August 14, 2021

Readings for the Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

Lectionary: 418

Reading I

Jos 24:14-29

Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem,
and addressed them, saying: 
“Fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely.
Cast out the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt,
and serve the LORD.
If it does not please you to serve the LORD,
decide today whom you will serve,
the gods your fathers served beyond the River
or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling.
As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD
for the service of other gods.
For it was the LORD, our God,
who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt,
out of a state of slavery.
He performed those great miracles before our very eyes
and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples
through whom we passed.
At our approach the LORD drove out all the peoples,
including the Amorites who dwelt in the land.
Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

Joshua in turn said to the people,
“You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God;
he is a jealous God who will not forgive
your transgressions or your sins.
If, after the good he has done for you,
you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods,
he will do evil to you and destroy you.”

But the people answered Joshua, “We will still serve the LORD.”
Joshua therefore said to the people,
“You are your own witnesses that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”
They replied, “We are, indeed!”
Joshua continued:
“Now, therefore, put away the strange gods that are among you
and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
Then the people promised Joshua,
“We will serve the LORD, our God, and obey his voice.”

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day
and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem,
which he recorded in the book of the law of God.
Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak
that was in the sanctuary of the LORD.
And Joshua said to all the people, “This stone shall be our witness,

for it has heard all the words which the LORD spoke to us.
It shall be a witness against you, should you wish to deny your God.”
Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his own heritage.

After these events, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the LORD,
died at the age of a hundred and ten.

Responsorial Psalm

16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 11

1.  (see 5a)  You are my inheritance, O Lord.
   Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
       I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
   O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
       you it is who hold fast my lot.
   R.   You are my inheritance, O Lord.
   I bless the LORD who counsels me;
       even in the night my heart exhorts me.
   I set the LORD ever before me;
       with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
   R.    You are my inheritance, O Lord.
   You will show me the path to life,
       fullness of joys in your presence,
       the delights at your right hand forever.
   R.    You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Alleluia

See Mt 11:25

1. Alleluia, alleluia.
   Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
   you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
   R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 19:13-15

Children were brought to Jesus
that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said,
“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;
for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

Reflection: SANCTITY IS A SIMPLE DUTY

This heroic Franciscan died at Auschwitz in Poland at the hands of the Nazis on August 14, 1941. He was canonized as a martyr by Pope St. John Paul II in 1982. Born in a little town of ZdunskaWola in Poland his baptismal name was Raymond. He entered the Conventual Franciscans in 1907 and received the name of Maximilian. After completing his philosophy and theology in Rome, he was ordained a priest in 1919. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and he added the name Mary to Maximilian when he made his solemn profession in 1914. He was convinced the church was entering upon a Marian era and he founded the Militia of the Immaculate, whose members were called the Knights of the Immaculate. He constructed an entire city which he called the City of the Immaculate. As a missionary in Japan, he constructed a similar city in Nagasaki in 1930. When he returned to Poland in 1936, the Gestapo (secret police of Nazi Germany) took over his City of the Immaculate and turned it into a concentration camp. Arrested in 1941, he was sentenced to the labour camp in Aushwitz. One of the prisoners escaped and as a punishment for the escape of a prisoner, a group of nine prisoners were condemned to death. Maximilian voluntarily stepped forward and offered to take the place of a married man who had a family. He told the commander of the camp at Auschwitz, “I am a Catholic priest and I am old, I want to take his place because he has a wife and children”. This was certainly tremendous self-giving, not saving his life, but offering it for the redemption of another. He died on the eve of the feast of the Assumption at the age of 47. As early as 1920 he wrote, “I must become a saint as soon as possible". He had also said, “Sanctity is not a luxury, but a simple duty. It is one of Christ's first principles, 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect".