The second reading from today’s Office of Readings comes from of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s letters. At the beginning, he wrote:
It is sad for us to see in our own time that indifferentism in its many forms is spreading like an epidemic not only among the laity but also among religious. But God is worthy of glory beyond measure, and therefore it is of absolute and supreme importance to seek that glory with all the power of our feeble resources. Since we are mere creatures we can never return to him all that is his due.
Sounds a lot like our world today, doesn’t it? Mind you, he wrote this only within the past century, so he’s not too far off from our time today. However, I think it shows that we humans really don’t change all that much over the years, despite the frequent protestations that we’re more “evolved” and “enlightened” than those who have come before us. Human nature is the same now as it was in St. Maximilian’s time, and as it was in Our Lord’s time.
St. Maximilian, pray for us that we may have your zeal to be missionaries proclaiming the Gospel, and that we may be willing to follow your lead to martyrdom if we are so called.
