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Letter #24, 2025, Wednesday, February 26: Kolbe, Martyr of Charity[2025-02-26][Engleză]I received this email at 6:25 this evening, about 2 hours ago:I have a long time subscriber to Inside the Vatican, and a contributor. However, for weeks I have not received any emails with the Moynihan Letters. Could you please restore me to the receipt of these letters? Theres so much going on in the Church in the world now, I dont want to go without him. Thank you very much. By the way, I recently renewed my subscription for a multi-year subscription. Daniel Cheely *** Dear Daniel, My apologies. I have spent almost two weeks thinking, writing nothing, but closing the print magazine, and reading. Reading, and watching the events in the world. and in the Church the hospitalization of Pope Francis, and many comments on that hospitalization and what it could portend (here is one, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, 84, link); the new U.S. administration of Donald Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk, and much that they have said and done, much of it good, but some of it perplexing, including the launch of a new $500 billion Stargate project (link); and watching, in the middle of last night, a video released by Trump about rebuilding Gaza as a seaside resort, even as thousands of children still lie unburied beneath mounds of Gazan rubble; the video was created by AI, and seemed to lack ordinary human compassion for the dead and bereaved, that compassion that my grandmother, Harriet Moynihan, used to tell me was the most important thing there is, Bobby the milk of human kindness (link). So, after reading your email, I stopped reading and took a walk on a warm February evening. I entered a nearby chapel, which is kept permanently open for prayer. Seven people were inside, sitting and kneeling in silence. Thus the creature, in silence, seeks the creator, his maker In the front of the chapel, a white host was exposed in a golden ostensorium a vessel used to display the consecrated host in a church. I found a Bible on the table in the back, picked it up, and went in to the chapel. I knelt on the left side, a few rows back, and set the Bible on the dark brown wooden pew in front of me, the wood of the pew worn smooth by 140 years of prayer and veneration. I prayed silently, then asked a question. What should I write? Silence. I picked up the bible from the pew in front of me, where I had placed it. I opened it at random. My eyes fell on the last chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew. I read: 16 And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And seeing him they adored: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. 19 Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. These are the last words of Matthews Gospel. Before me, on the left side of the chapel, was a statue of the Virgin Mary. I asked: What I should write? The confusion in the Church? The striving for power and wealth in the world? The struggle over how to understand our historical mission before modernity? Silence. Then Write about the saints. It was just my own thought, I said to myself. Then again Do not engage in accusation, condemnation, judgment. That is for the Lord. Write about the saints. I looked away and bowed my head, until the words came anew. Write about the saints. Write about St. Maximilian Kolbe. Write about the Little Flower. Write about Simone Weil. Simone Weil was not a saint, I said. She was a brilliant Jewish philosopher who was drawn toward Christ, I seemed to hear. She suffered greatly. She loved greatly. She sought the face of the Lord. Write about her. I rose and left the chapel and came here to my desk to begin my work. *** St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941), when he was nine years old, had a vision of the Virgin. He later described this incident: That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. 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. This is the essence of the message of Our Lady for Maximilian Kolbe, and through him, to all of us who follow the Christian faith. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron saint of journalists. Here below is his story. It is relevant to our own time.RM Support the Moynihan Letters He didnt like what he saw of the world, in fact he saw it as downright evil. The fight, he decided, was a spiritual one. The world was bigger than Poland and there were worse slaveries than earthly ones. A summary of the mind and spirit of a young St. Maximilian Kolbe, in an essay written by Mary Craig before his canonization, entitled Blessed Maximilian Kolbe, Priest Hero of a Death Camp, Published by The Catholic Truth Society-London, and then by EWTN (link) The fight, he decided, was a spiritual one. Ibid. *** BLESSED MAXIMILIAN KOLBEPRIEST HERO OF A DEATH CAMP By Mary Craig His name wasnt always Maximilian. He was born the second son of a poor weaver on 8 January 1894 at Zdunska Wola near Lodz in Poland, and was given the baptismal name of Raymond. Both parents were devout Christians with a particular devotion to Mary. In his infancy Raymond seems to have been normally mischievous but we are told that one day, after his mother had scolded him for some mischief or other, her words took effect and brought about a