – be with us always, showing us the way.
A Thiarna, déan Trócaire
Homily:
It is said he was Prisoner #16670. It was believed that by giving someone a number dehumanises them, and that’s why the numbering system in Auschwitz, Birkenau and elsewhere was so cold and calculating. We know Prisoner #16670 best as St. Maximilian Kolbe. Pope John Paul II said “Maximilian did not die but gave his life … for his brother”.
Maximilian Kolbe’s life was marked by an ardent devotion to Our Lady from a young age. It is said that he did something to bother his mam as a young ten year old, she told him to go and pray, asking what will become of him. He turned to Our Lady. She came to him in his prayer offering him two crowns, a white one and a red one. The former representing a life of purity; the latter representing martyrdom. He accepted both.
What happened in Auschwitz didn’t come out of thin air; Kolbe lived a pure life. Everything he did, led to those actions, known now the world over. His story of heroism, courage and self-sacrifice didn’t begin the day he volunteered to die in place of a stranger at Auschwitz. The prisoner he saved Franciszek Gajowniczek, a husband and a dad would years later attend his beatification and canonisation ceremonies. For Maximilian Kolbe it was the ultimate sacrifice he made, giving up his own life to save a man who had a wife and children.
Three words jump out for me in the story of Maximilian Kolbe, from today’s scripture readings fusing on both the Prophet Ezekial and St. Matthew, promise, sacrifice and generosity. Friday at Youth 2000 Festivals is always ‘confession night’. An opportunity to be reconciled with God, with one another and with self. Are you good at keeping a promise? When did you last make a sacrifice? When did you miss an opportunity for generosity?
It is said that a promise is easy to make when the sun is shining, their true worth begins when the storms begin. Ezekiel has God speaking to Jerusalem as a bridegroom speaks to his bride. It’s not an easy reading, because Israel has been unfaithful, Isreal has failed to keep its side of the covenant. But God never forgets us, he has carved us on the palm of his hand, he always invites the sinner home.
In Matthew’s gospel we move to a debate around marriage and divorce, again not of itself bedside light reading. This is a tough message. The Pharisees are setting a trap, as someone wrote “they come to the wedding feast carrying a legal measuring tape!” Every time Jesus brings them back to the start, to the beginning, what marriage is, not what divorce disrupts. Marriage is, like the wedding I celebrated recently for my nephew Brendan and his wife now Eimear, marriage is a covenant, a promise before God. As Robert Frosts poem says “promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep”, tell the priest tonight about your broken promises.
And then comes Prisoner #16670 into the frame. Maximilian Kolbe wasn’t chosen by the German officer Karl Fritsch as one of the ten who must be starved to death because a man had escaped the camp. Franciszek Gajowniczek cried out because he had a wife and children; Maximilian broke ranks and put himself forward: “I am a Catholic priest. I want to die for that man; I am old; he has a wife and children”. He went to the dark cellar and sang hymns to Our Lady. Two weeks of starvation didn’t kill him, it was a fatal dose of phenol on this day, 85 years ago. Maximilian sacrificed himself for another. What is your understanding of sacrifice? The sacrifice of the Mass, the life, death and resurrection of Christ. As a young person is Mass a central part of my life?
Generosity. Maximilian Kolbe had nothing to gain by stepping forward. It was the ultimate act of generosity. Maximilian didn’t begin his act of generosity on the day he entered the bunker. He practiced it from his youngest years – living love through prayer, purity, obedience, being a good priest and having a deep devotion to Our Lady. A tree does not become strong on the day of the storm, it becomes strong through years of putting down roots. It’s no wonder St. John Paul II proclaimed Maximilan Kolbe patron of the “suffering”. All of us suffer – confession, reconciliation, penance – is a wonderful tool to free us from that suffering.