Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was the feast of one of my favorite saints, Maximilian Kolbe. Fr. Maximilian died at Auschwitz, giving his life for another prisoner. I met that prisoner, Franciszek Gajowniczek, while in High School in the 1980's. He told us the moving story of Fr. Maximilian, and I visited Auschwitz that following Summer, where a shrine is set up where he was starved, and then injected with carbolic acid. Before Auschwitz he founded a Franciscan Friary in Poland, Marytown, which hosted the publishing ministry for his organization, The Militia Immaculata. Before WWII Marytown had nearly 800 priests and brothers! He also traveled to and started a publishing ministry in Japan for a period of time. I chose Fr. Maximilian as my religious name in the Third Order Franciscans.

Today is the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin (Assumption BVM for Roman Catholics and The Dormition for the Eastern Orthodox). As today's gospel lesson states, from the prayer prayed daily at Evening Prayer, The Magnificat, "From henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed." And we do!

I am looking forward, in a short while, to heading over to St. Martha's Church in Detroit for our Diocesan Celebration of the Feast, hosted by Fr. Robert Kerr, SSC, also a Third Order Franciscan.

For more information on our Franciscan Order, go to www.fodc.net