I consider Saint Maximilian Kolbe as the saint whom I think of most as a spiritual friend. He seems to have adopted me which I never discovered until some years beyond my childhood, at the age of 21, with the discovery that the first time that his feast day was celebrated, after he was canonized a saint, on August 14th, 1983 was also the very day that I began my new life in Christ as a baptized Catholic Christian.

Perhaps what Saint Maximilian is most well known for is the offering of his life for another man in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. And this has always been striking for me; the image of Him offering to die in this man’s place. Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friend, from John 15.13, has been a verse I have meditated on as I pondered Maximilian’s offering. It has led me to ask, “are we not to give our life for all, even our enemies?” A treasure I have received is to realize that in loving and offering our lives even for our enemies they become friends.

Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life…

One year after I made my consecration to Jesus through Mary, at the age of 20, I started to discover Saint Maximilian more fully and have come to realize his intense devotion to the Blessed Mother of Jesus. His pursuits were always done with such complete trust in the Virgin Mary and for the greatest glory of God. His complete and total trust is so striking for me and has been something that I have sought His intercession in acquiring.

Another striking aspect is how this trust gave him such a firm foundation that struggles or barriers, including health or jealousy from others, never weighed him down or caused him to waver in always seeking to do the Lord’s will and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in pleasing her Son.

Saint Joseph is another saint whom I have come to befriend. He is a bit of a mystery with much of his life being unknown, because of the little we hear about him in scripture, but what we do know of him I find very striking. One particular aspect which I admire, and seek to emulate, is that when he heard the voice of God he followed expediently, without delay, in total trust (Matthew 1.20,24; 2.13-15; 2.19-22).

Another aspect of his life that is striking to me is his care for his family; the Virgin Mary and Jesus, the son of God. I imagine at times he probably felt unworthy but found strength in that the Lord had chosen Him for this task, leading with both humility and strength from God. We do not know for sure how old he was, or how long he lived, but I picture him as both young and old at the same time; having the wisdom of age yet the strength and endurance of youth.

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

I seek the intercession of St.Joseph in leading my family and living out my own vocation as a Father, and to be able to hear and respond to the voice of the Lord in my life.

To God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be the glory forever and ever. Amen.