Remembering Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Saint and Martyr

Today is the commemoration of the death of Maximilian Mary Kolbe, an Apostle of Consecration to Mary, a Saint, and a martyr.  I also named our youngest son, John Maximilian or "Max", after him; especially because of Kolbe's self-entrustment to Mary.
 
Saint John Paul II in his homily on the Canonization day of Maximilian Mary Kolbe said:

"From today on, the Church desires to address as "Saint" a man who was granted the grace of carrying out these words of the Redeemer in an absolutely literal manner." For towards the end of July, 1941, when the camp commander ordered the prisoners destined to die of starvation to fall in line, this man-Maximilian Mary Kolbe spontaneously came forward and declared himself ready to go to death in the place of one of them. This readiness was accepted and, after more than two weeks of torment caused by starvation, Father Maximilian's life was ended with a lethal injection on August 14, 1941."

Today, I pray for all those who have died---children and adults---in the killings caused by war; those who by virtue of being Christian were persecuted and killed. Pope Francis who expressed sentiments on the persecutions in Northern Iraq in his letter to the UN, says: "It is with a heavy and anguished heart that I have been following the dramatic events of these past few days in Northern Iraq where Christians and other religious minorities have been forced to flee from their homes and witness the destruction of their places of worship and religious patrimony (August 13, 2014).


Mary, help of Christians, pray for us.

I pray too that my son emulate the virtues of St. Maximilian Kolbe; his heroism and his holiness -- his Marian devotion.  May you grow up son, to be a man of justice, peace, and integrity.

Point to Jesus: My prayers For Max's First Birthday

It's Max's first birthday. Firsts are always special. Max won't remember this day unless he sees the pictures and videos and--reads something about it. And so I go back to blogging after almost a month. John Maximilian Siatong-Llaban was born on August 29, 2012. I got to witness how Michelle gave out all her strength to bring Max out into the world. I salute all Moms!

 Max was the fruit of our Holy Land Pilgrimage. During that blessed trip while renewing our baptismal vows in the river Jordan, I was inspired by the humility of John the Baptist. Though he was great and people followed him, he never lost sight of his purpose--to prepare the way for the Lord.

John answered them all saying, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16)

I want Max to be as humble as John, never clouded with pride amidst the great things God is doing through him.

Max's name is also inspired by St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Martyr and Marian devotee. 2012, Max's birth year, was the Magnificat year for Couples for Christ. In the community we were inspired by Mary's words, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord! (Luke 1:46)." I was looking for a saint that experienced and honored Mary in a very special way, thus, Kolbe. I pray that like the great saint, Max will embrace a deep devotion to Mother Mary and emulate Our Mother in proclaiming God's greatness.

Both saints, John and Maximilian, always pointed to Jesus. Max, my prayer for your 1st birthday is to grow up leading others to Jesus Christ--pointing to Him always. May God do great things through you and envelope you with the virtue of humility. Happy birthday my dear boy.

The Sword That Brings Life

"The sword that brings life." This was one of the philosophies of the Kamiya Dojo as depicted in the movie Rouroni Kenshin.  It's actually a movie based on a famous anime series in the late 90's, Samurai X. Apparently the protagonist, Kenshin, have turned away from his life as an assassin and embraced a non-violent way of life and pledged never to take life again.  This became his conviction, despite others telling him that his notion was a joke.

The Word of God which is the Sword of the Spirit, brings us life.  Everytime we practice with the Word and apply it, we become more attuned to it.  I have heard from somewhere that "The Samurai practices with his katana, until sword and soldier become one."  Using the analogy of a sword as a way of using God's Word helps us in understanding it's great value and power.  Interestingly, the words "word and sword" only have the letter "s" as a difference. We can say that S-stands for Spirit, and therefore the Sword is the Spirit's Word.  That is why when we face the day without God's Word, we are open and defenseless to the attacks from the evil one.

Let the Sword of the Spirit defend us and give us life eternal, for Christ is the Word made flesh.  Let us stand firm with conviction, even if people tell us that the Christian way of life is a joke.  In Lineamenta 7, it says "This is the form of Christian martyria in today's world, engaging in dialogue even with the recent forms of a militant atheism or an extreme secularism, whose purpose is to eliminate the subject of God from human life."  As we battle evil in today's world, we are called to be new martyrs for the new evangelization, making a Christian stand amidst atheism and secularism.  Let us live and die for Christ, using the Sword of the Spirit that brings us life eternal.