Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr

Today's Mass Readings

We have spent much of the last two months or so reading from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). But yesterday and today, we have jumped to the first of the historical books in the Old Testament. Today’s Old Testament reading (Joshua 24:1-13) is situated after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and entered the land God promised them way back in the Book of Exodus. The concern Joshua is addressing in this passage is that some of the people have continued to hold on to the “old gods” they had back in Egypt, and he is exhorting them to give up those old gods, for all they need is the one true God. What is important to note is how Joshua is making his case before the rest of the Israelites. He gives them a retelling of the whole story that we have read ourselves in these past few months, starting with Abraham and continuing to the exact moment in which he and they are standing now. Joshua is inviting the people into the story, to claim it as their own.

This kind of invitation into the story happens throughout the Old and New Testaments. In fact, it happens (to a lesser degree) in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 19:3-12). The Pharisees ask Jesus a question about divorce, and what does Jesus do but quote to them from the Book of Genesis. Then he proceeds to tell them about Moses’ laws and the reasons God gave the law, and then he brings them right to their present day. He, Jesus, has come to “fulfill the Law” (Matthew 5:17) and so he is now giving them a new reading of the Old Law – not to divorce. Just as Joshua did, Jesus invites the Pharisees and his followers into God’s story, to claim it as their own.

This is the same story that we are invited into, that we are asked to claim as our own. Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe is one who shows us one (among many) ways to live that story – his story is a witness to the kind of radical love that Jesus demonstrated to humans. He hid thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, and for doing so, was eventually arrested by the Gestapo. During his time in prison, the Gestapo came to take 10 men from his barracks and force starvation on them, in punishment for another man who had managed to escape. One of the men protested, and Kolbe offered to take his place. Kolbe led the other nine in prayers and songs, and was one of four left at the end of three weeks. Eventually he was executed by the Nazis. He was canonized as a martyr of charity by Pope John Paul II.

Kolbe claimed God’s story as his own – in his lived he exhibited his faith in God through prayer, and his prayer gave him courage to carry out the acts of charity that he did for others. Today let us consider getting caught up in that story, as well.

- Jana M. Bennett