radical change in the childs behaviour. Later he explained this change. That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked 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. Thus early did the child believe and accept that he was destined for martyrdom. His belief in his dream coloured all his future actions. In 1907 Raymond and his elder brother entered a junior Franciscan seminary in Lwow. Here he excelled in mathematics and physics and his teachers predicted a brilliant future for him in science. Others, seeing his passionate interest in all things military, saw in him a future strategist. For a time indeed his interest in military affairs together with his fiery patriotism made him lose interest in the idea of becoming a priest, The fulfilment of his dream would lie in saving Poland from her oppressors as a soldier. But before he could tell anyone about his decision his mother announced that, as all their children were now in seminaries, she and her husband intended to enter religious life. Raymond hadnt the heart to upset his parents plans and so he abandoned his plans for joining the army. He was received as a novice in September 1910 and with the habit he took the new name of Maximilian. From 1912 to 1915 he was in Rome studying philosophy at the Gregorian College, and from 1915 to 1919 theology at the Collegio Serafico. He was ordained in Rome on 28 April 1918. [Note: He then celebrated his first Mass in the church of SantAndrea delle Fratte, near the Spanish Steps, a place where we have often stopped to pray on our pilgrimages in Rome.] The love of fighting didnt leave him, but while he was in Rome he stopped seeing the struggle as a military one. He didnt like what he saw of the world, in fact he saw it as downright evil. The fight, he decided, was a spiritual one. The world was bigger than Poland and there were worse slaveries than earthly ones. The fight was still on, but he would not be waging it with the sword. At that time many Catholics in Europe regarded freemasonry as their chief enemy; and it was against the freemasons that Maximilian Kolbe began to wage war. On 16 October 1917, with six companions, he founded the Crusade of Mary Immaculate (Militia Immaculatae), with the aim of converting sinners, heretics and schismatics, particularly freemasons, and bringing all men to love Mary Immaculate. As he entered what was to be the most creative period of his life, Fr Maximilians health had already begun to deteriorate. He was by now in an advanced state of tuberculosis, and he felt himself overshadowed by death. His love for Mary Immaculate now became the devouring characteristic of his life. He regarded himself as no more than an instrument of her will, and the only time he was known to lose his temper was in defence of her honour. It was for her that he strove to develop all the good that was in him, and he wanted to encourage others to do the same. When Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919 he rejoiced to see his country free once again, a liberation which he typically attributed to Mary Immaculate. Pius XI in response to a request from the Polish bishops had just promulgated the Feast of Our Lady Queen of Poland, and Fr Maximilian wrote: She must be the Queen of Poland and of every Polish heart. We must labour to win each and every heart for her. He set himself to extend the influence of his Crusade, and formed cells and circles all over Poland. The doctors had by now pronounced him incurable; one lung had collapsed and the other was damaged. Yet it was now that he flung himself into a whirlwind of activity. Journalistic Work In January 1922 he began to publish a monthly review, Knight of the Immaculate, in Cracow. Its aim was to illuminate the truth and show the true way to happiness. As funds were low, only 5,000 copies of the first issue were printed. In 1922 he removed to another friary in Grodno and acquired a small printing establishment; and from now on the review began to grow. In 1927, 70,000 copies were being printed. The Grodno Friary became too small to house such a mammoth operation, so Fr Maximilian began to look for a site nearer to Warsaw. Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki offered him some land at Teresin, west of Warsaw. Fr Maximilian promptly erected a statue of Mary Immaculate there, and the monks began the arduous work of construction. On 21 November 1927 the Franciscans moved from Grodno to Teresin and on 8 December the friary was consecrated and was given the name of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate. Niepokalanow, said Fr Maximilian, is a place chosen by Mary Immaculate and is exclusively dedicated to spreading her cult. All that is and will be at Niepokalanow will belong to her. The monastic spirit will flourish here; we shall practise obedience and we shall be poor, in the spirit of St Francis. At first Niepokalanow consisted of no more than a few shacks with tar-paper roofs, but it soon flourished. To cope with the flood of vocations all over Poland, a junior seminary was built at Niepokalanow to prepare priests for the missions capable of every task in the name of the Immaculate and with her help. Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com Contor Accesări: 124, Ultimul acces: 2026-08-12 02:59:53
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