Tags
antidote, Auschwitz, distress, inhumanity, loss, love, martyr, St. Maximilian Kolbe, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
It seems as if we, like Noah, will soon have to begin building an ark to survive the rain that seems destined to go on forever taking lives, swallowing up cars and filling homes with muddy destruction. Would that we could gather it up and send it West to smother some of the wildfires that are devastating so many homes and lives on the other side of our country. Such environmental distress and human loss is difficult to take in as pictures on the news bring it all to the fore each evening.
Add to that the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, whom we remember today as holy man and martyr, one who gave his life at Auschwitz in place of a man who had a wife and children. Kolbe died as a 47-year-old Franciscan priest who had chosen to be a martyr. You can read his story at www.franciscanmedia.org.
We are not separate, it seems, from the groaning of nature and the inhumanity born of hatred in individuals and nations. War, whether worldwide or contained in one country – or in our hearts – continues to overshadow our days. The only antidote is love. Offered with generosity to each person we pass on the street, those we embrace as friend and those we thank God for every day as essential to our lives, leaving no one out of our circle of care, love will ultimately save us. This, I believe.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 