One of my favorite women in history is the mother of St. Maximilian Kolbe.
When Maximillian was young, he was a terrible boy. His mother was constantly annoyed with him. One day, exasperated, she exclaimed, “What will become of you?” This bothered Maximillian, and he ran to the nearby church and prayed before an image of the Blessed Virgin. Maximillian is reported to have said: "That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both."
From that point on, he straightened up his life. He became a Franciscan only a year later, and lived a life of purity. Several years after that, he was martyred in the death camp of Auschwitz during World War II, volunteering to take the place of a layman and father who was going to be killed by the Nazis.
When I am exasperated by my children, I think, "God can work with anything, even my sighs and exclamations of frustration." I love this woman. Intercede for me, Mother of Maximillian!
No comments:
Post a Comment