The Amish and Forgiveness: Homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sir 27:30-28:7

Ps 103

Mt 18:21-35

 

Peter asked, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how many times must I forgive him?  As many as seven times?”  Forgiving someone seven times seems reasonable.  Indeed forgiving someone seven times seems positively magnanimous, even saint-like if you will.  Jesus’ reply must have startled Peter.  Not seven times but seven times seventy-seven times.  Jesus was not giving Peter a specific number or setting limits on forgiveness.  Rather, by using hyperbole he was indicating that forgiveness must be infinite.  Jesus' hyperbolic reply is analogous to something most of us heard when we were kids and, for many, something we swore we would never say upon becoming parents or uncles. But we did and we continue to do so. “If I told you once I told you a thousand times.”  Sometimes a thousand underestimates the real number but mostly it is hyperbole for effect.

 

The gospel parable is chilling on two levels:  The first is the servant’s callous behavior toward a fellow servant where he revealed himself as man who couldn't or wouldn't forgive as he was forgiven. The second chilling element is the punishment meted out to him when the master learned of his actions.  

 

One could ask why the master was not forgiving toward the wicked servant.  It is a good question.  Perhaps there are actions that are unforgivable.  The message Jesus gave to Peter is to forgive as God forgives, that is perfectly and without limit.  That kind of forgiveness is an ideal humans generally can’t attain though some may be able to do so. They are the exception.  One of those exceptional circumstances went on international display in 2006.  The fourteenth  anniversary of the tragedy will be in a few weeks. On 2 October 2006 Charles Roberts, IV entered the Amish one-room school house in Nickel Mines, PA.  

 

After sending all of the boys out of the school he murdered five girls between the ages of nine and thirteen, shooting them in their heads.  He critically injured five others, one of whom was severely brain-damaged. He killed himself when the police arrived.  His actions horrified the world.  The actions of the Amish community horrified the world even more.  Roberts horrified the world by the brutality of his act.  The Amish horrified the world by their forgiveness.  

 

On the day of the shooting the grandfather of one of the murdered girls told young relatives, "We must not think evil of this man.” Another man noted, "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God."  Still another Amish man held the shooter’s sobbing father in his arms for an hour in an attempt comfort him. Thirty members of the Amish community attended Roberts' funeral.  

 

The Book of Sirach, the source of the first reading, is considered canonical and inspired by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.  Protestant churches do not include Sirach in the canon of the Bible, designating it part of apocrypha rather than a critical element of the wisdom literature.  The Amish may or may not be familiar with the Sirach. But it contributes an important element to their response to the Nickel Mines tragedy. 

 

"The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance, 

for he remembers their sins in detail.  

Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;

then when you pray, 

your own sins will be forgiven."  

 

This explains, in part, the behavior that most of the world found incomprehensible and some found repulsive.  Most of us are willing to forgive.  Sometimes.  Under certain circumstances.  For a limited number of times.  For some things.  In response to Peter's question Jesus instructs that seven times is not enough.  Through the use of hyperbole or exaggeration Jesus is telling us we must always forgive.  It is not an easy instruction to understand.  It is not an easy instruction to accept.  And yet, that is what God gives us.  God offers us forgiveness even more heroic than the forgiveness the Amish extended to the man who killed and maimed their daughters.  

 

The psalm assures us.                                     

 

"The Lord is kind and merciful, 

slow to anger, and rich in compassion. . . .

He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion."

 

God offers us forgiveness every time we receive the sacrament of confession.  We need only begin, “I confess that I have sinned.” 

 

And ask for pardon and forgiveness.  

_________________________________________

Books prepared for Mass in a monastic church.

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

 

 

Homily for September 11, 2020

Homily for September 11, 2020

 

Nineteen years ago yesterday was the day before the morning of.  But we didn't know it.  The only ones who did were Islamic terrorists.  They were busy making the final checks on their coordinated plan of murder.

 

Nineteen years ago last night most of us went to bed as usual. Some easily drifted off into deep slumber. Others tossed and turned with worry about the family, or finances, or the weekend weather forecast. 

 

Nineteen years ago last night the Church ended her day with the hour of compline that concluded, as always, with the Salve Regina. The great silence descended on monasteries throughout the country.

 

Nineteen years ago last night the killers knew it would be their last night alive.  None of their almost three thousand victims knew they would see only one more sunrise, kiss their children for a final time, or receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ at Mass at their last communion. 

