St. Maximilian’s example

Maximilian, living ever more intensely and radically his belonging to the Immaculata, his total consecration to her, learned and embraced Mary’s dispositions in relation to God and neighbor, those attitudes which Pope Paul VI summarized and described in his unequaled apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus, which presents Mary as the Virgin in prayer, the attentive Virgin, the Virgin Mother and the Virgin presenting offerings.

The first typical attitude of Mary that Father Maximilian contemplated and embraced by living in communion with her, is certainly that of prayer, the intimate union with the Triune God, Who made Kolbe a contemplative in action.

His words about prayer reflect his beliefs, but above all his experience: “Prayer is a means that people do not know about, and yet it is the most effective way to restore peace in the soul, to give them happiness, because it serves to bring them closer to God’s love. Prayer revives the world. Prayer is the indispensable condition for the regeneration and the life of every soul. By means of prayer, St. Thérèse de Lisieux, without leaving the walls of her convent, became the patron of all missions and not only the titular patron saint, as experience shows. Let us pray, let us pray well, pray much, both with our lips and in our thought, and we shall experience in ourselves how the Immaculata will take increasing possession of our souls, how our belonging to her will deepen more and more in every respect, how our sins will vanish, and our flaws will weaken, how gently and powerfully we will come ever closer to God…. To the extent in which we burn more and more with Divine Love, we will kindle a similar love even in others.”

Regarding Maximilian we could say what Celano wrote about the Seraphic Father Francis, namely that he was “not so much praying as becoming himself a prayer.”

The second inner attitude of Mary, the attentive Virgin, which characterised the whole missionary experience of Father Kolbe, was definitely obedient attention to God, who manifests His will through Scripture, the Church, interior inspirations and life circumstances.

Several letters highlight how obedience of faith was the secret, the compass, of each of his missionary initiatives, that he undertook always and only after being validated by the voice of obedience.

Here is what he wrote in 1931 from Mugenzai no Sono to the seminarians of Niepokalanów: “You yourself will experience in your lives, even on this earth, that all of the perfection of holiness, all the fervor of action, all the usefulness of the missionary ministry consists not in great wisdom, nor in great intelligence, nor in great skills or even in the amount of prayers and penitence, but solely in the perfection of Holy Obedience. Why is this? Because through Holy Obedience the certain will of God, the will of the Immaculata manifest themselves; through Holy Obedience we truly become an instrument in her hands....”

Closing Prayer

Hail Mary… 

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, and for all those who do not have recourse to you, especially the enemies of Holy Church and all those recommended to you.

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