St. Maximilian Kolbe by Ann Walker

“Greater Love than this no man has that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

A story of selflessness and hope. 

St. Maximillian Kolbe's story of caring for his neighbor was most certainly the answer to a soldier's prayer. It is a story of selflessness. How often do we pray for a burden to be lifted? Out of the darkness for one hopeless soldier in a prison camp came light in the form of St. Maximilian Kolbe. When the soldier's prayer was answered, St. Maximilian's burden was only then realized. His love for others was stronger than any fears he might have faced. 

When we stop to think about Jesus, we realize that He selflessly gave of Himself for all of us. Just when people despair over some type of life circumstance or addiction, Jesus is there to save us! He wants us to place our trust in Him.

It is hard to understand why God lets certain things happen. There is a saying, "God will allow no evil from which he can bring no good."  I understand that to mean that--although God does allow bad things to happen based on free will, God desires to have the good come through even under the most difficult circumstances. 

In this case--in 1941, the 47-year old Jesuit Priest, Maximilian Kolbe was arrested for helping Jewish people during World War II. He was sent to a German Nazi concentration/death camp in Poland. When he learned that a 41-year old man (who found he was going to be starved to death) was crying out for his wife and children, Father Maximilian Kolbe asked his captors to take his own life in lieu of the life of that imprisoned soldier. 

Prayer is an important component in resolving certain circumstances. Even if the outcome isn't exactly what we were expecting or hoping for, we need to trust that God is always working behind the scenes. God knows what is best for us even when we can't see it ourselves. We need to learn to recognize that we can't do things alone...that we need to rely on others...that we should ask for help even when it isn't easy to do so. We get the answers in the way that helps us to grow in faith and love. Often, we can learn to turn our situations around and help others. We begin to recognize that when we help others, we are actually helping ourselves as well.

It is amazing how God sometimes places just the right people in our path to help us along in our journey. Others may inspire strength that we might not realize we have! Sometimes, we are the ones that other people derive their strength from! We may be the answer to someone else's prayer!

We are blessed to have so many Saints that we can pray to for guidance. We can pray to Saint Maximilian Kolbe to lift up our prayers to Jesus. He can help us in our quest to gain more wisdom so--with God's help--we can persevere and overcome our problems and worries. God wants us to trust in His mercy. 

Gospa Missions Amazing Grace Books & Gifts has items that can inspire us to see what we might need to do in order to follow in God's ways. God wants us to help others who are participants in the journey along with us. Know that when you shop at Gospa, every purchase supports our dual mission of evangelization and care for children in need...which is an answer to many prayers.

- By Ann Walker