Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a
priest who, in the Auschwitz
concentration camp asked that he be taken to the starvation room in place of a
man who had a wife and two children. His
request was granted. In light of the
first reading of today’s liturgy, Ez 12:1-12, Maximilian, unlike the chosen
people, had eyes that saw and ears that heard the Lord’s invitation to give of
his all, to act with justice, to love
tenderly and walk humbly with his God (Micah 6:8). In his willingness to give his life for
another, Maximilian also was granted the grace to forgive the Nazis who
imprisoned him along with millions of other Jews. Nothing, in the words of St.
Paul, came between Maximilian and the love of Christ (Rom 8:39).
Today we have millions enduring the martyrdom, not of the
concentration camps run by the Nazis but of those run by other ruthless persons.
Millions are being silenced by others in various ways by being deprived of justice, denied their integrity as
persons, treated poorly and abusively. Some are being stoned to death for
alleged crimes while others are being victimized by the corrupt use of emotional,
psychological, political, ecclesial, intellectual powers. Many are being “martyred” as slaves of pimps,
human traffickers, drug traffickers, unjust employers and so on. Yes, we
live “in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see but do
not see, and ears to hear but do not hear…”
God’s call for justice, truth, reconciliation, forgiveness and love frequently
falls on deaf ears and hardened hearts.
What part of me could be described as rebellious? What part
of me, like Ezekiel, sees and hears God walking in our midst? In what ways am I willing, as Maximilian was,
to give my life that another can live? Am I willing to give up gossiping about
another, judging others, judging myself, criticizing others, putting others and
self down? Am I willing to forgive others and forgive myself, not once, but in
the words of today’s Gospel, 70xs 7 times?
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