Mass Reading & Meditation for August 14, 2013 + Saint of the Day Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr Reading 1DT 34:1-12 Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the headland of Pisgah which faces Jericho, and the LORD showed him all the land— Gilead, and as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, the circuit of the Jordan with the lowlands at Jericho, city of palms, and as far as Zoar. The LORD then said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give to their descendants. I have let you feast your eyes upon it, but you shall not cross over.” So there, in the land of Moab, Moses, the servant of the LORD, died as the LORD had said; and he was buried in the ravine opposite Beth-peor in the land of Moab, but to this day no one knows the place of his burial. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated. For thirty days the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab, till they had completed the period of grief and mourning for Moses. Now Joshua, son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom, since Moses had laid his hands upon him; and so the children of Israel gave him their obedience, thus carrying out the LORD’s command to Moses. Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. He had no equal in all the signs and wonders the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh and all his servants and against all his land, and for the might and the terrifying power that Moses exhibited in the sight of all Israel. Responsorial PsalmPS 66:1-3A, 5 AND 8, 16-17 R. (see 20a and 10b) Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire! Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; sing praise to the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise. Say to God: “How tremendous are your deeds!” R. Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire! Come and see the works of God, his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam. Bless our God, you peoples; loudly sound his praise. R. Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire! Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare what he has done for me. When I appealed to him in words, praise was on the tip of my tongue. R. Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire! GospelMT 18:15-20 Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church. If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.” Meditation: Matthew 18:15-20 Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18) Superman, Wonder Woman, and a whole host of superheroes exercise remarkable powers in the pages of comic books, on television, and in the movies. But you have been given a power more amazing than any they possess. Unaided by an artist’s pen or a computer programmer’s imagery, you have the power to bind and loose things here on earth with a force that reaches into heaven. That’s how powerful your words are! You can dispense mercy and forgiveness to the people around you, just as God does to you. And you can do it not only with your words but also with the thoughts and attitudes of your heart. Ask yourself, “How often do I speak or think negative, hurtful, or judgmental words about people?” They may seem harmless, but our words do have the power to bind people up and hold them to the very things that repel us. Now ask, “How often do I speak or think words of forgiveness, freedom, and goodness?” These words are just as powerful, and God sees every one of them! The same applies to yourself. How many times do you look at yourself and say, “You ding-dong,” “You’re so stupid,” or “You’re such a loser”? How many times do you tell yourself that you’re no good at providing for your family, sharing the gospel, helping with homework, or cooking good meals? Self-condemning thoughts can be just as damaging to yourself as judgmental attitudes about someone else. So why bind yourself to the things you hate? Instead, speak freedom over yourself and those around you. Instead of saying, “I’m so judgmental,” declare, “I can be merciful as God is merciful!” When you get it wrong for the one-hundredth time, try saying, “I’ll get it right next time” or “This is hard for me, I need your help, Jesus!” Are teenagers acting up at the mall? Are speeding drivers terrorizing the highway? Declare self-control and peace over them. Proclaim God’s love for them. Speak life-giving words. Try to find freeing and merciful attitudes in your heart. Exercise this amazing power to forgive, and you will set people free! “Jesus, help me to exercise the power to forgive and to reconcile, to set free and to pronounce blessings on myself, my family, my friends, and even my enemies.” Deuteronomy, 34:1-12; Psalm 66:1-3, 5, 8, 16-17 St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe (1894-1941) “I don’t know what’s going to become of you!” How many parents have said that? Maximilian Mary Kolbe’s reaction was, “I prayed very hard to Our Lady to tell me what would happen to me. She appeared, holding in her hands two crowns, one white, one red. She asked if I would like to have them—one was for purity, the other for martyrdom. I said, ‘I choose both.’ She smiled and disappeared.” After that he was not the same. He entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lvív (then Poland, now Ukraine), near his birthplace, and at 16 became a novice. Though he later achieved doctorates in philosophy and theology, he was deeply interested in science, even drawing plans for rocket ships. Ordained at 24, he saw religious indifference as the deadliest poison of the day. His mission was to combat it. He had already founded the Militia of the Immaculata, whose aim was to fight evil with the witness of the good life, prayer, work and suffering. He dreamed of and then founded Knight of the Immaculata, a religious magazine under Mary’s protection to preach the Good News to all nations. For the work of publication he established a “City of the Immaculata”—Niepokalanow—which housed 700 of his Franciscan brothers. He later founded one in Nagasaki, Japan. Both the Militia and the magazine ultimately reached the one-million mark in members and subscribers. His love of God was daily filtered through devotion to Mary. In 1939 the Nazi panzers overran Poland with deadly speed. Niepokalanow was severely bombed. Kolbe and his friars were arrested, then released in less than three months, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In 1941 he was arrested again. The Nazis’ purpose was to liquidate the select ones, the leaders. The end came quickly, in Auschwitz three months later, after terrible beatings and humiliations. A prisoner had escaped. The commandant announced that 10 men would die. He relished walking along the ranks. “This one. That one.” As they were being marched away to the starvation bunkers, Number 16670 dared to step from the line. “I would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.” “Who are you?” “A priest.” No name, no mention of fame. Silence. The commandant, dumbfounded, perhaps with a fleeting thought of history, kicked Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek out of line and ordered Father Kolbe to go with the nine. In the “block of death” they were ordered to strip naked, and their slow starvation began in darkness. But there was no screaming—the prisoners sang. By the eve of the Assumption four were left alive. The jailer came to finish Kolbe off as he sat in a corner praying. He lifted his fleshless arm to receive the bite of the hypodermic needle. It was filled with carbolic acid. They burned his body with all the others. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized in 1982. Comment: Father Kolbe’s death was not a sudden, last-minute act of heroism. His whole life had been a preparation. His holiness was a limitless, passionate desire to convert the whole world to God. And his beloved Immaculata was his inspiration. Quote: “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, when first arrested). Patron Saint of: Addicts Drug addiction -- Have a Blessed Day
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:22:58 +0000
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