martyr of charity: St. Maximilian Kolbe

If you go to Mass on August 14, you either go in the evening, for the Vigil Mass for the feast of the Assumption, or in the morning, for the feast of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe (or maybe you attend both!). And if you go in the morning, you generally have a reason - you're either a daily Mass-goer - or you have a connection to St. Maximilian.

I took St. Maximilian's name at my confirmation. Yes, I am a girl, and yes, I took a male saint's name at Confirmation - no, it's not a big deal. In any case, when I was still in school, I found August 14 to be a bit of a frustrating day, Mass-wise. I always wanted to attend Mass on his feast day, but... well... being at school in the morning kind of tended to interfere with such things. These days, things are more flexible, and it's usually a bit easier to make it to Mass in the morning on August 14. Today, however... wasn't one of those days... I got stuck in a meeting and sadly, didn't escape its clutches quickly enough to get to Mass.

St. Maximilian Kolbe. As a child, Mary appeared to him and offered him two crowns: one white, symbolizing purity, the other red, symbolizing martyrdom. He accepted both. He went on to become a Franciscan priest (giving up his baptismal name, Raymond, for his religious name, Maximilian Maria), and later, a Holocaust martyr. St. Maximilian was Polish, and during WWII, he offered refuge to fellow Poles fleeing Nazi persecution - including 2000 Jews, whom he hid in his monastery. Eventually, the Nazis arrested him and his fellow Franciscans, and he was taken to Auschwitz. St. Maximilian died there on August 14, 1941 - having offered his life in the place of a husband and father - and having spent the final two weeks of his life suffering in a starvation bunker, where he helped to calm his fellow prisoners, leading them in prayer, and helping them prepare for their imminent deaths. At St. Maximilian's canonization in October 1982, Blessed Pope John Paul II named him a "martyr of charity" for his sacrifice.

Peace, courage, steadfast faith, and love, even in the face of terrible persecution - incredible storms. Would that we might have even a fraction of St. Maximilian's heroic virtue. I chose St. Maximilian as my Confirmation saint eleven years ago because I admired his martyrdom, and his love of Christ. Today, I not only admire his martyrdom and his love of Christ, but what it took for him to get to that martyrdom - his love of Christ, manifested in incredible love for Christ's people - incredible courage to endure such suffering - undying peace and faith in bearing all of it. Incredible response to incredible grace. Yes, would that we might have even a fraction of this martyr's virtue.

"For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more." - St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe

+St. Maximilian, pray for us!

when it rains, it pours

Monsoon season in the desert. It's an interesting phenomenon. If you don't pay attention to the clouds building over the Sandias, late afternoon storms will sneak up on you... rain sweeps across the valley, leaving half-flooded streets and soaked cyclists seeking shelter from lightning in its wake.

One of those late afternoon storms sneaked up on me yesterday afternoon, as I was writing this post. The thunder was loud, and the lightning spectacular - and nearby - so I shut down the laptop, and sat and watched the rain falling on the pool. And never got back to finishing this post.

I'd say this was coincidental, but since I don't believe in coincidence whatsoever, I can't. When the monsoon rain hit yesterday afternoon, I was actually writing about storms - geared more toward the "storms" we encounter in life - but storms, nonetheless. I've been listening to a mixed up bunch of music for the past few days that has included several songs by Train - among them, the song "When I Look to the Sky." If you're unfamiliar, it starts with the following:

"When it rains, it pours,

and opens doors that flood the floors

we thought would always keep us safe and dry -

and in the midst of sailing ships, 

we sink our lips into the ones we love that have to say goodbye -

and as I float along this ocean, 

I can feel you like an ocean that won't seem to let me go -

'Cause when I look to the sky, 

something tells me you're here with me,

and you make everything alright

When I feel like I'm lost, 

something tells me you're here with me,

And I can always find my way when you are here."

Storms push our limits, and sometimes they push us off our path. Whether it's navigating home through flooded streets, seeking shelter from a lightning storm, saving the blog post in progress and not getting back to it, having the clothes dryer die on Sunday morning, or whatever else... we get distracted, we get frustrated, we start to bend, or maybe feel like we're going to break.