 

Nineteen years ago this morning we woke.  Some of us feeling refreshed and eager for the day while others wanted another hour or six of sleep.  It was time to brush the teeth, take a shower, and have that first cup of coffee. 

 

Nineteen years ago today, at 8:45 AM EDT we went to work or to school. Some went for an early morning run.  Others walked the dog.  Daily tasks had to be done.  Perhaps it was garbage day.  Perhaps it was the first day on a new job.  It was the last day

 

Life changed at 8:46 EDT.

 

Nineteen years ago tonight few of us slept.  For those who did it was troubled non-restoring and interrupted by tears.

 

Today, as we have for the past nineteen years, we pray for those who were killed by Islamic terrorists:

 

Requiem aeternam                                  

dona eis, Domine, 

et lux perpetua luceat eis. 

Requiescant in pace. 

 

"Eternal rest 

grant unto them O Lord, 

and let perpetual light shine upon them. 

May they rest in peace."

___________________________________________

 

 

 

 

Memorial St. Peter Claver

9 September 2020

 

Today is the Memorial of St. Peter Claver, a fearless Spanish Jesuit Missionary whose life should be a model for all of us and the Church.  Claver was born in Catalonia, Spain in 1580.  Little is known of his younger years except that he had already decided he wanted to be a priest by age 13.  At 16 he began studies at the University of Barcelona, where he met the Society of Jesus for the first time.  He entered the Society in August 1602 and pronounced first vows two years later.  

 

Claver’s spiritual director was Jesuit Brother St. Alphonsus Rodriguez whom we will celebrate at the end of October.  In response to Claver’s desire to do great things for God, Rodriguez suggested that he consider going to the New World where there was much to be done.  Claver arrived in Cartagena, Colombia in the summer of 1610 after a six-month voyage.  He completed his theological studies in Bogota and was ordained a priest in 1616. Describing Claver’s work over the next 35 years as extraordinary  is an understatement.  He ministered to what one historian described as “the world’s most unfortunate creatures,”  the men and women brought to Cartagena from Africa to be sold as slaves.  

 

His way of proceding was to board  a slave ship as soon as it arrived in port, giving whatever biscuits and fruit he could beg from the townspeople to those on deck. He then went below deck to minister to the sick and dying where,  despite the stench, Peter remained for as long as it took to care for the sick and baptize the dying.  He instructed the slaves in the Catholic faith and baptized them.  His biographer notes, “These baptisms were so numerous that in response to a Jesuit brother’s question about the number of baptisms he performed in Cartagena, Peter humbly answered, “a little over 300,000.”

 

He never left Cartagena.  He never took a vacation.  After more than three decades ministering to the most deprived, neglected, and ill-treated in the world he developed Parkinson's disease, becoming a bed-bound invalid for the last four years of his life, a time during which he was severely abused by a former slave who was hired to care for him.  He accepted the mistreatment without complaint seeing it as just punishment for his sins. He died on September 8, 1654, was beatified in 1851. and canonized on January 15, 1888, in the same ceremony as his spiritual director St. Alphonsus Rodriguez.  

 

Peter Claver heard Jesus' call to give up everything to follow Jesus, serving others despite the risk of diseases that were considerably worse than covid-19. That he did so is cause for rejoicing and imitation.  

______________________________________________________________________

 While I don't pump iron I do shoot it.  Black and whites of wrought iron are among one of my favorite things to take.  

The first is a bridal shop in Ljubljana. 

This is the entrance to a bar.  

The second bank in Philadelphia on Walnut (I think) Street, about a block from Independence Hall.  

Had a bad moment of insomnia in LJ.  Went walking at 4:30 AM.  This is one of the bridges crossing the Ljubljanica River.  Did not notice the spider web until the download at which point I was out of my mind with joy.  

A grate on the Longfellow Bridge in Boston from last November. 

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

 

Homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

6 September 2020

Ez 33:7-9

Ps 95

Rom 13:8-10

Mt 16:15-20

 

I grew up, lived, and worked in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania until I was in my mid-forties. Much of that time was spent on the edge of Amish enclaves located along Rt. 45 between Lewisburg and State College.  Regular travelers on 45 learn to be alert for the black buggies traveling on the shoulder.   An outsider does not enter into or become close to an Amish community.  Their communities are closed to those whom they call 'The English.'  Their lifestyle is simple, non-technology dependent, and led according to church teaching.  

 

One of the misunderstood features of Amish life is the practice of 'shunning' a church member who repeatedly sins by violating church ordinances. This particular part of Matthew's gospel is used as justification for  shunning, a practice that is meant to maintain the good of the community.

