Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 14-August-2022

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

12:49–53

49. I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

52. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

53. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

AMBROSE. To stewards, that is, to Priests, the preceding words seem to have been addressed, that they may thereby know that hereafter a heavier punishment awaits them, if, intent upon the world’s pleasures, they have neglected the charge of their Lord’s household, and the people entrusted to their care. But as it profiteth little to be recalled from error by the fear of punishment, and far greater is the privilege of charity and love, our Lord therefore kindles in men the desire of acquiring the divine nature, saying, I came to send fire on earth, not indeed that He is the Consumer of good men, but the Author of good will, who purifies the golden vessels of the Lord’s house, but burns up the straw and stubble.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Now it is the way of holy Scripture to use sometimes the term fire, of holy and divine words. For as they who know how to purify gold and silver, destroy the dross by fire, so the Saviour by the teaching of the Gospel in the power of the Spirit cleanses the minds of those who believe in Him. This then is that wholesome and useful fire by which the inhabitants of earth, in a manner cold and dead through sin, revive to a life of piety.

CHRYSOSTOM. For by the earth He now means not that which we tread under our feet, but that which was fashioned by His hands, namely, man, upon whom the Lord pours out fire for the consuming of sins, and the renewing of souls.

TITUS BOSTRENSIS. And we must here believe that Christ came down from heaven. For if He had come from earth to earth, He would not say, I came to send fire upon the earth.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But our Lord was hastening the kindling of the fire, and hence it follows, And what will I, save that it be kindleda? (nisi ut accendatur) For already some of the Jews believed, of whom the first were the holy Apostles, but the fire once lighted in Judæa was about to take possession of the whole world, yet not till after the dispensation of His Passion had been accomplished. Hence it follows, But I have a baptism to be baptized with. For before the holy cross and His resurrection from the dead, in Judæa only was the news told of His preaching and miracles; but after that the Jews in their rage had slain the Prince of life, then commanded He His Apostles, saying, Go and teach all nations. (Matt. 28:19.)

GREGORY. (in Ezech. lib. i. Hom. 2.) Or else, fire is sent upon the earth, when by the fiery breath of the Holy Spirit, the earthly mind has all its carnal desires burnt up, but inflamed with spiritual love, bewails the evil it has done; and so the earth is burnt, when the conscience accusing itself, the heart of the sinner is consumed in the sorrow of repentance.

BEDE. But He adds, I have a baptism to be baptized with, that is, I have first to be sprinkled with the drops of My own Blood, and then to inflame the hearts of believers by the fire of the Spirit.

AMBROSE. But so great was our Lord’s condescension, that He tells us He has a desire of inspiring us with devotion, of accomplishing perfection in us, and of hastening His passion for us; as it follows, And how am I straitened till it be accomplished?

BEDE. Some manuscripts have, “And how am I anguished,” (coangor) that is, grieved. For though He had in Himself nothing to grieve Him, yet was He afflicted by our woes, and at the time of death He betrayed the anguish which He underwent not from the fear of His death, but from the delay of our redemption. For he who is troubled until he reaches perfection, is secure of perfection, for the condition of bodily affections not the dread of death offends him. For ho who has put on the body must suffer all things which are of the body, hunger, thirst, vexation, sorrow; but the Divine nature knows no change from such feelings. At the same time He also shews, that in the conflict of suffering consists the death of the body, peace of mind has no struggle with grief.

BEDE. But the manner in which after the baptism of His passion and the coming of the spiritual fire the earth will be burnt, He declares as follows, Suppose ye that I am to give peace, &c.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. What sayest thou, O Lord? Didst thou not come to give peace, Who art made peace for us? (Eph. 2:14.) making peace by Thy cross with things in earth and things in heaven; (Col. 1:20.) Who saidst, My peace I give unto you. (John 14:27.) But it is plain that peace is indeed a good, but sometimes hurtful, and separating us from the love of God, that is, when by it we unite with those who keep away from God. And for this reason we teach the faithful to avoid earthly bonds. Hence it follows, For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, &c.

