St Maximilian Kolbe. Day 4.

 How easy it is to quit something when it challenges us and makes us feel weak or silly. 

The last few days for example, my computer has been incredibly slow and somehow a band of mosquitos decided to party in my little home office corner, feasting on me like a turkey at Thanksgiving while I tried to focus and write. It didn't take long for me to get annoyed and discouraged and want to just throw in the towel with my novena. "No one will read or pray with you anyway!" was the thought as I slapped a greedy mosquito off of me. They sent me to bed looking like a peperoni pizza. I thought about St Maximilian in Auschwitz starving to death and realized my mosquito bites are nothing. 

However, writing on a person like St Maximilian Kolbe makes me see how important it is to pray for the virtues and to practice them because they surely don't come naturally nor genetically!

On September 9, 1939 Catholic priests and catholic faithful were brutally killed in Bydgoszcz Old Market Square by Nazi's. They considered Catholic sub-human and hundreds of thousands were killed for their Catholic faith. By the end of 1941 Catholicism was outlawed by Nazi's in Poland. May Polish saints rose from the literal ashes during this horrific period in their history. St Maximilian Kolbe saw this persecution rising for so many children of God that were hated by Nazi's, he also knew his father was born German and when offered papers by the Nazi's to be safe by acknowledging his German ancestry, he refused. He knew agreeing to this could save his life, but it would also collaborate with a diabolical agenda. 

He refused to sign documents that would have saved him from persecution.

September 9, 1939. Catholic priests and faithful shot to death in Bydgoszcz Old Market Square. Viva Cristo Rey!

St Maximilian Kolbe has struck me for many reasons, but one of them that I can't shake is the virtue of holy Fortitude. Holy fortitude is a moral virtue that he held fast to in his firmness through all difficulties. He didn't abandon his monastery when Nazi's invaded Poland. Many monks did abandon ship, some quickly exchanged their habit for civilian clothes, and sought shelter from the impeding war. St Maximillian Kolbe showed constancy in the pursuit of the good in his resolve to resist the temptation to flee the monastery. This holy fortitude enabled him to conquer his fear, even the fear of death. He was willing in staying in his monastery, to sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. Jesus said, "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." St Maximilian Kolbe saw the gift of Christ alive and living within him, and this awareness motivated him to not run and to be steadfast with Holy fortitude. 

Today, I would like to pray for an increase in the virtue of Holy fortitude for all priests, deacons, seminarians and religious brothers and sisters. 

Day 4 - For the virtue of Holy Fortitude for priests and religious

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. St Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us and intercede for us.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy,

Christ hear us,

Christ graciously hear us. 

God the Father in Heaven,

Have mercy on us,

God the Son, Redeemer of the World, 

Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity one God, 

Have mercy on us. 

St Maximilian Kolbe intercede for us. I pray today for your intercession for priests, deacons, seminarians and religious who are tempted to cowardice and insecurity. I pray for you to intercede in praying for them and for the inner battle each of them face between good and evil. I pray for their souls to see the divine light that our gracious Lord has given to them in His gentle mercy. I pray that they see themselves not as abandoned individuals on a temporary path of earthly satisfaction, but children of the Most High, chosen specifically to live in this day, in this moment, in their specific situation as beloved children of the King. May they see the passion of Jesus in their struggles day to day and see the beauty if God allows for them to share the passion with them. May they pray with an open heart that only beats for God in their garden of Gethsemane, May they renounce all fleshly lust and bodily commodities through the scourging at the pillar, may they accept the crown of thorns in praying and contemplating the sins of the world, may they see that they don't bear the cross alone, but with Jesus Himself, and if God chooses them to face the death as Jesus did, May they know that heaven and the choir of angels will be with them. I pray for intercession for their fortitude, St Maximilian. May priests be knights for Mary as you are and fight through prayer, through contemplation, through speaking truth in love. May they see the people in their lives as souls brought to them not by coincidence but for conversion. I pray for the purity of them all, that through Mary's purity, they might grow in holy fortitude. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. 

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, a world without end. Amen.