 

The errant individual will be confronted  in the step-by-step manner outlined in the gospel.  Only after repeated attempts at correction at higher levels will the individual be shunned, cut off from social interaction with the community, from worship with the community, or even being able to do business within the community.  However, the individual is not completely abandoned.  Even when shunned the community will help if needed.  If the individual confesses and repents he or she or she will be welcomed back.  Only the completely unrepentant who refuse to confess  will be excommunicated.  

 

While many feel shunning to be harsh and inhumane, sometimes the only way to prevent the sinner from worse is through the remedy suggested in Matthew. A corollary is the first reading from Ezekiel in which the prophet is warned that he will be held equally guilty if he does not correct the sinner, whereas if he offers correction but the sinner persists, the sinner will be lost but the prophet will be blameless. 

 

Were the topic of shunning to be introduced into cocktail party conversation  many would roll their eyes  and allude to cruelty, perhaps with an "oh myyy gawwwwwd.'  Oftentimes they would add, "I never judge others,"  a sanctimonious lie that is among the biggest virtue signaling lies ever told by anyone . . . but that is another homily.

 

We have the same responsibilities to confront sinners as Matthew and Ezekiel outlined.  Are we culpable--legally and/or morally--for another's sin?  Most of the time we are not, but there are times when action on our part could have made a difference, saved a marriage, or saved a life.  Consider drunk driving.

 

Driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or prescription drugs is a serious and lethal problem in the United States.  Texting while driving is not much better.  Bars, bartenders, friends who over-serve, and that special class of idiot parents who purchase alcohol for their teenagers' parties, are being included in the legal blame and prosecuted for deaths and injuries stemming from their action or inaction.  Confronting a drunk driver is critical. Refusing to allow the individual to drive involves an act of judgment of the other's behavior. The penalty may involve confiscating the car keys, offering a place to stay over night, or calling Uber and even footing the bill.  Too frequently this kind of action doesn't go well.  Sometimes it goes very very badly.  Friendships have been ruptured and family bonds strained.  But action is necessary to prevent death or injury to the driver or others.  

 

Paul elaborated four of the ten commandments:  adultery, killing, stealing, and coveting in his letter.  Among the four, all of which are the antithesis of loving, adultery is the most fascinating.  Adultery is the family gift that keeps on giving, though what it frequently gives is nothing anyone wants: pain, separation, divorce, mistrust, loneliness, and for any involved children, a lot more difficulty than society is willing to admit. 

 

About thirty-five years ago I was attending a medical meeting a few hundred miles from home.  I was not prepared to run into a casual friend walking down the street hand-in-hand with a woman not his wife.  There was a fascinating moment of guilty discomfort on his part--she had no idea who I was or why he suddenly let go of her hand--or why he became obviously anxious.  His marriage ended not long after our accidental encounter.  The kids became alienated from their father, and the financial costs were huge.  It also ended any further socialization between us except for a nod when passing in the hallways.  

 

It is never easy or pleasant to correct another who is publicly sinning be it drunk driving or adultery. be it the formalized shunning practiced by the Amish or saying, "Give me your keys, you are in no condition to drive."  The confrontation frequently involves pain. It may result in screaming accusations along the lines of: "Who are you to judge me?"  

 

Sometimes that confrontation and punishment is necessary so as to prevent greater pain, greater sin, and greater hurt.  

____________________________________

Terrific weather in store for the weekend.  Am wondering how busy the Cape beaches will be despite the covid warnings.  BC tested 12,000 people (I was one).  I last heard that ten covid positives were picked up, seven in students and three in staff.  

The photos below are all from a monastery of nuns that I've been unable to visit since all the covid stuff began.  Hoping to be able to get back one day soon.  

I took photos of this accidental arrangement for two years until the day I walked up and the logs, glass, and everything else had been removed.  We are getting the first nips of autumn up here.  Am ready for more than simply a taste.  Without the prospect of Penn State football on the tube in Saturday afternoon things are looking grim. 

 

The purple and green go together nicely. 

I like the wild unfussy look. 

This weed can be described with one word: elegant

My grandmother had a bush of these in her yard but they were blue.  

Filling the frame removes distractions to the flowers. 

Dogwood is my favorite flowering tree.  

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

 

 

 

Renewal of Temporary Vows

On Sunday 30 August, rather than celebrating the Mass for Sunday I celebrated the Mass of Renewal of Temporary Religious Vows for Sr. Catherine Angeline, O. Carm. It was a great pleasure to do so as writing the homily compelled some meditation and prayer on the nature of religious life and the commitment those of us who enter have undertaken.  