AMBROSE. Though the connexion would seem to be of six persons, father and son, mother and daughter, mother in law and daughter in law, yet are they five, for the mother and the mother in law may be taken as the same, since she who is the mother of the son, is the mother in law of his wife.

CHRYSOSTOM. (non occ.) Now hereby He declared a future event, for it so happened in the same house that there have been believers whose fathers wished to bring them to unbelief; but the power of Christ’s doctrines has so prevailed, that fathers were left by sons, mothers by daughters, and children by parents. For the faithful in Christ were content not only to despise their own, but at the same time also to suffer all things as long as they were not without the worship of their faith. But if He were mere man, how would it have occurred to Him to conceive it possible that He should be more loved by fathers than their children were, by children than their fathers, by husbands than their wives, and they too not in one house or a hundred, but throughout the world? And not only did he predict this, but accomplish it in deed.

AMBROSE. Now in a mystical sense the one house is one man, but by two we often mean the soul and the body. But if two things meet together, each one has its part; there is one which obeys, another which rules. But there are three conditions of the soul, one concerned with reason, another with desire, the third with anger. Two then are divided against three, and three against two. For by the coming of Christ, man who was material became rational. We were carnal and earthly, God sent His Spirit into our hearts, and we became spiritual children. (Gal. 4:6.) We may also say, that in the house there are five others, that is, smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing. If then with respect to those things which we hear or see, separating the sense of sight and hearing, we shut out the worthless pleasures of the body which we take in by our taste, touch, and smell, we divide two against three, because the mind is not carried away by the allurements of vice. Or if we understand the five bodily senses, already are the vices and sins of the body divided among themselves. The flesh and the soul may also seem separated from the smell, touch, and taste of pleasure, for while the stronger sex of reason is impelled, as it were, to manly affections, the flesh strives to keep the reason more effeminate. Out of these then there spring up the motions of different desires, but when the soul returns to itself it renounces the degenerate offspring. The flesh also bewails that it is fastened down by its desires (which it has borne to itself,) as by the thorns of the world. But pleasure is a kind of daughter in law of the body and soul, and is wedded to the motions of foul desire. As long then as there remained in one house the vices conspiring together with one consent, there seemed to be no division; but when Christ sent fire upon the earth which should burn out the offences of the heart, or the sword which should pierce the very secrets of the heart, then the flesh and the soul renewed by the mysteries of regeneration cast off the bond of connection with their offspring. So that parents are divided against their children, while the intemperate man gets rid of his intemperate desires, and the soul has no more fellowship with crime. Children also are divided against parents when men having become regenerate renounce their old vices, and younger pleasure flies from the rule of piety, as from the discipline of a strict house.

BEDE. Or in another way. By three are signified those who have faith in the Trinity, by two the unbelievers who depart from the unity of the faith. But the father is the devil, whose children we were by following him, but when that heavenly fire came down, it separated us from one another, and shewed us another Father who is in heaven. The mother is the Synagogue, the daughter is the Primitive Church, who had to bear the persecution of that same synagogue, from whom she derived her birth, and whom she did herself in the truth of the faith contradict. The mother in law is the Synagogue, the daughter in law the Gentile Church, for Christ the husband of the Church is the son of the Synagogue, according to the flesh. The Synagogue then was divided both against its daughter in law, and its daughter, persecuting believers of each people. But they also were divided against their mother in law and mother, because they wished to abolish the circumcision of the flesh.

