Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Maximilian Mary Corby.
And John Paul II began his homily at the Mass of canonization
with words from this Holy Gospel.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
And St. Maximilian Corby was granted this privilege,
this grace.
Of carrying out these words of our Lord in an absolute, literal manner.
St. Maximilian was born in Poland in 1894.
He thought of the priesthood early on and realized his goal
after he had joined the Franciscans, the conventual friars.
He was ordained a priest in 1918, and the year before that he was studying in Rome
and saw the Masons proclaiming the destruction of Holy Mother Church.
And it was then that he resolved to found the Knights of the Immaculate.
So he got permission to do this and it became a pious union.
And...
And...
And...
He established both the Society and he also had a publication,
The Knights of the Immaculata.
Which at one time had close to a million subscribers.
Later he established both the Society and the publication in Japan and India.
And...
And...
And...
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II,
he was arrested by the Gestapo.
He was arrested by the Gestapo.
He spent a little time in one prison and then he was arrested again in 1941.
And there...
And there...
And there...
And there...
They took him to...
And there...
Him to Auschwitz.
And there he voluntarily took the place of a married man who had a family that had been
condemned to death in the starvation bunker.
And his offer was accepted.
And he and nine others went to the bunker.
And...
And...
Usually when men went to the bunker, the guards could hear cries of despair.
And...
And...
And...
And...
of despair and gnashing of teeth and cursing and hatred. But this time it was different.
They were singing, praising God, praising Our Lady. They were praying. And St. Maximilian
lived the longest. It was as if he had to conduct each one of his fellow inmates to
eternity to keep them from despair, to keep them from hatred. Just as we heard in all
of today's readings that it is love that we need. It is love that is required of a
follower.
The power of Jesus Christ. Even love of our enemies. So St. Maximilian is a wonderful
example. And in today's office of readings we have one of as many letters preserved for
us. So I'm going to share with you part of that letter. It's a, you know, we pray in
that way.
And many of the prayers of the church to learn from the examples and the teachings
of the saints. So here we have words from St. Maximilian himself. He says, I am filled
with great joy because of the glowing zeal that motivates you to promote God's glory.
We see with sorrow that an epidemic of indifferentism in various places.
We see with fear that the evil that is in our hearts is spreading in our times. Not merely among
people in the world, but even among religious. Since God is worthy of infinite glory, it is our
prime concern to render him the greatest possible glory. Even if through human weakness we fail to
give him all that he deserves. God's glory is especially resplendent in the face of the world.
In the salvation of souls redeemed by Christ's blood. Let this then be the chief goal of your
apostolic work. The salvation and sanctification of the greatest number of souls. I shall tell you
briefly the most suitable way to attain this end. God, who is infinite knowledge and wisdom, and who
consequently knows best what we must do to promote his glory. God, who is infinite knowledge and
wisdom, and who consequently knows best what we must do to promote his glory. God, who is voters,
makes his will known to us, particularly through those who take his place on earth. It is therefore
obedience, and obedience only, which clearly shows us God's will. It can happen, to be sure,
that a superior make a mistake. But it can not happen that in following obedience we make
a mistake.
Only then is there an exception to obedience
when a superior commands something
that would be clearly in violation of God's law.
Even in a small matter, in such a case,
the individual himself would not be the interpreter of God's will.
This is the way of wisdom and prudence.
This is the only way we can render the greatest glory to God.
If there were another and more suitable way,
Christ would surely have showed it to us by his own words and example.
But sacred scripture described his long sojourn in Nazareth in these words.
He was subject to them
and painted the picture of the rest of his life for us
in the color of his name.
Thus showing that he had come upon earth
to do the will of his father.
Therefore, my brothers, let us love our most loving father in heaven
with the greatest love and let our obedience be the proof
of our perfect love which we put into practice,
especially when we are asked to give up our own will.
There is no more authoritative book
to teach us about the power of God.
There is no more book to teach us
how to grow in God's love
than the book of Jesus crucified.
Perfect obedience applies not only to religious and deprees,
but to everyone.
To the working man, he can practice this obedience to his employer.
Why?
Why?
Because he is obedient to his husband.
Children need to be obedient to their parents and teachers.
And we learn from our saint today
that it is obedience that is going to obtain for us
the graces that we need from God.
St. Maximilian goes on,
We shall achieve all this
through the Immaculate Virgin,
whom a most loving God in his mercy gave us.
There is no doubt that Mary's will, in our regard,
is the will of God.
When we dedicate ourselves to her,
we become instruments of God's mercy,
just as she was in God's hands.
Let us be guided by her, led by her.
Let us feel calm and safe under her guidance.
She will look after all our needs,
quickly provide everything necessary for soul and body.
She will remove all our difficulties and trials.
And I'm sure St. Maximilian is not telling us
that she's going to eliminate all the crosses in our life.
But when we place our hands in the hands of our mother,
it's going to make those,
those trials and difficulties that much easier to cope with
and to endure and to offer back to God.