Hosea 2:16-17; 21-23

Ps 63: 2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Rom 12:1-2

Gospel: Luke 23: 33-34; 39-43

Entering religious life is a choice. It is a voluntary step and a mode of self-giving that is fully comprehensible only to those who have taken the same step.  Entering and persevering in religious life is completely understandable only to those who have given the same response to God's insistent summons, full understanding of religious vows is really only possible to those who repeated Mary's words, 

"Ecce ancilla Domini, 

fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum."

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, 

May it be done unto me according to your word." 

Only after that first discernment on her part does the young sister enter into the step-by-step process of progressing more deeply into the heart and soul of the congregation.  Thus, each step, each renewal of vows, is weighted with its own significance and importance.  The time to solemn profession is never quick, no matter the congregation or order.  It is always measured in years rather than months.  No matter the order or congregation to count the years from entry to final profession one needs more than one hand.  

Thus, at this Mass for Renewal of Vows, Sister takes moves further into the congregation.  While each vow renewal takes a sister deeper into the heart of the order, it also takes her deeper into her own heart. That journey into her own heart is the most important part of the process.  Each  reaffirmed 'yes' to God's invitation, each renewed 'yes' to God's summons, brings Sister deeper into the Heart of Mary and deeper into the Heart of Jesus. 

"Ecce ancilla Domini, 

fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum."

Mary's words were an act of faith and trust.  So it is for the religious who pronounces vows, be they first vows, renewal of temporary vows, or solemn vows.  Sister's choice of readings indicates the movements into her own heart, into the heart of the congregation, and toward a more intimate union with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  

The first reading tells us "I will allure her."  This is the insistent call to religious life, the call that cannot be silenced, no matter how hard we try.  It also contains a warning of what is to come when the religious succumbs to that allurement,  "I will lead her into the wilderness." The wilderness is the place of confrontation with oneself, with one's desires, and with God's will.  It is a place of testing in which things do not always run smoothly. The wilderness is not an easy place to be but it cannot be avoided in religious life.  However, there are promises to her who is allured and led into the wilderness: "I will speak persuasively to her."

Only in the wilderness, and perhaps after the first few crises there, can a vowed religious hear that persuasive voice, the still small voice Elijah heard in the same wilderness, a voice heard only after the wind, the earthquake, and the fire. 

"I will betroth you to me forever"

The word betroth is rarely used today.  It has two roots; "Be" is a form of the word 'by.' "Troth" means 'truth.' Thus 'betroth' means to promise 'by my truth.'  The vows that Sister will renew shortly will be made 'by her truth' and by her free agreement. They are a reminder to herself, the congregation, and the body of the Church, of the journey she embarked upon and upon which she reaffirms her desire to continue. 

"Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind"

The second reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans, reminds Sister and all of us who share the commitment to vowed religious life, that part of the vocation to this way of life demands non-conformity with the present age and a self-transformation so as to discern what is good and pleasing to God. If one were limited to a single word to describe this commitment it would be 'countercultural.'  Having realized the empty promises of today's culture, the religious seeks her own path, a path which she must carve out on her own with the help of the rule, tradition, and the charism, and customs of the congregation.  

In one of the emails we exchanged, Sister noted that the themes for today's Mass would be: The Greatness of God’s Love and Forgiveness.  To Jesus through Mary. 

That greatness of God's love and forgiveness is immediately apparent in the Gospel.  As life was ebbing from His body following the brutal assaults inflicted on it before being hung on the cross, Jesus forgave those who did not know what they were doing.  He then promised salvation to one of the thieves crucified alongside him. That forgiveness, that promise of redemption was a result of the thief's confession of his own sin and his subsequent act of faith in Jesus as Messiah. 

May Sister's act of faith and trust demonstrated as she renews her vows be heard in heaven in the way Mary's words at the Annunciation were heard.  

"Ecce ancilla Domini, 

fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum."

_________________________________________________

 Because I was otherwise oppupied there was no opportunity to do photos.  The website for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, however, had photos of the two sisters who renewed their vows, each in the community at which she is stationed.   The website connection is:

http://www.carmelitesisters.com/carmelite-events/renewal-of-sr-catherine-angelines-religious-vows#.X05_yS2ZMWo

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 22:19-23

Ps 138

Rom 11:33-36

Mt 16:13-20

Linguistic communication is a fascinating area of study.  Attention to how a patient uses language is an important part of every psychiatric evaluation.  How and where one stresses or emphasizes a particular syllable, word or phrase may subtly, or not so subtly, affect the meaning, interpretation, and impact of what is being said.  Tone of voice reflects the emotional state of the speaker, influences the impact he will have on the hearer, and may predetermine a response.  Body language is another homily entirely.

