Militia of the Immaculata: M.I. Canada
  • Week 52 - HOMILY AT THE CANONIZATION OF ST. MAXIMILIAN MARY KOLBE
  • Week 51 - A Holocaust of Sacrifice
  • Week 50 The Tree of Life
  • Week 49 The Other Nine
  • Week 48 I Am A Catholic Priest
  • Week 47 - Francis Gajowinczek
  • Week 46 - The Holy Spirit and the Immaculate Conception
  • Week 45 - The foolishness of following Jesus
  • Week 44 - The Role of Christians and Humanity in the Holocaust
  • Week 43 - God and the Holocaust
  • Week 42 - Why does God not intervene?
  • Week 41 - The Garden of Auschwitz
  • Week 40 - The Shoah
  • Week 39 - Hannah Arendt
  • Week 38 - Adolf Eichmann
  • Week 37 - The Banality of Evil
  • Week 36 - Kolbe and Antisemitism
  • Week 35 - Did Hitler Win
  • Week 34 - Ashes to Ashes
  • Week 31 - Kolbe in Auschwitz Part 1
  • Week 30 - Auschwitz
  • Week 29 - Pawiak Prison
  • Week 28 - Work makes free
  • Week 27 - The Final Solution
  • Week 26 - From Nurnberg to Auschwitz
  • Week 25 - The Roots of Anti Semitism
  • Week 24 - Cain and Abel
  • Week 23 - Blessed are ye
  • Week 22 - Blessed are the peace makers
  • Week 21 Blessed are the pure in heart
  • Week 20 Blessed are the merciful
  • Week 19 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness
  • Week 18 - Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth
  • Week 17 - Blessed are those who mourn
  • Week 16 - Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
  • Week 15 Missionary in Japan
  • Week 14 Niepekalanow
  • Week 13 The Martyrdom of Self Reliance
  • Week 12 Martyrdom of Disunity
  • Week 11 - The Martyrdom of Work
  • Week 10 - The Colosseum
  • Week 9 Persecution of the Church
  • Week 8 - The Founding of the Militia of the Immaculata
  • Week 7 - Martyrdom of Health
  • Week 6 - The Martyrdom of Obedience
  • Week 5 - Growing up
  • Week 4 - The Martyrdom of Leaving Home
  • Week 3 - Two Crowns.
  • Week 2 - The Martyrdom of Country
  • Week 1 - Accepting daily crosses

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« Week 18 – Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth
Week 20 Blessed are the merciful »

Week 19 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness

The 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe

Week 19 December 18-25

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness, for they shall be satisfied.

Have you ever eaten so much, maybe at Thanksgiving or some other special occasion and said to yourself, that you will never eat again!

Only to get up the next morning hungry!

It is the same with shopping.

People seem happy with what they have until they see a sale or a bargain and they they just have to have it because they are not satisfied with what they already have.

Nothing in life really satisfies.

Not food nor material things.

Nothing

This is why St. Maximilian hungered for holiness.

Maximilian said, “It was the Lord Christ who came into the world and showed by example and word the way to true holiness. Its essence lies in love of God.”

Holiness according to St. Maximilian is not complicated.

It is not a regimen of fasting, penance, and mortification as worthwhile these things may be.

True holiness is simply, Loving God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength and our neighbor as ourself.” Deut. 6:5, Mk. 12:30

Few people love God and their neighbor with such a total and complete love.

If they did there would be no hunger, or poverty, or racism or violence.

True love, however, is not conditional;

Whether or not one is deserving of love;

Whether or not one is holy or sinful;

Whether or not one is loved in return.

True Love is always unconditional toward God and neighbor.

It does not depend on the actions or worthiness of another.

This is why God loved us even while we were still sinners. Rom. 5:8

For Love, Loves!

Some people however separate love of God from love of neighbor.

They speak and act differently toward God than they do their neighbor.

Maximilian however never separated love of God from love of neighbor.

His love for God was manifested in his love for the Eucharist and for Mary.

Before or after each school hour, he visited Jesus in the tabernacle.

His love for Mary was expressed in his total consecration to her.

Maximilian’s love of neighbor was manifested when he would pray for those in the seminary who transgressed the Rule of St. Francis and the superiors.

No one ever heard him talk badly of anyone.

He ultimately showed his total love for God and for neighbor by taking the place of a fellow prisoner in the starvation bunker in Auschwitz.

Even as he was being starved to death he was “satisfied.”

Filled with the Love of God.

Only Love satisfies and this is the essence of holiness for Maximilian.

This is how he lived and how he died.

Prayer :

In all things and at all times, may I always love God with my whole heart and soul and mind strength and my neighbor as myself, as God has loved me in Jesus. Amen.

Meditations and Questions :

1. How do I show my love for God?

2. How do I show my love for my neighbor?

3. How have I failed to love God?

4. How have I failed to love my neighbor?

5. How did Maximilian love God and his neighbor?

6. For what do I hunger and thirst?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Fr. Patrick’s reflections on St Maximilian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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