Catena Aurea Luke 12

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

From: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10

Jeremiah’s and the cistern of Malchiah
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[4] Then the princes said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” [5] King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.” So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

[8] Ebed-melech went from the king’s house and said to the king, [9] “My Lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern; and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.” [1-] Then the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian, “Take three men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

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Commentary:

38:1-28. Like the previous chapter, this one also contains an account concerning Jeremiah’s arrest (vv. 1-13) and a conversation that he had with the king (vv. 14-28). Jeremiah keeps on urging submission to Babylon and personal conversion; the princes, or nobles, will hear none of this. Wary, perhaps, about putting an envoy of God to death, they put him into a big water-tank, from which he is rescued by a court official, a foreigner. Having escaped in this way, the prophet manages to stay in the hall of the court guard without anyone observing him, it seems (v. 13). One ecclesiastical writer, Olympiodorus, interpreted Jeremiah’s imprisonment as a prefigurement of Jesus’ passion and death. Commenting on v. 6, he said: “The prophet becomes a figure of the mystery of Christ, who was handed over by Pilate to the Jews, descended into hell, and was raised from the dead. Jeremiah climbs out of the cistern he was cast into; Scripture often refers to hell as a cistern” (Fragmenta in Jeremiam, 38, 6).

In his conversation with the king, Jeremiah re-affirms his message (vv. 17-18); Zedekiah is afraid of what will happen if he surrenders (v. 19), but the prophet tells him he should trust in the Lord. If he fails to do so, his humiliation will be great; even the women will despise him (v. 22). Zedekiah will be stuck in the mire (v. 22) – and will suffer more than Jeremiah has suffered (v. 6).

Without saying why, the king asks the prophet not to reveal his prophecy (vv. 24-26); and so Jeremiah keeps quiet a about it when the princes interrogate him about his interview with the king (v. 27). The prophet’s response does not mean that he is deceiving them (they had no right to be party to Jeremiah’s conversation with the king) or that he fears them; we know that his courage was never in question.

These verses show how very different in attitude Zedekiah and Jeremiah were. Zedekiah used all his ingenuity and political skill to save himself and Judah from their enemies; but he lost both life and land. Jeremiah, however, preached the word of God without diluting it in any way – even though people clamoured for his death (v. 4); and when the Babylonians won the day, he was released from prison and survived (v. 28). It is very much what Jesus taught: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:25).

Most of this passage forms a reading in the Divine Office for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the response to that reading is a call to serve the Lord, no matter what trials that involves. It links some words from Judith 8:23 (Vg) with others from St Paul to do with predicaments he encountered that were similar to the prophet’s: “as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments (2 Cor 6:4-5a).

From: Hebrews 12:1-4

The Example of Christ
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[1] Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, [2] looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

[3] Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. [4] In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

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Commentary:

1-3. After recalling the exemplary faith and fidelity of the righteous of the Old Testament, a moral lesson is now drawn: Christians should be no less faithful--particularly since they have as a model not only patriarchs, kings and prophets but also Christ Jesus himself, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith", in other words, he is the perfect example of obedience, of faithfulness to his mission, of union with the Father, and of endurance in suffering.

Christ is depicted as the strong, generous athlete who runs a good race (cf. 1 Cor 9:24; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 2:6), who starts and finishes well, who does not flag and who wins the race. A Christian should live in the same way (cf. Gal 2:2; Phil 2:16; 5:7). It is as if we were listening again to what St Paul says in Philippians 2:5-9: "Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus." Christ's example helps us to overcome contempt and it reminds us that we should not be surprised to meet up with humiliation and hostility rather than success and rejoicing (cf. Mt 10:24; Lk 6:40). "Cross, toil, anguish: such will be your lot as long as you live. That was the way Christ went, and the disciple is not above his Master" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 699).

1. This verse contains three remarkable expressions which stress the need to be faithful in spite of difficulties. The first is the "cloud of witnesses", a reference to the multitude of holy people in the course of the history of Israel who stayed faithful to God (cf. 11:2, 4, 5, 39); they are a cloud, a huge number filling the sky. In classical literature one often finds an army advancing in battle array being compared with a storm forming in the sky. Also, the image of the cloud suggests that these witnesses are high up, near the sun, a sign of their spiritual stature.