Jesus posed two questions in this Gospel reading. The first was informational, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 

Jesus’ second question is specific. It is personal.  It demanded a personal answer of the apostles and it demands an answer from each of us.  That is where the effect of intonation, inflection and vocal stress is significant.  How did Jesus ask the question?  How did the apostles hear it?  How do we hear it?  Most critically, how will each of us answer it?   

But WHO do you say I am?

But who DO you say I am?    

But who do YOU say I am? 

But who do you SAY I am?

But who do you say I am? 

But who do you say I AM? 

This is the most difficult question Jesus asked his apostles and followers.  It is the most difficult question he asks us.  “Who do you say I am?”  . . . place the emphasis in your own mind.  Our answer may shift or evolve over time just as vocal emphasis shifts with the context.  Everything depends on how and what we answer.  

Peter’s answer was brief and spot on.  “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God.”  His answer included:  You are the Messiah, the Promised One,  the One who has ended our time of waiting,  and much more.  His answer was radical and courageous.   Had he proclaimed this publicly, had there been a mole present to go running to the authorities, charges of blasphemy would have followed quickly.  At the time the usual penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning. Today religious blasphemy gets the speaker a guest spot on Saturday Night Live. That too is another homily.

The Church answers Jesus’ question every year at the beginning of the Easter Vigil.  As he incises the paschal candle the priest proclaims: 

"Christ yesterday and today

the beginning and the end

Alpha and Omega

all time belongs to him

and all the ages.

To him be glory and power

through every age for ever." 

"The beginning and the end 

The Alpha and the Omega."  

Only ten words are needed to say everything one needs to know in life. The Church can boldly proclaim this because those of us born since Peter’s radical confession of faith have not had to wonder; we have not had to wait.  From the moment we were conceived we have lived in a world in which the promise was fulfilled.  From the first instant of life in the womb and continuing until natural death in old age, we were, we are, and will always be, living in the presence of the One for whom the world waited.  

Today's first reading and gospel once again illustrate the dependence of the New Testament upon the Old.  “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church . . . .I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  Both the image of Peter as gatekeeper and the power invested in Peter to bind or loose sin derive from Isaiah: “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open.”  

This "keys to the kingdom" passage in Matthew is controversial to say the least.  As one writer who is prone to understatement notes, “The precise interpretation of this passage, on which the claims of the Papacy have been based, has been the subject of much controversy.”  One might add it has driven anger, hysteria, polemic, violence, and a lot of snarky hip cocktail party conversation.  

Did Jesus intend a linear papal succession?  Were Peter and his successors truly invested with the power to forgive or retain sin?  It is unlikely the arguments, hostility, or temper tantrums will end in this millennium.  The late Fr. Raymond Brown writes.  “ . . .given the New Testament evidence pertinent to the growth of the image of Peter, it is not easy for those who reject the papacy to portray the concept of a successor to Peter as contradictory to the New Testament.”  Of course that won't stop anyone from trying to argue against the primacy of Peter having been transmitted down the millennia.   

WHAT would Jesus want?

What WOULD Jesus want? 

What would JESUS want? 

What would Jesus WANT? 

The intonation dilemma again.  

Humans are skilled at transforming personal agendas into God’s revealed will be it justifying war, promoting abortion on demand, excusing economic exploitation, or encouraging all manner of sexual perversion.  The moment someone asks, "But what would JEEEEEEZUS (intentional emphasis) do?" it is obvious that the ride is going to get interesting.  I may not learn much about what Jesus would do but I am going to learn a lot about the speaker and his or her agenda.  

Coming to know God’s will is rarely instantaneous.  Coming to know God’s will requires time and a discerning heart.  And, we can only know God's will for ourselves.  We can't know it for the guy whose behavior we are trying to manipulate or the policy we are trying to implement or prevent.

Imagine that you are walking down a street.  Jesus approaches and asks, “But who do YOU say I am?”  

Spend this week answering that question in your own words.

_________________________________________

A glass of water on the table.  Was trying out a lens I hadn't used in a long time.  Long telephoto.  I was quite far from the table when I took the shot. 

Sailing in Cohasset Harbor

A large number of kids had sailing lessons in the mornings during the retreat. 