Sometimes we don't "look to the sky" - we forget that even when everything around us is flooding, even the places or relationships we never thought would flood, we aren't lost. We can still find our way. I know the songwriter didn't intend for the "you" in this song to be God, but taking that perspective on the words definitely works - God is like that ocean that won't let us go, who always guides us on our way. He may not "make everything alright" in the sense that he may not change a situation the way we want him to - but he will always give us what we need to get through - really, to grow through... just like plants thirsty for water grow after the rains come.

It does seem like, more often than not, when it rains, it really does pour - whether during monsoon season or in the seasons of life. And it's hard to keep perspective when you feel like your very roots may get washed out from underneath you, but it's more than worth the effort to hang on through the storm. I know it's cliche, but it's also true: sometimes we have to learn to dance in the rain - and for New Mexicans, we either learn to dance in the rain, or we drown in the arroyo. ;-)

+Peace and good, and thank God for the rain!

derailed

Sometimes, things in our lives get derailed by storms - whether literal or figurative. 

And yeahhhhh... that happened with the post I was writing tonight. A nice monsoon storm with some not-so-nice lightning came along, so I shut down the laptop, thinking I'd finish the post later...  mmhmm, not so much! 

Tomorrow, I will finish that post... and hopefully, it'll be worth the wait for all of us. 

+Peace and good. 

grains of wheat

Tertullian famously observed, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." I believe there is great truth in his words - the most convincing of all arguments for a way of life/system of belief is the dedication of its adherents. Willingness to sacrifice one's life for one's beliefs is the ultimate show of "dedication," if you will. There is no doubt of the power found in the witness of suffering and sacrifice.

Tertullian's words are closely tied to those of Christ, in today's Gospel reading (Jn 12:24-26):

"Jesus said to his disciples:

'Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,

it remains just a grain of wheat;

but if it dies, it produces much fruit.'"

St. Lawrence, whose feast is today, was one of these grains of wheat - a martyr of the early Church. And of course, there have been many, many more throughout the centuries - all of the apostles except St. John, and in recent times, St. Edith Stein (yesterday's post), St. Maximilian Kolbe (coming up next week...), Blessed Miguel Pro, and countless others, known and unknown. 

The majority of us will likely not be called upon to give our lives for what we believe (although the 20th century did produce more Christian martyrs than all other centuries of Christianity combined - a rather sobering thought) the martyrs are important examples to consider when we think about making sacrifices and standing up for what we profess to believe. In a very real sense, we should seek to see ourselves as those grains of wheat.

+Peace and good. 

tempus fugit//memento mori

It's August 9. How is that possible? How is it that this summer - really, this entire year - has gone so quickly? Back in May, I was thinking about all the things I wanted to do this summer. We won't talk about how many of them I haven't done... but isn't that always how it goes?

The Latin phrase tempus fugit - "time flies" - is often joined with memento mori - "remember death." To us, the time we have never seems to be enough, does it? ... whether it's the impending end of summer, or the end of our lives.

How much do we focus on the time we have being not enough... vs. the time God gives us being exactly enough - exactly what we need to accomplish what is asked of us?

Considering the passage of time: today marks 70 years since the execution of St. Edith Stein - also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. For those who are unfamiliar, St. Edith Stein was Jewish by heritage and upbringing, but abandoned the Judaism of her youth for atheism as a teenager. Several years later, she returned to faith in God, then converted to Catholicism, and eventually joined a Carmelite monastery.

As a Jewish convert to Catholicism, she was a twofold target of the Nazis, and the Carmelite order tried to protect her by moving her to a monastery in the Netherlands. However, when the Dutch bishops openly condemned the racist activities of the Nazis, government officials in the Netherlands who were Nazi sympathizers retaliated, and had all Jewish converts to Catholicism arrested. St. Edith Stein was among them. A short time later, on August 9, 1942, she and her sister (also a convert to Catholicism), were executed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. St. Edith Stein was 50 years old.

