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An Auschwitz prisoner had escaped, and the Nazi authorities decided that 10 other men would be starved to death in exchange. When one of the 10 selected cried out for his wife and children, Father Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take his place.
This week we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. In the Gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples and they receive the Holy Spirit.
Saint Justin Martyr was the first recognized philosopher of the Christian era. Converted to Christianity, he continued his love of philosophy and used it to defend the faith.
The dramatic story of the descent of the Holy Spirit tells us how the Holy Spirit can break down walls we may put up between peoples, races, and cultures. What we see as obstacles, the Spirit can use to create a new unity.
Discipleship is not easy. It involves sharing the joy of Jesus and the Father, but also includes being the object of the world’s hatred.
Luke’s Gospel tells us Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was barren for many years. I can picture Elizabeth averting her gaze and hastening past the crowd outside the gates as the years got long and the hope faded. I can understand how she might have grown weary of the journey—tired of the eyes that watched her and wondered what she could possibly be hoping for, tired of the whispered questions and growing assumptions. I know that tiredness. But I know too that, in that silence, there is a hope that even if God has not answered us the way we wished, he is still good.
Both Mary and Elizabeth accompanied each other in their time of need. As disciples, we are all called to that same art of accompaniment with each other. What do I do to accompany another?
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is about both two women and two men. The Blessed Virgin Mary goes to visit Elizabeth to assist her in her final days of pregnancy. But as she greets Elizabeth, the babe in Elizabeth’s womb—John the Baptist—leaps for joy at the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb. Great mysteries of life are at play here.
The Visitation scene reminds us that we too, participate in God’s plan of redemption. We have all been called to take joy in God’s intervention in our lives.
Until the bitter end Joan of Arc was confident she had remained obedient to God.