They are "witnesses", that is, active spectators of the combat in which Christians are involved. This evokes the idea of spectators at the Games who follow the events from the stands, applauding, shouting and gesticulating.

"Sin which clings so closely": one interpretation of the original is "sin which watches us closely, like an enemy, to see where he can attack us". It is the same kind of idea as occurs in 1 Pet 5:8, where it says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and as in Gen 4:7 where God describes sin as couching at the door (like a hungry wild animal ready to pounce). The verb used to describe sin indicates it is something which surrounds one on all sides (cf. RSV) and can easily get a foothold and is persistent. "We may have here an allusion to occasions of sin, to the fact that sin is present all around us, that is, in the world, in the flesh, in our neighbor and in the devil" (St Thomas, "Commentary on Heb.", ad loc.). Sin is also a "weight" which hinders our movements and reduces our agility; there may also be a reference here to being overweight. The athlete needs to shed any surplus weight and keep to a strict training schedule involving many small renunciations (cf. 1 Cor 9:25). His only hope of success in the Games depends on this.

Finally, Christians are invited to "run with perseverance". Theirs is not a short race but a long test which calls for endurance and an ability to cope with pain and fatigue. "Just as in a race and in combat we need to shed everything that cramps our movements, the same happens in the struggle of tribulation. 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,' St Paul says (2 Tim 4:7). So, he who wants to run well towards God in the midst of tribulation should shed all useless weight. The Apostle describes this encumbrance as 'weight, and sin which clings so closely'. This weight is the sins we have committed, which pull the soul downwards and incline it to sin again" ("Commentary on Heb, ad loc.").

Essentially, the verse emphasizes the need for detachment if one is to win in the struggle of life: "Anything that does not lead to God is a hindrance. Root it out and throw it far from you" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 189).

2. The Christian should fix his gaze on Jesus, in the same way as a runner, once the race has begun, lets nothing distract him from his determination to reach his goal.

"If you want to be saved," St Thomas writes, "look at the face of your Christ. He is the pioneer of our faith, in two senses. He teaches it through his preaching and he also impresses it on our heart. In two senses also is he the perfecter of our faith: he consigns faith by his miracles and it is he who gives faith its reward" ("Commentary on Heb, ad loc.").

Christ is the "pioneer" of our faith in the sense that he has marked out the path Christians should take. He is the captain and guide of all the faithful, the champion who takes the lead and opens the way, setting the pace. The reference evokes what Hebrews 6:20 says about Jesus being our "forerunner".

Christ is the "pioneer" of our faith, the cause of our faith; it is he that we first believe in and, as author of grace, it is he who infuses this virtue into our souls. The title of "pioneer", initiator, may also indicate that Christ is for the Christian--and for the universe--beginning and end, alpha and omega (cf. Rev 1:17; 2:8; 22:13). In the same line, Jesus is also the "perfecter" of our faith, for it is he who will lead us to perfection in faith and will transform it into the perfection of glory. He will crown his work in us (cf. St Augustine, "Letter 194", 5), for if we believe it is because he has moved us to faith, and if we are glorified it will be because he has helped us to stay true to the end.

Everything Christ did in his life is a perfect example for us to follow particularly the way he underwent his passion. "In the passion of Christ there are three things to consider: in the first place what he gave up, then what he suffered, and thirdly what he merited. As far as the first is concerned, (Hebrews) speaks of his leaving 'the joy that was set before him', that is, joy or happiness here on earth, as when the crowd sought him out to make him king and he fled to the mountain despising that honor [...]. Then describing the happiness of eternal life as his reward, he 'endured the cross': that is the second thing, namely, that he suffered the cross. 'He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross' (Phil 2:8). In this the terrible severity of his suffering is manifested, for he was nailed to the cross by his hands and feet, and the opprobrium of this death, for it was an ignominious death [...]. The third thing, that is, what he merited, is being seated at the right hand of the Father. Thus, the exaltation of Christ's human nature was the reward for his passion" ("Commentary on Heb, ad loc.").

