Homily on the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe | August 14, 2024
by Fr. Jason Laguerta
Today is the memorial of St Maximilian Kolbe and also the 5th day of our novena for St Ezekiel Moreno.
St Maximilian Kolbe is one of the inspirations of St John Paul II while he was in the seminary during World War II and it was from him that Pope John Paul II took the motto, “ad Jesum per Mariam” (to Jesus through Mary), so, today, we reflect on this beautiful life of St Maximilian Kolbe.
He was (executed) injected with carbolic acid in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Going back to his story, it is said that a prisoner escaped from the camp, prompting the Deputy Camp Commander, Karl Fritzsch, to pick 10 men from Maximilian’s block cell #14 to be starved to death in a starvation bunker. One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out and he even passed because of his sadness. Franciszek was crying out to the German Commandant, Karl Fritzsch, screaming that he has a family with two children, so he was begging that his life be spared. Then in that conversation between the prisoner and the commandant, there was this prisoner number 16670, who told the German Commandant that he is a Catholic priest and that he would like to take the place of the other prisoner. That Catholic priest, of course, was Maximilian Kolbe. So, these 10 prisoners, which then included Maximilian Kolbe, taken from block cell #14, were put in a starvation bunker where they did not have food nor water for the next two weeks. After 14 days, they checked on the bunker and found out that Maximilian Kolbe was still alive, so the German Commandant became so impatient and he was injected with phenolic (carbolic) acid and he was cremated. The final words of Maximilian Kolbe was “Hail Mary, full of grace..”; he was praying the Hail Mary when he was being injected with acid.
Such courage and such faith in his heart to lay down his life for someone else – “ I am a Catholic priest and I will take his place.” Maximilian Kolbe is often heard saying, “hatred is not a creative force; only love is creative.” Only love creates, so in the hatred in the concentration camp in Auschwitz, there was Maximilian Kolbe, leading the 10 men in the starvation bunker for 14 days in prayer.
Our gospel today talks about “where two or three are gathered in His name, there am I in their midst.” Maximilian Kolbe encouraged his fellow prisoners to cling to the Lord; in those 14 days that they were being starved to death, he was encouraging them to cling to the Lord and go to the Blessed Mother, as they prayed together.
“Only love creates” – this is the philosophy of Maximilian Kolbe, and the interesting story about Maximilian Kolbe is that the other prisoner he saved, Franciszek Gajowniczek, survived the war and he lived on until the 1990s, and Franciszek Gajowniczek said that he made it his life mission every day to talk about the heroism and martyrdom of Maximilian Kolbe. Franciszek Gajowniczek never forgot the heroism and love of Maximilian, so after the war, Franciszek continued to spread the story about Maximilian that he was even present in the beatification and canonization of Maximilian Kolbe. Franciszek Gajowniczek became the ardent apostle of the message of Maximilian Kolbe, which is the motto, “only love creates.”
What does Maximilian’s story tell us?
Let us always be an instrument of love because only love is a creative force, not hatred, not hostility, not anger. It is only love that can create something beautiful every day and it would be a good reminder for us today to listen to this – “only love is a creative force.” For every day, there is reason to be divided and to be in conflict, to get angry, argue and fight, but Maximilian Kolbe reminds us to spend our lives in love; be a creative force wherever we are; be an instrument of joy and peace and happiness and unity wherever we are placed. Imagine Maximilian Kolbe being placed in a concentration camp where there was no love and everything around them was just hatred – 6,000,000 Jews after the war, many Polish men and women, hundreds of thousands of them were executed.
St John Paul II, when he became a Pope and when he went back to Poland, the first place he visited when he came back was block cell #14, the cell of Maximilian Kolbe, and then St John Paul II, at that time, told everyone that this priest has made a difference in his life.
Only love creates. We do not know how far the love that we share can go. We do not know how far one’s compassion will go, but let us just be a creative force wherever we are placed. Like in the office, you can be a creative force there; you can be a positive influence there. Wherever you are placed, put some love because that is the only thing that can create, everything else will destroy.
So, in this mass, we ask the intercession of St Maximilian Kolbe, a devotee of the Blessed Mother. He even died at the eve of The Assumption and he passed on with his last words, praying the Hail Mary. Thus, like Maximilian Kolbe, let us develop this relationship with the Blessed Mother and let us continue to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Let us become an instrument of love because only love is creative.
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