Whatever religion you follow, it is hard to shake the feeling that organized religion may be losing its moral compass. You may even wonder if it was always this way. There have been, of course, better days and better men.
Raymund Kolbe was born in 1894 in Poland, to a German father and Polish mother. Poland was struggling to extricate itself from Russia then. The Russians hanged his father for involvement in freedom struggle . The difficult times didn’t make him physically strong - he struggled with tuberculosis. But he became mentally and spiritually strong. He joined the Catholic church somewhere along the Austrian border and got a religious name - Maximilian. Meanwhile, another man born in Austrian border had taken Germany by storm ( or stormtroopers).
The two men couldn’t have been more different.
One was a dictator, intent on bringing all of Europe under his reign. The other was a priest committed to the reign of God. One wanted victory on the battle field. The other wondered ,what’s the purpose of a victory on the battlefield, if we lose the holy war within ourselves - the perennial conflict between good and evil that every soul has to fight.
They would never meet each other, but their lives would intersect in an awful way. The Nazi forces captured Poland in 1939, opening the Pandora’s box of World War II. Maximilian Kolbe was arrested , since he was a priest in a church that printed anti Nazi newsletters. He was promptly sent to the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp.
Even as he walked through the shadow of the valley of death, he feared no evil. He wrote to his mother “Don’t worry. The good God is everywhere. I don’t care if I am in a church or a concentration camp”. He became prisoner no 16670. Within the dungeon of hatred, he provided spiritual succor to the beleaguered men and women.
One fateful day in July 1941, three prisoners escaped from Auschwitz. The Nazis were furious. They decided to teach the the inmates a brutal lesson. They selected ten men to die, slowly of starvation. They were to eat nothing and drink nothing, except their own urine. One of the condemned men was Franciszek Gajowniczek (pronounced Ga-yow-knee-check). He was heartbroken and cried , “My wife ! My children!”.
It was then that Maximilian Kolbe quietly stepped to the front. He said, “I am a priest. Please take my life, instead of his , for he has family”.
The Nazi guards were stunned. The only other man they knew who had given his life for others was Christ himself !
They were awestruck, but they dare not disobey their commander. They threw the 10 men into an underground hell, with no exit, except to heaven. Eventually all ten perished.
30 years passed. Father Maximilian Kolbe was conferred sainthood by the Church. Gajowniczek attended the beatification ceremony, tears rolling down his face. Father Kolbe didn’t ‘father’ a child - he gave the gift of life to a stranger.
Father Maximilian Kolbe’s life embodies the spirit of Christmas . It is a powerful message of love, compassion and courage. The message that we can all aspire to emulate - whether we believe in God or not.
Merry Christmas.
