Feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Loving Until It Hurts: Lessons From Saint Maximilian Kolbe

We live in a world where greed and selfishness go unchecked. Today, the dominant culture is focused on me, mine, and I. The needs of others are hardly ever considered. When some of us look around, we only see ourselves, not the person standing in front of us, beside us, or behind us. The idea of “I am happy because others are happy” seems to have been replaced with “I want it, and I want it now.” 

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, a Catholic priest who sacrificed his life so another could live. Ordained at 24, Fr. Maximilian saw religious apathy and indifference as the deadliest poison of his time. Instead of complaining about it, he faced it directly. He founded the Militia of the Immaculate, whose goal was to combat evil not with evil but with the witness of a good life, prayer, work, and suffering. 

In 1939, the Nazi panzers quickly overran Poland. The Franciscan monastery and Marian sanctuary in Teresin, Poland, were heavily bombed. Kolbe and his Friars were arrested and then released in less than three months, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. However, in 1941, Fr. Kolbe was arrested again. The Nazis’ goal was to eliminate the leaders and top figures. Fr. Kolbe was taken to Auschwitz after severe beatings and humiliations. 

One day, a prisoner escaped. The commandant announced that 10 men would be killed as a deterrent for others. As the commandant walked along the ranks screaming, “This one,” “That one,” he did it with glee. Then one of those chosen, Francis Gajowniczek, a married man, cried out for his family: “I pity my wife and children!” Moments later, from the ranks of prisoners stepped forward, Conventual Franciscan Father Maximilian Kolbe: “I would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.” The commandant asked him, “Who are you?” Fr. Kolbe replied, “A priest.” No name, no mention of fame. And there was a deafening silence. The commandant was shocked and dumbfounded. His offer was accepted. Francis was kicked out of line, and Fr. Kolbe was ordered to go with the nine. In the “block of death,” they were ordered to strip naked, and their slow starvation began in darkness. But there was no screaming; instead, the prisoners sang. By the eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, only four prisoners were left alive. Fr. Kolbe was one of them. The jailer later came in to finish Kolbe off as he sat in a corner, praying. With his last strength, he lifted his fleshless arm to receive the bite of the hypodermic needle. It was filled with carbonic acid, which eventually killed him. Then his body and that of others were burned. In 1971, Fr. Kolbe was beatified by Pope Paul VI. He was later canonized as a saint by Pope John Paul II in 1982. 

Now, we are probably not going to end up like St. Maximilian Kolbe. God may not be calling us to such a dramatic and extreme sacrifice. But each of us is called to love others, to consider others, and to make sacrifices for others. Love until it hurts. Live in solidarity with your brothers and sisters, especially those facing hardship. Love everyone, even your enemies. Do not be discouraged. Do not be afraid. Surrender to God’s will and purpose. And remember this firm fact: In the end, God wins. And those who walk with God will win, too. Who are the people who put Fr. Maximilian to death? No one remembers them. As for Fr. Kolbe, he is remembered worldwide. 

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us. 

Fr. Marcel