Yesterday we were in France. Today we cross into Poland. Some time into the night, the train from Prague to Krakow is bound to cross a city the Poles called Oswiencim which we otherwise know as Auschwitz. Our saint today leads us there: St. Maximilian Kolbe—a Conventual Franciscan.His life story is not easy to tell within a space of 20 minutes so I shall delve into some salient points for our edification. First, the role that Mary played in his life. Second, I would list some of his achievements. Third, I would like to say something about his martyrdom and how it is connected to us today.
First, Maximilian was a precocious child when at 12 his life changed after a vision of Our Lady. "That night, I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white and the other red. She asked me 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".
To understand Maximillian’s (and also John Paul II’s) devotion to Our Lady is to understand the Polish psyche. The Black Madonna of Czestochowa is more than an icon of religious reverence. Her status as an emblem of Polish nationalism dates back to the Swedish invasion of 1655. The Swedes surrounded the monastery Jasna Gora for 40 days whilst the monks prayed to Our Lady for deliverance. Finally, the Poles prevailed, driving the Swedes out of the country. King Jan Kazimierz, in gratitude, dedicated his throne and the country to "the Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland." Furthermore, if you look at a series of maps demarcating the border of Poland down the centuries, you would find the boundary of the country ebbing left or right subjected to the cruel tide of political expediency. Furthermore, we have here a country in which one day you are Polish by nationality and the next you become either a Ukrainian or a Prussian. Thus, the only thing constant for the Polish psyche was their Catholicism and their devotion to Our Lady is unparalleled. This is the reason why she featured largely in the spiritual vision of Maximillian (and also John Paul II). [To those who do not understand, it feels “idolatrous”].
Secondly, what were some of his achievements? He was famous for at least three things. A) Neipokalanow. B) For his print and broadcast media and C) For his missionary endeavour to Japan. He founded a friary which he named the City of the Immaculate or Niepokalanow. This project grew to become the large friary that was self-sustaining. In 1939, it housed 762 inhabitants: 13 priests, 18 novices, 527 brothers, 122 boys in the junior seminary and 82 candidates for the priesthood. No matter how many labourers were in the vineyard, there was always work for more. Among the inhabitants of Niepokalanow there were doctors, dentists, farmers, mechanics, tailors, builders, printers, gardeners, shoemakers, cooks. The place was entirely self-supporting.
His media output was astounding. For example, the demands for Knight of the Immaculate, a publication, at its heights reached to about 750,000. There was no doubt that Niepokalanow was going from strength to strength, a unique situation within Poland. The results of the work done there were becoming apparent. Priests in parishes all over the country reported a tremendous upsurge of faith, which they attributed to the literature emerging from Niepokalanow. In fact, years later, after the war, the Polish bishops sent an official letter to the Holy See claiming that Fr Kolbe's magazine had prepared the Polish nation to endure and survive the horrors of the war that was soon to follow.
His mission to Japan was a repeated formula of Niepokalanow, though on a smaller scale. With nothing, he went, trusting in Mary. When asked whether he had money to finance it, he replied: "Money? It will turn up somehow or other. Mary will see to it. It's her business and her Son's".
Such faith he had and that leads me to the third point which was his martyrdom.
He was arrested in 1941, February 17. As a religious he was singled out for harsh treatment. He was deported to Auschwitz in May and there he was branded with the number 16670. He was put to hard labour and despite having only one lung, he did not complain. The commandant conceived a relentless hatred against him giving him heavier tasks than the others. Sometimes his colleagues would try to come to his aid but he would not expose them to danger. Always he replied, "Mary gives me strength. All will be well". At this time he wrote to his mother, "Do not worry about me or my health, for the good Lord is everywhere and holds every one of us in His great love". In Auschwitz, where hunger and hatred reigned and faith evaporated, this man opened his heart to others and spoke of God's infinite love. He seemed never to think of himself. When food was brought in and everyone struggled to get his place in the queue so as to be sure of a share, Fr Maximilian stood aside, so that frequently there was none left for him. At other times he shared his meagre ration of soup or bread with others. He was once asked whether such self-abnegation made sense in a place where every man was engaged in a struggle or survival, and he answered: "Every man has an aim in life. For most men it is to return home to their wives and families, or to their mothers. For my part, I give my life for the good of all men".
In reprisal for an escaped prisoner, ten men were chosen to die. Fr Kolbe chose to take the place of a prisoner: Franciszek Gajowniczek. The ten condemned men were led off to the dreaded Bunker, to the airless underground cells where men died slowly without food or water. At every inspection, when almost all the others were now lying on the floor, Fr Kolbe was seen kneeling or standing in the centre as he looked cheerfully in the face of the SS (Schutzstaffel, the elite military section of the Nazi party) men. Two weeks passed in this way. Meanwhile one after another they died, until only Fr Kolbe was left. The authorities felt it was too long as the cell was needed for new victims. So they gave Fr Kolbe an injection of carbolic acid. With that he died.
The heroism of Fr Kolbe echoed through Auschwitz. In that desert of hatred he had sown love. "The life and death of this one man alone," wrote the Polish bishops, "can be proof and witness of the fact that the love of God can overcome the greatest hatred, the greatest injustice, even in death itself". He was beatified on 17th October 1971 and canonised by John Paul II on 10th Oct 1982.
On the third day of our Novena we ask what relevance is he to us. At his canonisation, he was declared a martyr. A person is declared a martyr only if he or she died for the faith; what we call “odium fidei”. But, he did not exactly die from hatred for the faith. The correct title for him would be a “confessor” but that John Paul called him a “martyr” is relevant if you remember that he was offered both crowns: the white and the red. Very few of us are called to red martyrdom. Instead, most of us are called to white martyrdom. It means that we are called not to shed our blood in defence of the faith but to die daily for love. This is a form of protracted martyrdom which is even more painful than shedding the blood at one go.
Today, the couples involved with the CMPC [Catholic Marriage Preparatory Course] met and they discussed how they wanted to update the programme they use for preparing couples to get married. What they do fits in with what is relevant to us. In the Gospel, Jesus gave the parable of the “fruitless” fig tree. In the context of marriage fruitfulness is not restricted to just having children. Fruitfulness is better understood as a subset of holiness. Married couples are called to holiness and their holiness is fruitful and therefore life-giving. This holiness to which married couples are called is a form of martyrdom. Marriage is a form of martyrdom. Christ said, “No greater love a man has than to lay down his life for his friends”. We think of friends in a generic sense, just like how we think of Christ’s other commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you”. We seldom think that these two commandments apply to marriage. But, in truth, they both apply primarily to marriage. Marriage is martyrdom because you are in a sense, laying down your life, as you cannot do what you like and when you like. You often have to consider the feeling of the other. You lose yourself for the other. It is akin to John’s “He must increase, I must decrease” and that is really painful.
Granted that most of us will never see “red” martyrdom but instead are called to white martyrdom, how are we to walk that road? This is where we encounter a modern weakness and it has to do with the perception we have of the self. A good illustration is our idea of holiness. For many of us, the idea of holiness is not about God who is holy but rather about us because we have come to believe that holiness is our gift to God which ties in with the cult of personality, the cult of the self. That is when the question of “worthiness” comes in. We always feel we are unworthy of God and we struggle to make ourselves worthy of God so that we can finally present ourselves to God. It is a futile task. We can never be worthy. Only God can make us worthy.
Thus, St Maximilian Kolbe has shown us something concerning white martyrdom. He did not plan to die. It was at the moment when he needed it most, God supplied the grace. We must trust that at the time when we most need it, God will allow us to be His instrument. The only thing left for us is to believe that He will, and in the context of the people involved with CMPC, marriage is a good example of white martyrdom because it often involves silent suffering but where there is most pain, there is also great holiness. It is much harder to live a martyr than to die one. St Maximilian Kolbe teaches us that.
