The Memorial of St Maximilian Kolbe

Ezk. 16:1-15.60.63, Mt. 19:3-12. Today's first reading reminds us of God’s constant desire to forgive us and heal our wounded nature. The love and faithfulness of God remain constant in the face of our infidelity. Our actions often lead us to exile from our relationship with God, but God brings us back. If we know how deeply God desires us and how egregious even small offenses are in the face of love we would be “covered with confusion” at our heartlessness. Today’s Gospel challenges men and women of our time to consider the social harm we cause when we violate our deepest commitments. When a teacher of the Scriptures approaches Jesus and asks for a ruling about legally acceptable divorce, Jesus reminds him of the initial plan of God from the beginning which assert that in the vow of marriage the two become one flesh and cannot be torn asunder. 

Divorce is not only a personal violation of a covenantal bond; it is a grave social injustice that endangered the lives of vulnerable women and their children. It also violate our commitment to our sense of sacrifice like Maximilian Kolbe. The memorial of St Maximilian Kolbe reminds us of the horrors of political power that becomes tyrannical, holding the power of life and death for citizens. During the Second World War, under Hitler’s Nazi power, the Polish Franciscan, Fr Kolbe was arrested and sent to the concentration camp of Auschwitz where unspeakable cruelty and often murder were imposed on Jews, anyone arrested for helping Jews, for persons identified as handicap and any others deemed to be “enemies of the state.” As a Catholic Priest who was a leader of a large Franciscan community, Kolbe was a defender of Jews and opposed to the Nazi state. Arrested in 1941, only a few months later when a fellow prisoner was randomly selected to be killed for an escape of another prisoner, Kolbe stepped in to take his place because the man was married and had small children. The life of Kolbe challenges us to reflect on our call to pick up the virtue of justice and mercy in our private and public life.

May the Lord hold all families in His love and may peace be restored to all broken homes! Amen!! Stay safe, peace be with you!!!