The lighthouse once again using the long telephoto lens.  Any shorter lens and it would look like a toothpick.

A little bit of color.  Tiger lilies.  

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Memorial Maximilian Kolbe

Today is the memorial of a man for our time; a modern saint whose life and action were wedded to following Jesus to the point of sacrificing his own life for the life of another, a man who offered his life in exchange for the life of another who was, until that moment, a complete stranger 

Rajmund Kolbe, was born in 1894. His 1941 death in Auschwitz was the result of an heroic act that grew out of a childhood experience when, after being scolded for some childhood mischief, he had a vision of Mary, Mother of Jesus as he was saying his night prayers. She was holding two crowns: a red one that stood for martyrdom and a white symbolizing purity. She asked if he were willing to accept either crown. He replied that he would accept both. In 1910, when he was 16 years old, he entered the Conventual Franciscan novitiate in Lwow where he received the name Maximilian.

Despite chronically poor health from tuberculosis he founded a number of friaries, published a monthly review and, in 1930, became a missionary to Japan where he established monasteries (friaries), published a Japanese language magazine, and where, like Mateo Ricci, the great Jesuit missionary to China, he befriended and entered into dialogue with Buddhist and Shinto priests. When he was called back to Poland as the rumblings of WW II were sounding in the background, the scene was set for him to win the crown of martyrdom. Kolbe was arrested in 1941 along with other Franciscans. After some time in Pawiak prison he was sent to Auschwitz where he would receive the red crown of martyrdom in a manner that is stomach churning to consider. 

Three prisoners escaped from the camp in July 1941. As was characteristic of standard Nazi-sociopath logic--a form of which is apparent in a few groups in the U.S. and elsewhere today--ten prisoners were chosen at random to be put into “The Bunker” an airless underground space (one suspects sanitary facilities were non-existent) where they would be deprived of food and water, condemned to die slow deaths from the combined effects of starvation and dehydration. Franciszek Gajowniczek was among the ten men chosen. A man of 42 years with wife and two children, he piteously cried out that he would never see his wife or sons again. Hearing this, Kolbe stepped from the line-up and negotiated a trade to take Gajowniczek’s place in the hell hole. The switch was allowed. 

The ten men languished for two weeks. No food. No water. No fresh air or natural light. They prayed aloud. As each man died his voice dropped out. Kolbe. the tubercular, was the last to survive. He did not, however, die in the bunker. Because the executioners needed the bunker, most likely for the next random group to be punished, he was taken, barely alive, to sick bay where he was injected with camphor, an early form of today's push to permit the killing of the ill elderly.
. 
The crown of martyrdom that young Kolbe accepted from the hand of our Blessed Mother gave him the courage to die so as to save the life of another man, just as Jesus died to save all mankind from death. 

There is a follow-up. 

Kolbe was beatified by Paul VI in 1971 and canonized by fellow Pole and saint John Paul II on 10 October 1982. 

Franciszek Gajowniczek survived the camps and returned to his wife. Both sons had been killed in action during the war. When he was widowed he remarried. His death at age 95 in 1995, came 53 years after Kolbe entered the bunker in his stead. He was present in Rome at both the beatification and the canonization. 

On a visit to Chicago Gajowniczek told his translator that "as long as he had breath in his lungs he would consider it his duty to tell people about the heroic act of love of St. Maximilian Kolbe”

The child who accepted the crowns of purity and martyrdom became the shepherd who took the place of one of the sheep being led to slaughter.

Today we call that child saint and implore his intercession.

________________________________________________________

Kolbe is one saint on whose memorial I almost always preach.  It is daunting to consider that his memorial and the memorial of another great Polish saint, Edith Stein, fall five days apart.  They both died in Auschwitz one year apart, with Kolbe dying first in 1941.  

Will be away the coming weekend and thus no homily until after I return on 27 August.  Monday 24 August marks 23 years since I entered the novitiate.  Friday 14 August marked 21 years since vows 

The chapel of Mary Help of Christians in Brezje, Slovenia.  Made a very unexpected trip there to celebrate Mass for a group of people participating in a week long seminar.  They were from multiple countries and English was the only language they had in common.  The chapel is tiny.  I celebrated facing away from the congregation.  

A sculpture of the Holy Family outside the shrine in Brezje.  The cross is several hundred yards away and enormous.  However, when one kneels infront of the statue the cross appears the way it does here.  

The main body of the shrine in Brezje.  The chapel with the icon is to the right.

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD