Rather, you were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome, the day you were born.
The above picture is of course the former Polish Army barracks that later became the housing for the Jewish prisoners and a small percentage of dissidents in Aushwitz, Concentration Camp in Poland.
My wife, Anna, and I took a tour about 10 years ago and it was the most impressionable experiences of our lives. Anna had misgivings before we went. Myself, I was on tour and had no preconceived attitude about it. We both knew of the atrocities but it didn’t become real until we got there.
First of all, now it is a very peaceful place but that is deceiving. It covers a shameful past. Besides the furnaces, the tons of baby clothes and wooden legs, there is also on display 2 tons of hair that over the years had all turned gray.
Enough you say. It was scary No birds sing! There is a smell to the place and the strange aroma that permeates the strange stillness. In the distance there is the sound of trains blaring their horns in the stillness.
In the midst of all this was Father St Maximilian Kolbe. He had spoken out against his countries invaders and was conveniently silenced by sending him and others in Poland to the camp. Greater love hath no man than to lay his life down for a friend. He died by starvation. We viewed the chamber that Maximilian died. He and three other men were crambed into a very small space and staved to death. Seeing the cell he died just added to the reality of man’s inhumanity to man that we had seen earlier.
The reason why Saint Kolbe sacrificed his life is explained in our Gospel today taken from Matthew Chapter 19. Simply this chapter is Jesus’s defense of marriage chapter. Saint Maximilian Kolbe gave his life by taking the place of a married man with a family. Just like Jesus he did it out of love.
Why was the sacrament of marriage so important?
With all this death and misery how can there be love?
But there is love. Saint Maximilian choose love amidst the misery of the world they were placed.
Marriage was so important to Jesus and Saint Maximilian that it must be defended. It is the center for the Gospel for today. If you are single that is okay . If you are married look at your wife and think of the sacrifices made by your parents and grandparents to stay together. Sometimes those sacrifices end in divorce.
If you have experienced divorce. Just know that you are still loved. The main point is you tried and that sacrifice will not go unnoticed when you stand before God.
Marriage is a journey where two people grow and mature. Just like a garden there are weeds and the plants need the proper amount of water. Jesus does not condone or approve of abuse in marriage. We all know or have experienced relatives or friends where abuse ruined lives of not only the spouses but the children.
Marriages promote families and families are the center of our society. I had a young priest tell me that he was one of those to renounce marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. The priest went on to say that he was the product of family and he had nine brothers and sisters to prove it.
Jesus and Father Kolbe both loved the people and the sacrament of marriage. If you are single you are just as loved when you respect the marriage bond of other. Father Kolbe knew we are all in it together.
God Love you Always
Bob Burford
