Prayer And Meditation - Choosing For God

Dear Lord,
so much of what we do,
which road we take,
which life we lead
comes down to choice.

Teach me then,
to choose as you would have me choose,
teach me to understand
when to say Yes,
like Mary said yes
at the visit of the angel,
how Joseph said yes
when taking Mary into his house,
how you said Yes
in the garden
among the shadows,
the loneliness,
the grief.

Embolden me to say no
when the world asks me
to compromise,
when the pinch of incense
burned to Caesar
seems such a little thing,
harmless,
meaningless,
and yet, if I let it,
will open the door
to a bottomless pit
of dark.

Help me, O Lord,
to join you in saying to the Father,
Not my will, but yours,
until I can honestly say
As for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord.

"Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

From the Passion of St. Perpetua and Felicity, 203

After a few days there was a report that we were to have a hearing in court. And my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying: "Have pity, my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. Lay aside your courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything." These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet, and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my kindred would have no joy in my death. And I comforted him, saying, "On that scaffold, whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power but in that of God." And he departed from me in sorrow.

Another one of my favorite martyrs: Maximillian Kolbe

Raymond Kolbe was born on January 8, 1894 in Zdunska-Wola, Poland. He was a "wild young boy" but very gifted academically with a special interest in science and mathematics. His family thought that he may develop his career as a scientist but in 1910 he chose to enter the Franciscan Order and studied in Rome where he was ordained priest in 1918 with his chosen name, Maximillian.

Between the years 1918 and 1938 Fr. Kolbe was engaged in a Polish Catholic Society known as the Militia of the Immaculata, a group dedicated to Our Lady whose mission it was to spread the Catholic Faith in Poand and beyond. Based near Warsaw and under his leadership and guidance, Fr. Kolbe saw the group's size rise from 18 Franciscan Friars in 1927 to over 650 by 1938, making it the largest Catholic religious house in the world at that time. Father Kolbe and the other priests developed a monthly magazine with a circulation of over 1 million, and a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000, as well as countless catechetical and devotional tracts. The friars used the latest printing and administrative technologies to print and distribute their publications. Father Kolbe also started a radio station and planned to build a motion picture studio. However all this was interrupted and stopped with the start of World War II in 1939 and the invasion of Poland.

The printing apostolate started by Fr. Kole was greatly despised by the Germans and in 1941 he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. During his time here he secretly heard confession and celebrated mass. After an escape of some prisoners from the camp, the Commandant decreed that 10 prisoners were to be taken at random and killed in their place. One of the prisoners chosen begged to be freed since he had a wife and family. Fr. Kolbe then stepped forward and offered himself in place of the other prisoner. Along with the other 9 prisoners, Fr. Kolbe was taken to a starvation chamber. After two weeks only 4 prisoners were left alive and the orders were given to kill these men with a lethal injection of poison. Fr. Kolbe was the last to die, offering his arm to the prison guard willingly. He died, a martyr, on 14 August, the eve of the Feast of The Assumption.

The man whose place Fr. Kolbe took was present at his beatification in 1971 by Pope Paul VI. He was finally canonised by Pope John Paul on 10 October 1982, a martyr of the faith

God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."

He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.

Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.

And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."

He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."

Genesis 22:1-18

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