To some, 50 years seems like a very long time. To others, (perhaps those who understand their mortality a bit better), 50 years is virtually the blink of an eye. Either way, long or short, 50 years was what St. Edith was given, and what she made the most of.

Tempus fugit, memento mori is a dual reminder... that time flies, and thus we must be mindful of our mortality, as we don't know how much of that fleeting time we have. It's a reminder that, in the time we have, the world we live in - as St. Edith Stein said - "does not simply need what we have. It needs what we are."

+Peace and good.

building up Zion

"The Lord will build up Zion again, and appear in all his glory." Ps. 102

Tonight, I am reminded yet again of God's constant action in his Church. Earlier in the evening, I was blessed to spend time with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe's awesome seminarians (and take their group photo!). There is no doubt... this Archdiocese is blessed beyond measure, and our Lord is calling many good men to serve as priests here in the coming years, alongside the many wonderful priests we are already blessed with. Our Lord is forever renewing his Church - building up Zion - providing for the future. This archdiocese has certainly faced its share of challenges; having over 30 men studying for the priesthood this year is proof positive that God does not abandon us, and always provides for our needs.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: pray for vocations - pray for our seminarians - pray for our priests.

+Peace and good.

y todos los santos

Here it is, Sunday night nearly midnight (and probably will be after midnight by the time I finish this)... I have no idea where the weekend went, and I know full well that 5:00 a.m. is going to come much too soon. But in any case...

We went to the Spanish Mass this morning. Although I am by no means fluent en Espanol, I love bilingual liturgies - in part because I spent several happy childhood years in a parish where the choir mostly sang Spanish hymns. Anyways, as I was listening to the Eucharistic Prayer in Spanish - this morning, for whatever reason, the words "y todos los santos" - "and all the saints" stuck in my head - and they stayed stuck there for the rest of the day. I don't know why. I love that phrase in Spanish, I think it sounds much more beautiful than it does in English, but today, it seemed to be about more than the beauty of the words.

Yesterday was the feast of St. John Vianney, and I had intended to blog about his feast day, but because the past few days have been so busy, I missed the opportunity. I was thinking about that tonight, and thinking about how St. John Vianney is another one of my "favorite" saints. And I thought to myself, well, I think all of the saints are my favorite saints... you know what I mean? All of the saints - todos los santos - are wonderful - and they're all very different, too - so diverse in their paths to holiness, so diverse in their backgrounds and experiences. I've never "met" a saint I didn't like. And still, they all hold different meanings for me - they have different ways of being important in my life.

And it made me think: the saints are another one of God's wonderful ways of reminding us that he is working in our world, and working in human lives, in powerful and amazing ways - all the time. And if he did such great things in the lives of all the saints - who were all so different, and struggled with so many different challenges, just like we do - well, then he can do great things in our lives, too.

Todos los santos... all the saints. May they pray for us. And may we recognize, through their many examples, that each of us has a different path to holiness.

+Peace and good.

wish you were here

"So you think, so you think you can tell

Heaven from Hell

Blue skies from pain

Can you tell a green field

From a cold steel rail?

A smile from a veil?

Do you think you can tell? 

Did they get you to trade

Your heroes for ghosts?

Hot ashes for trees?

Hot air for a cool breeze?

Cold comfort for change?

And did you exchange

A walk on part in a war

For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here..."

-Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here

Don't listen to the ones who want you to trade your heroes for ghosts, your God for superstitions or sheer nothingness. 

Don't let them destroy the verdant forests in your soul by setting the trees ablaze with lies. 

More than anything, don't stop fighting. You have more than "a walk on part" in this war. 

Never stop fighting. 

Please don't give up your place on the front lines and end up a prisoner. 

Fight for heaven, fight for those blue skies and cool breezes, fight to keep smiling, fight to keep living. Whatever you do, keep fighting. Hold on to hope, hold on to faith, hold on to love, and don't let go. 

Remember that even when you are in pain, that pain does not define you - it is not who you are. Don't give in when it tempts you to despair. 

Stay strong, so you can be here, for all those who wish you were. 

+Peace and good.