Today we remember Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan friar whose life was consumed with love for Christ and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Before the Second World War, he was a missionary, a publisher, and the founder of a great Marian centre in Poland. But it was in the darkness of Auschwitz that his light shone brightest.
In 1941, after being arrested for sheltering Jewish refugees and speaking against the Nazi regime, he was thrown into that notorious concentration camp. One day, a prisoner escaped, and in retaliation the guards chose ten men to die by starvation. One of those chosen cried out for his wife and children. Moved with compassion, Father Kolbe stepped forward and offered his own life in the man’s place. For two weeks without food or water, he prayed with and for the others. Finally, on August 14, they ended his life with a lethal injection. He died as he had lived—offering himself in love.
In our first reading from the Book of Joshua, God parts the Jordan River so His people can cross over into the Promised Land. It’s a powerful sign that God Himself leads us from slavery into freedom. Father Kolbe, by stepping into death, was crossing his own Jordan—trusting that beyond the darkness of the camp lay the true Promised Land of eternal life.
In the Gospel, Peter asks Jesus how often we must forgive. “As many as seven times?” Jesus answers, “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” This is not a number to keep tally—it is a call to forgive without limit, just as God forgives us. Jesus tells the parable of the servant whose massive debt is cancelled, but who refuses to forgive a small debt owed to him. The lesson is simple: if we have been forgiven so much, how can we hold grudges against others?
Saint Maximilian Kolbe lived this Gospel to the end. He forgave his captors. He prayed for those who took his freedom, his health, and his life. He refused to let hatred poison his soul. And in doing so, he reminds us that forgiveness is not weakness—it is strength. It is the power that keeps evil from having the final word.
Friends, each of us has our own Jordans to cross—moments when we are called to step forward in faith, to let go of resentment, to forgive those who have hurt us, and to trust God with the outcome. We may not face the horrors of Auschwitz, but in our daily lives we encounter situations where mercy is costly, where forgiveness demands courage.
On this feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, let us ask for his intercession—that we might love without counting the cost, forgive without keeping score, and follow Christ across the waters into the freedom only He can give.
Amen.
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