Christ is the pioneer of our faith by his death on the Cross, and its perfecter by his glorification. Only those who share in Christ's sufferings will be raised up like him in glory (cf. Rom 6:8). The Christian life begins in Christ and finds its climax in him. To bring about our redemption any form of suffering would have sufficed; but such was our Lord's love for us that he accepted the ignominy of death on a cross.

"By now they have fastened Jesus to the wooden cross. The executioners have ruthlessly carried out the sentence. Our Lord, with infinite meekness, has let them have their way.

"It was not necessary for him to undergo so much torment. He could have avoided those trials, those humiliations, that ill-usage, that iniquitous judgment, and the shame of the gallows, and the nails and the lance.... But he wanted to suffer all this for you and for me. And we, are we not going to respond?

"Very likely there will be times, when alone in front of a crucifix, you find tears coming to your eyes. Don't try to hold them back.... But try to ensure that those tears give rise to a resolution" (St J. Escriva, "The Way of the Cross", XI, 1).

3. "What does Christ teach you from the height of the Cross, from which he chose not to come down, but that you should arm yourself with valor against those who revile you, and be strong with the strength of God?" (St Augustine, "Enarrationes in Psalmos", 70, 1). The difficulties Jesus had to contend with were quite exceptional: Jews and Gentiles opposed him; he suffered every kind of humiliation, to the extreme of his passion and death; but what pained him most was the hardheartedness, spiritual blindness and impenitence of those who had come to save. The "sinners" who proved "hostile" to Jesus are not only Caiaphas, Herod, Pilate, etc. but also those who continue to sin despite his redemptive sacrifice. Yet our Lord bore all this patiently and exhibited to a supreme degree the virtues and qualities he asks of his disciples.

In Christ, and in Christians, weakness becomes strength, humiliation and glory. "(Jesus) dies nailed to the Cross. But if at the same time in this weakness there is accomplished his "lifting up", confirmed by the power of the Resurrection, then this means that the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ's Cross" (John Paul II, "Salvifici Doloris", 23).

The sacred text seeks to inspire the faithful with hope and strength by suggesting that they contemplate Christ's sufferings. That in fact has led many Christians to turn over a new leaf. St Teresa of Avila describes how it changed her: "By this time my soul was growing weary, and, though it desired to rest, the miserable habits which now enslaved it would not allow it to do so. It happened that, entering the oratory one day, I saw an image which had been procured for a certain festival that was observed in the house and had been taken there to be kept for that purpose. It represented Christ sorely wounded; and so conducive was it to devotion that when I looked at it I was deeply moved to see him thus, so well did it picture what he suffered for us. So great was my distress when I thought how ill I had repaid him for those wounds that I felt as if my heart were breaking, and I threw myself down beside him, shedding floods of tears and begging him to give me strength once for all so that I might not offend him" ("Life", IX, 1).

4-13. Following Christ's example, Christians should struggle to avoid sin; they should put up with tribulation and persecution because if such adversity arises it means that the Lord permits it for our good. The letter's tone of encouragement seems to change here to one of reproach. It is as if the writer were saying, "Christ gave his life for your sins, contending even to the point of dying for you; how is it that you do not put up with suffering, out of love for him? It is true that you are being persecuted: God is disciplining you as a Father disciplines his children. But you are children of God and therefore your attitude should be one of abandonment to his will even when it seems hard. That is the way a Father brings up his children."

The main point is that the only important thing is fidelity to God, and that the sin of apostasy is the greatest of all misfortunes. "Don't forget, my son, that for you on earth there is but one evil, which you must fear and avoid with the grace of God: sin" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 386).

