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
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  • Week 3 - Two Crowns.
  • Week 2 - The Martyrdom of Country
  • Week 1 - Accepting daily crosses

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« Week 42 – Why does God not intervene?
Week 44 – The Role of Christians and Humanity in the Holocaust »

Week 43 – God and the Holocaust

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

Week 43

God and the Holocaust

For some, the Holocaust signals the death of God. For them, it is no longer possible to believe in a God who allows such atrocities to happen. Just as Jesus was mocked on the cross as his executioners said, “Let God deliver Him, for He trusted in God,” Mt. 27:43, so was this also said to the victims of the Holocaust as well, “Where is your God now? Let Him deliver you!”

Was God powerless to save His own Son or the millions of victims of the Holocaust?
To merely state that the death of Jesus, or the death of 6 million Jews and the death of millions more is God’s Will risks turning the world into atheists.
Who wants to believe in this type of God?
What is threatened by the Holocaust, however, is not God’s existence but His Goodness.
What would we have said if we had walked through the gates of Auschwitz?
This is God’s Will! How Good God is!
Would we have offered our suffering to God or cried out “Where are you?”
Do we too easily and too quickly and nonchalantly speak of redemptive suffering? Perhaps we do as long as it is someone else’s suffering.
As long as it is not my mother or father, brother, sister or child that is murdered, then it is easy to call it redemptive suffering.

The truth is, the innocent do suffer!
Yet if the innocent do suffer, is it not more comforting to believe that their suffering is not in vain and that it has some higher purpose. If we believe that not a sparrow falls to the ground without our heavenly Father’s consent must there not be some redemptive purpose to the millions of innocent men, women, and children who fell to the ground in the holocaust?

On calvary, Jesus did not turn away from His Father in His suffering nor did He blame His Father.
What would He have gained by that except the miserable luxury of knowing Himself to be lost.
In the face of such incomprehensible suffering and almost unanswerable questions of Auschwitz, St. Maximilian did not lose Faith.
He found an even deeper Faith that transcended suffering.
He found a Love that called him to lay down his life for another, for a stranger.
He found a Hope that could sing in the starvation bunker.
Before we ask God questions, we must ask ourselves some questions, individually and communally.
We cannot wash our hands of the Holocaust because we are part of the human family and therefore we share in its goodness and in its evil.
We share in Hitler’s and Stalin’s sins just as we share in Einstein’s and Mother Teresa’s intelligence and goodness.
We did not fight the war of 1776, but we share in George Washington’s victory and the freedom he won for us.
We therefore also share in the sins of others as well. How have we tried to overcome the sins of society?
Do we become involved and do our part no matter how small, to make the world a better place, or are we too busy or do we too easily wash our hands believing that we can do nothing?

Prayer :
Heavenly Father, with you all things are possible. A Virgin becomes a Mother, sinners become
saints, and suffering becomes life-giving. Increase Our Faith, Hope, and Love in times of
suffering so that we may rise above despair to new and eternal Life with you.

Questions and Meditations:
1. Do I doubt God in times of suffering?
2. Do I see suffering as God’s Will or something I should overcome?
3. How and when has suffering increased my Faith?
4. What do I do when I see the suffering of others?

 

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 at 8:52 am 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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