Ordinary Time: August 14th

Memorial of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr

MASS READINGS

August 14, 2018 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

O God, who filled the Priest and Martyr Saint Maximilian Kolbe with a burning love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary and with zeal for souls and love of neighbor, graciously grant, through his intercession, that striving for your glory by eagerly serving others, we may be conformed, even until death, to your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Recipes (1)

Kielbasa Stew

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Activities (2)

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Prayers (2)

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Library (4)

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

Old Calendar: Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; St. Eusebius, confessor

Maximilian Mary Kolbe was born in Poland. He consecrated himself to the Lord in the Franciscan Order. Filled with love for the Virgin, he founded the Militia of the Immaculate Mary and, with his preaching and writing, undertook an intense apostolic mission in Europe and Asia. Imprisoned in Auschwitz during the Second World War, he offered himself in exchange for the father of a large family who was to be executed. He was given a lethal injection when he failed to die fast enough from starvation in the concentration camp. John Paul II proclaimed him the Patron of Our Suffering Century.

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the feast of St. Eusebius is celebrated today. In the Ordinary Form his feast is celebrated on August 2.

St. Maximillian Kolbe
St. Maximilian, born Raymond Kolbe in Poland, Jan. 8, 1894. In 1910, he entered the Conventual Franciscan Order. He was sent to study in Rome where he was ordained a priest in 1918.

Father Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919 and began spreading his Militia of the Immaculata movement of Marian consecration (whose members are also called MIs), which he founded on October 16, 1917. In 1927, he established an evangelization center near Warsaw called Niepokalanow, the "City of the Immaculata." By 1939, the City had expanded from eighteen friars to an incredible 650, making it the largest Catholic religious house in the world.

To better "win the world for the Immaculata," the friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques. This enabled them to publish countless catechetical and devotional tracts, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000 and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Maximilian started a shortwave radio station and planned to build a motion picture studio--he was a true "apostle of the mass media." He established a City of the Immaculata in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1930, and envisioned missionary centers worldwide.

Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as "Advocate" for God's people.

In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "martyr of charity" in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement and the chemically addicted.

Militia of the Immaculata

Patron: Drug addiction; drug addicts; families; imprisoned people; journalists; political prisoners; prisoners; pro-life movement.

Things to Do:

From the Catholic Culture library, read The Holy Spirit and Mary, an explanation of St. Maximillian's Marian theology and Maximillian Kolbe, Apostle of Mary by Fr. John Hardon.
Offer a Mass, say a rosary for those who suffer in the world today from man's inhumanity. Pray for an end to abortion, our nation's own holocaust. Read about Auschwitz and ponder the modern gas chambers in every state of our Union and resolve to do all that you can to end the killing.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Memorial)

Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)

There’s a photo that has gone viral in recent months that shows a young girl with Down syndrome contentedly holding the hand of Pope Francis while he speaks to a group of people. She was a Special Olympics athlete who had just presented a gift to the Pope and she wanted to stay next to the Holy Father and enjoy his company. Even her parents’ urging couldn’t convince her.

If there’s one thing true about young children, it’s that they have their own unique way of entering into a situation. They love to engage in whatever is going on around them, even if they’re not the center of attention. They operate in the “now” and don’t usually concern themselves with the past or future.

As adults, we so often focus on “doing” rather than just “being.” “Doing” refers to the way our minds work. As we set goals and try to meet them, we start to look at each present moment as the means to an end that we want to achieve in the future. We measure our worth or value by whether we have achieved all we set out to do. We feel good if we consider ourselves successful, and we feel bad when we face a setback.

If we become too preoccupied with “doing,” we end up missing out on the grace of just “being” in the present moment. What’s more, when “doing” becomes our primary focus, we risk thinking that our value comes from what we do rather than who we are.

Think about children: they receive the love of their parents because they are their children! Yes, parents appreciate what their children do, but their love is based on who they are. When love is based on “doing” alone, a child can grow up less secure and with more emotional needs.

That’s not how God treats us. Just as the pope treasured that little girl for who she is, our heavenly Father treasures us for who we are. He loves us simply because we are his children. Whether we are rich or poor, talented or challenged, healthy or ill—it doesn’t matter. He just loves us. He loves you.

“Father, help me to receive your love, not for what I do, but for who I am!”

Ezekiel 2:8–3:4
Psalm 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131