From: Luke 12:49-53

Jesus the Cause of Dissension
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [49] "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! [50] I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! [51] Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; [52] for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; [53] they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

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Commentary:

49-50. In the Bible, fire is often used to describe God's burning love for men. This divine love finds its highest expression in the Son of God become man: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" (John 3:16). Jesus voluntarily gave up His life out of love for us, and "greater love has no man than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

In these words reported by St. Luke, Jesus Christ reveals His abounding desire to give His life for love of us. He calls His death a baptism, because from it He will arise victorious never to die again. Our Baptism is a submersion in Christ's death, in which we die to sin and are reborn to the new life of grace: "We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

Through this new life, we Christians should become set on fire in the same way as Jesus set His disciples on fire: "With the amazing naturalness of the things of God, the contemplative soul is filled with apostolic zeal. `My heart became hot within me, a fire blazed forth from my thoughts' (Psalm 38:4). What could this fire be if not the fire that Christ talks about: `I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled' (Luke 12:49). An apostolic fire that acquires its strength in prayer: there is no better way than this to carry on, throughout the whole world, the battle of peace to which every Christian is called to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Colossians 1:24)" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 120).

51-53. God has come into the world with a message of peace (cf. Luke 2:14) and reconciliation (cf. Romans 5:11). By resisting, through sin, the redeeming work of Christ, we become His opponents. Injustice and error lead to division and war. "Insofar as men are sinners, the threat of war hangs over them and will so continue until the coming of Christ; but insofar as they can vanquish sin by coming together in charity, violence itself will be vanquished" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 78).

During His own life on earth, Christ was a sign of contradiction (cf. Luke 2:34). Our Lord is forewarning His disciples about the contention and division which will accompany the spread of the Gospel (cf. Luke 6:20-23; Matthew 10:24).

Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary

Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan Friar. During the German occupation of Poland, he remained at Niepokalanów a monastery which published a number of anti-Nazi German publications. In 1941, he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where in terrible circumstances he continued to work as a priest and offer solace to fellow inmates. When the Nazi guards selected 10 people to be starved to death in punishment, Kolbe volunteered to die in place of a stranger. He was later canonised as a martyr.

Early Life

Raymund Kolbe was born on 8 January 1894 In Zdunska Wola, in the Kingdom of Poland (then part of the Russian Empire). His father was an ethnic German and his mother Polish. His parents were relatively poor, and in 1914 his father was captured by the Russians and hanged for his part in fighting for an independent Poland.

Raymund developed a strong religious yearning from an early life. He recounts an early childhood vision of the Virgin Mary. This vision was significant because he chose both the path of sanctity and also to follow the path of a martyr.

“That night, I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me, a Child of Faith. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.” [1]

Aged only 13, Kolbe and his elder brother left home to enrol in the Conventual Franciscan seminary in Lwow. This seminary was in Austria-Hungary and it meant illegally crossing the border.

In 1910, he was given the religious name Maximillian and was admitted as an initiate. He took his final vows as a monk in 1914. After a short period in Krakow, Poland, Kolbe went to study in Rome, Italy. He gained a doctorate in philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1915. In 1919 he also gained a doctorate of theology from the University of Saint Bonaventure.

Kolbe was ordained as a priest and after completing his studies returned to the newly independent Poland in 1919. He settled in the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw. Towards the end of his studies, Kolbe suffered his first bout of tuberculosis and he became quite ill, often coughing up blood; the illness disrupted his studies. Throughout the rest of his life, he experienced poor health, but never complained, seeing his illness as an opportunity to ‘suffer for Mary’.

Kolbe was an active priest and particularly keen to work for the conversion of sinners and enemies of the Catholic Church. During his time in Rome, he witnessed angry protests by the Freemasons against the Vatican. Kolbe had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary and he became an active participant in the Militia Immaculata or Army of Mary.

