Have No Fear

August 14, 2007

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe

Be brave and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. (Matthew 18:10)

Piety

Let us pray: Lord, you do not stand idly by while your children are slaughtered. Open our hearts, minds and senses to the violence being done to the people in Darfur and elsewhere around the world who face genocide. Help us to get actively involved spurring our political and moral leaders to take action that we support which will end these crimes against humanity. We can not despise especially the little children who are being victimized in this manner. For them, we are compelled to action. Just as the Lord does not sit idly by, neither can we.

Forgive us, Lord, for remaining detached while people are in need of assistance. Wake us, God; ignite our passion, fill us with outrage. Remind us that we are responsible for Your world. Don’t allow us to stand idly by. Inspire us to act. Teach us to believe that we can repair some corner of this world.

When we despair, fill me with hope. When we doubt our strength, fill us with faith. When we are weary, renew our spirit. When we lose direction, show us the way back to meaning, back to compassion, back to You. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/081407.shtml

The words from the Hebrew Bible today have special significance as the Catholic Church commemorates the anniversary of the death of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe in a German concentration camp. From the American Catholic website, here is a summary of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe’s martyrdom at Auschwitz:

A prisoner had escaped. The commandant announced that 10 men would die. He relished walking along the ranks. “This one. That one.” As they were being marched away to the starvation bunkers, Number 16670 dared to step from the line. “I would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.” “Who are you?” “A priest.” No name, no mention of fame. Silence. The commandant, dumbfounded, perhaps with a fleeting thought of history, kicked Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek out of line and ordered Father Kolbe to go with the nine. In the “block of death” they were ordered to strip naked and the slow starvation began in darkness. But there was no screaming—the prisoners sang. By the eve of the Assumption four were left alive. The jailer came to finish Kolbe off as he sat in a corner praying. He lifted his fleshless arm to receive the bite of the hypodermic needle. It was filled with carbolic acid. They burned his body with all the others. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized in 1982.

The death camps were the source of many people destined for sainthood. That number will grow larger later this year, the Vatican will beatify another martyr of the German concentration camps in World War II – Franz Jagerstatter – an Austrian farmer and conscientious objector who refused to participate in Hitler’s army.

Action

Where is God marching today? Who is he marching with?

The heroic men and women who brought hope to their fellow prisoners in Nazi death camps have as heirs the peoples fighting oppression around the world today.

From the witness of Catholic Workers, Quakers (Friends) and others opposed to war to the work of inspiring leaders like Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu who brought change to South Africa by fighting apartheid. From Lech Walesa and the Solidarity trade union forcing the Polish government to change and signaling the end of the “Iron Curtain,” thus freeing people throughout Eastern Europe from Soviet Domination to the Christian Peace Witnesses working throughout the Middle East for the protection of innocent Jewish and Palestinian children, women and men.

Despite promises that the world would not stand by and let genocide take place again, we have seen it occur in Rwanda, in the former Yugoslavia and now in the Darfur region of the Sudan. People of these death camps also march with God despite the horrendous conditions of their lives.

According to the website www.genocidewatch.org, since the Bush Administration first recognized the genocide in Darfur, at least 250,000 more men, women, and children have died. Using its own military and the Janjaweed militia, Sudan’s regime has conducted a systematic campaign to kill and drive out Darfur’s ethnic Fur, Massalit, and Zhagawa peoples. Supported by aircraft and helicopter gunships, the Janjaweed attack towns, villages, and refugee camps, kill the men and boys, rape the women and girls, and poison the wells. Their goal is to replace these African peoples with Arab herders.

Visit the Darfur Action Alert posted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at the web site: http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/darfuractionalert0306.shtml. It urges:

As Catholics, we must answer the appeal of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, last November: “The horror of events unfolding in Darfur, to which my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II referred on many occasions, points to the need for a stronger international resolve to ensure security and basic human rights. Today, I add my voice to the cry of the suffering and assure you that the Holy See … will continue to do everything possible to end the cycle of violence and misery.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO: A relatively easy way to make your voice heard would be to join the Million Voices for Darfur Campaign. In support of our mission to follow the Gospel’s call to alleviate human suffering and promote justice throughout the world, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has joined the Save Darfur Coalition to stand against the heinous cruelty being inflicted on the innocent and to promote the Million Voices for Darfur Campaign. The Coalition, an alliance of over 150 faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations, seeks to collect one-million postcards encouraging the President in his call for a stronger multinational force to protect the people of Darfur. These postcards are available both in paper and electronically (www.savedarfur.org).

TAKE ACTION NOW! Make sure that your elected officials know that the American people stand by their commitment to the people of Darfur. Please tell the President and Congress today that the United States must make protecting the innocent civilians of Darfur a top priority. Remind our leaders that the American people cannot remain on the sidelines in the face of killings, rape and wanton destruction. As Bishop Ricard stated in a call to action on behalf of the bishops nearly a year ago, “The crisis in Darfur must be ended. We cannot stand idly by while human life is threatened. The United States and the international community can and must do more to end this moral and humanitarian crisis.”

We must stand steadfast and in solidarity with people facing this oppression.