Memorial of St Maximilian Kolbe
John 15:13
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
We tend to think of the Saints as people who lived centuries ago. That's shifting as we now celebrate St. Teresa of Calcutta and Pope Saint John Paul II, these people who lived in our recent lifetime, who we saw on tv or maybe even in person.
So what does it take to become a capital S Saint? The ones the church recognizes as having loved Jesus so completely that their souls must surely be with Him in heaven right now? Let's take a cue from the one we remember today, St Maximilian Kolbe.
St. Maximilian Kolbe was also known as prisoner # 16670. He was arrested in Poland in February of 1941, and in May sent to the Auschwitz death camp. When a prisoner escaped two months later, ten men from his barracks were picked to suffer death by starvation as both punishment and deterrent. Fr. Maximilian offered to take the place of one of the men, Franciszek, after he let out a cry of pain for his family. Fr Maximilian died on August 14, 1941, at the age of 47. The prisoner whose life he saved was at his canonization in 1982.
So how do we become a Saint? It's in John 15:13. But to do that, we have to listen. Fr. Maximilian was attentive to needs other than his own. He heard the cry of that father and responded selflessly. If we do that day after day, through and with the love of Jesus, and we will not only meet our saviour, but we will surely inspire others to want to do the same.
