August 14
Saint
Maximilian Kolbe
Priest and Martyr
Gospel:
Matthew 19:3-12
Today's Gospel: Matthew 19:3-12 (God Has Joined Together)
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by
asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He
answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made
them male and female, and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So,
they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together,
let not man put asunder." They said to him, "Why then did Moses
command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He
said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce
your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever
divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits
adultery." The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man
with his wife, it is not expedient to marry." But he said to them,
"Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.
For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who
have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves
eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this,
let him receive it.
Reflection:
Maximilian Kolbe understood total self-gift better
than almost any saint in modern history. He gave his entire priesthood to what
he called the Militia of the Immaculata, a movement devoted to winning souls
for Christ through total consecration to Our Lady. And in Auschwitz, when a
stranger with a family was condemned to starve to death in a punishment bunker,
Kolbe stepped forward and offered his own life in that man's place. He gave up
marriage, comfort, and finally his own body, holding nothing back for the
kingdom of heaven that today's Gospel describes.
That's what Jesus means by making yourself a eunuch for the kingdom, not a
literal instruction for most people, but a total willingness to let go of every
claim on your own future if God asks for it. Kolbe took that as far as a human
being can take it.
He always credited Our Lady directly for the grace to do it. He wore a medal of
the Immaculate Conception even into the starvation bunker, and witnesses say he
led the other condemned men in prayer and hymns to her until the end. He didn't
find that courage on his own. He asked her for it, consistently, for his entire
adult life.
You're probably not being asked to die in someone else's place today. But
something smaller is likely being asked of you, some claim on comfort or
control God wants you to hand over.
What would it look like to ask Our Lady, the way Kolbe did, for the grace
to let go of what you're still holding onto? Our Lord has a plan for you; it
may not be where you are, it may not be what you think it is, maybe He is
preparing you for something greater, so letting go is the only way you will
know.
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely
given. Freely shared.