“I felt the Immaculata drawing me to herself more and more closely… I had a custom of keeping a holy picture of one of the Saints to whom she appeared on my prie-dieu in my cell, and I used to pray to the Immaculata very fervently” (Link Militia of the Immaculata)

He felt a strong motivation to ‘fight for Mary’ against enemies of the church. It was Kolbe who sought to reinvigorate and organise the work of the MI (Militia Immaculata). Kolbe helped the Immaculata Friars to publish high pamphlets, books and a daily newspaper – Maly Dziennik. The monthly magazine grew to have a circulation of over 1 million and was influential amongst Polish Catholics. Kolbe even gained a radio licence and publicly broadcast his views on religion. Kolbe was successful in using the latest technology to spread his message.

As well as writing extensive essays and pieces for the newspaper, Kolbe composed the Immaculata Prayer – the consecration to the immaculately conceived Virgin Mary.

Kolbe in Japan

In 1930, Kolbe travelled to Japan, where he spent several years serving as a missionary. He founded a monastery on the outskirts of Nagasaki (the monastery survived the atomic blast, shielded by a mountain). Although the location on the side of the mountain was strange, its position helped it to survive the later Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. He also entered into dialogue with local Buddhist priests and some of them became friends. However, increasingly ill, he returned to Poland in 1936.

Second World War

At the start of the Second World War, Kolbe was residing in the friary at Niepokalanow, the “City of the Immaculata.” By that time, it had expanded from 18 Friars to 650 Friars, making it the largest Catholic house in Europe.

When Poland was overrun by the Nazi forces in 1939, he was arrested under general suspicion on 13 September but was released after three months. When first arrested he said:

“Courage, my sons. Don’t you see that we are leaving on a mission? They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she wishes” (Maximilian Mary Kolbe, source).

On being released, many Polish refugees and Jews sought sanctuary in Kolbe’s monastery. Kolbe and the community at Niepokalanów helped to hide, feed and clothe 3,000 Polish refugees, (of which approximately 1,500 were Jews). In 1941, his newspaper “The Knight of the Immaculate” offered strong criticism of the Nazis.

“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?”

“Christian Martydom and Political Violence, Google Books[3]

Although Kolbe did not write this, it is believed this was a factor that led to his arreSaint

Kolbe in Auschwitz

bio2 Shortly after this publication, on 17 February 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo for hiding Jewish people. After a brief internment in a notorious Polish prison, he was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp and branded prisoner #16670.

Kolbe was sent to the work camp. This involved carrying blocks of heavy stone for the building of the crematorium wall. The work party was overseen by a vicious ex-criminal ‘Bloody Krott’ who came to single out Kolbe for particularly brutal treatment. Witnesses say Kolbe accepted his mistreatment and blows with surprising calm.

Despite the awful conditions of Auschwitz, people report that Kolbe retained a deep faith, equanimity and dignity in the face of appalling treatment. On June 15, he was even able to send a letter to his mother.

“Dear Mama, At the end of the month of May I was transferred to the camp of Auschwitz. Everything is well in my regard. Be tranquil about me and about my health, because the good God is everywhere and provides for everything with love. It would be well that you do not write to me until you will have received other news from me, because I do not know how long I will stay here. Cordial greetings and kisses, affectionately. Raymond.”

On one occasion Krott made Kolbe carry the heaviest planks until he collapsed; he then beat Kolbe savagely, leaving him for dead in the mud. But fellow prisoners secretly moved him to the camp prison, where he was able to recover. Prisoners also report that he remained selfless, often sharing his meagre rations with others.

In July 1941, three prisoners appeared to have escaped from the camp; as a result, the Deputy Commander of Auschwitz ordered 10 men to be chosen to be starved to death in an underground bunker.

When one of the selected men Franciszek Gajowniczek heard he was selected, he cried out “My wife! My children!” At this point, Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

The Nazi commander replied, “What does this Polish pig want?”

Father Kolbe pointed with his hand to the condemned Franciszek Gajowniczek and repeated: “I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place because he has a wife and children.”

Rather surprised, the commander accepted Kolbe in place of Gajowniczek. Gajowniczek later said:

“I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me – a stranger. Is this some dream?

