A group of scribes and Pharisees opposed to Jesus bring a woman they accuse of adultery to him at the break of dawn while he is teaching in the temple area. They make her stand in public to humiliate her. They try to trap Jesus, as they often do, trying to get him to contradict Jewish law or Roman law, asking Jesus if she should be stoned to death for her sins.
This event happens at dawn, when the first offerings are made in the Temple. A Jewish rabbi asked his students how they would determine when night has ended and when the new day has started, to know the time to make these offerings. One student said when there is enough light to distinguish a goat from a sheep. Another student said when you could distinguish a fig tree from an apple tree. The rabbi himself responded: The new day begins when you can look at a human face as see if it a brother or a sister.
That is the problem with the scribes and Pharisees. Even with the light of the morning, they can not recognize their brother or their sister. The malice in their hearts direct them to humiliate and judge the woman they accuse of adultery, wanting to condemn her to death rather than wanting to help her or save her. They also do not recognize Jesus as their brother, as they want to trap him and condemn him, not to learn from him or become his disciple.
Maximillian Kolbe is the saint we are highlighting in connection with today’s Gospel. Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894, a time when Poland was a part of the Russian empire. When Kolbe was 12 years old, he had a vision of Mary appearing to him, offering him two crowns. Even at that young age, he understood that the white crown represented sainthood, while the red crown represented martyrdom. In his vision, he accepted both crowns from Mary. Kolbe held this vision in his heart his entire life as he grew in his faith and he offered his life to God in service as a priest. The message of these two crowns never left the center of his faith.
While Kolbe became a priest with the conventual Franciscans. While a seminarian, he and some fellow seminarians organized the Militia Immaculatae, the Army of the Immaculate One, to work for conversion of sinners and the conversion of enemies of the Catholic Church, working through the Blessed Mother. As a Franciscan priest, he founded a new monastery outside of Warsaw, Poland that became a major religious publishing house. He later went to Japan for 6 years, where he helped establish a new monastery and a new publishing house.
Coming back to Poland, they were now subject to occupation by the Nazi regime. At that time, his friary in Poland just outside of Warsaw had 650 friars living that, making it one of the largest Catholic religious houses in Europe. In 1939, in the beginning of the Nazi occupation, he came under suspicion, was arrested, but then released after 3 months. The newspaper Kolbe published was outspoken against the Nazis. The friary housed, fed, and hid up to 3,000 Polish refugees, including Jews. Kolbe was arrested again in 1941. He was sent to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, being branded prisoner #16670. As a member of a work crew at the concentration camp, he was subject to brutal treatment, which he endured with dignity and respect. When one of the prisoners escaped, ten prisoners were singled out as retribution, being sent to an underground bunker to be starved to death. Kolbe voluntarily chose to take the place of a man with a wife and children. Kolbe prayed with the men in the bunker each day, giving them comfort and encouragement. When most had died, Kolbe and the other remaining men were given lethal injections. He died with peace in his heart.
Our Gospel tells us about the scribes and Pharisees who want a woman to be put to death, accusing her of adultery, to show the primacy of God’s law to Jesus. In Maximillian Kolbe, we have a martyr of the faith who is imprisoned for helping out in mercy to his fellow man, put to death in a concentration camp. Kolbe, of course, is the patron saint of prisoners. With each day that I serve the prisoners here in Mississippi, I can identify more and more with Maximillian Kolbe.
He is also the patron saint of those struggling with addictions, another type of prison that traps people in their brokenness and their weaknesses. In his patronage of addicts, Kolbe understands our human struggle with sin and is always committed to helping those in need. The pain of addiction is often rooted in our past traumas, our emotional pain, and our unresolved issues. Kolbe’s selfless act of offering his life up to save the life of another prisoner in Auschwitz exemplifies the essence of recovery from addiction. Breaking free from the chains of addiction requires a willingness to sacrifice one’s old ways and old life, to embrace change and transformation, and to find strength in serving others. The life of Maximillian Kolbe shows us the importance of prayer, the power of faith, and the need we have to be in community with one another.
In every inmate I serve in the prison, I see the face of God. St Maximillian Kolbe, please help us to remain humble missionaries of Christ’s love: to the prisoner, the oppressed, and the outcast.