I was put back into my place without having had time to say anything to Maximilian Kolbe. I was saved. And I owe to him the fact that I could tell you all this. The news quickly spread all round the camp. It was the first and the last time that such an incident happened in the whole history of Auschwitz.”

Franciszek Gajowniczek would miraculously survive Auschwitz, and would later be present at Kolbe’s canonisation in 1971.

The men were led away to the underground bunker where they were to be starved to death. It is said that in the bunker, Kolbe would lead the men in prayer and singing hymns to Mary. When the guards checked the cell, Kolbe could be seen praying in the middle. Bruno Borgowiec, a Polish prisoner who was charged with serving the prisoner later gave a report of what he saw:

“The ten condemned to death went through terrible days. From the underground cell in which they were shut up there continually arose the echo of prayers and canticles. The man in charge of emptying the buckets of urine found them always empty. Thirst drove the prisoners to drink the contents. Since they had grown very weak, prayers were now only whispered. At every inspection, when almost all the others were now lying on the floor, Father Kolbe was seen kneeling or standing in the centre as he looked cheerfully in the face of the SS men.

Father Kolbe never asked for anything and did not complain, rather he encouraged the others, saying that the fugitive might be found and then they would all be freed. One of the SS guards remarked: this priest is really a great man. We have never seen anyone like him…”

After two weeks, nearly all the prisoners, except Kolbe had died due to dehydration and starvation. Because the guards wanted the cell emptied, the remaining prisoners and Kolbe were executed with a lethal injection. Those present say he calmly accepted death, lifting up his arm. His remains were unceremoniously cremated on 15 AuguSaint

The deed and courage of Maximillian Kolbe spread around the Auschwitz prisoners, offering a rare glimpse of light and human dignity in the face of extreme cruelty. After the war, his reputation grew and he became symbolic of courageous dignity.

bio3
Photo of cell where Kolbe was executed

Kolbe was beatified as Confessor of the Faith in 1971. He was canonised as a martyr by Pope John Paul II (who himself lived through the German occupation of Poland) in 1981.

Pope John Paul II decided that Kolbe should be recognised as a martyr because the systematic hatred of the Nazi regime was inherently an act of hatred against religious faith, meaning Kolbe’s death equated to martyrdom. At his canonisation, in 1982 Pope John Paul II said:

“Maximilian did not die but gave his life … for his brother.”

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of Maximilian Kolbe”, Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net. 3rd AuguSaint 2014. Updated 2 March 2019.

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Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 12
49.	I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?	Ignem veni mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur ?	πυρ ηλθον βαλειν εις την γην και τι θελω ει ηδη ανηφθη
50.	And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?	Baptismo autem habeo baptizari : et quomodo coarctor usque dum perficiatur ?	βαπτισμα δε εχω βαπτισθηναι και πως συνεχομαι εως ου τελεσθη
51.	Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.	Putatis quia pacem veni dare in terram ? non, dico vobis, sed separationem :	δοκειτε οτι ειρηνην παρεγενομην δουναι εν τη γη ουχι λεγω υμιν αλλ η διαμερισμον
52.	For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three.	erunt enim ex hoc quinque in domo una divisi, tres in duos, et duo in tres	εσονται γαρ απο του νυν πεντε εν οικω ενι διαμεμερισμενοι τρεις επι δυσιν και δυο επι τρισιν
53.	The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.	dividentur : pater in filium, et filius in patrem suum, mater in filiam, et filia in matrem, socrus in nurum suam, et nurus in socrum suam.	διαμερισθησεται πατηρ επι υιω και υιος επι πατρι μητηρ επι θυγατρι και θυγατηρ επι μητρι πενθερα επι την νυμφην αυτης και νυμφη επι την πενθεραν αυτης

Readings at Mass

'Do not let the prophet die'

We should keep running steadily in the race we have started

How I wish it were blazing already!

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Early Life

Kolbe in Japan

Second World War

Kolbe in Auschwitz