Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

Proper readings for the Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe 

 
Biographical Information about St. Maximilian Kolbe
 
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Vigil 

“St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe”
photographer and date are unknown

 
Readings for Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary:[3]
 
Reading 1: Deuteronomy 10:12-22
 
Moses said to the people:
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of you
but to fear the Lord, your God, and follow his ways exactly,
to love and serve the Lord, your God,
with all your heart and all your soul,
to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord
which I enjoin on you today for your own good?
Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens,
belong to the Lord, your God,
as well as the earth and everything on it.
Yet in his love for your fathers the Lord was so attached to them
as to choose you, their descendants,
in preference to all other peoples, as indeed he has now done.
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked.
For the Lord, your God, is the God of gods,
the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,
who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;
who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,
and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.
So you too must befriend the alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
The Lord, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve;
hold fast to him and swear by his name.
He is your glory, he, your God,
who has done for you those great and terrible things
which your own eyes have seen.
Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy strong,
and now the Lord, your God,
has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.”
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Commentary on Dt 10:12-22
 
Moses reminds the tribes about the articles of the covenant under which they are bound to love and serve the Lord. He does so because the Lord God has authority over all that exists. He goes on to tell them that God created the universe and selected the children of Israel as his special people. The Lord watches over them and has allowed them to thrive and become numerous.
 
Key to this passage is the statement “Circumcise your hearts.” We note that during this period, circumcision was not practiced by the Hebrews as they were nomadic. But once installed in the Promised Land the tradition was reestablished and has inclusive significance into the faith community. The term applied here enjoins the tribes to mark themselves visibly as attached to God.
 
CCC: Dt 10:15 218
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
 
R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
 
Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
 
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
 
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
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Commentary on Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
 
Psalm 147 is a hymn of praise. In these strophes the singer celebrates God’s gifts to his people, the gift of faith to the patriarch Jacob, and the gift of his presence in the holy city Jerusalem. These strophes are from the third section; each section offers praise for a different gift from God to his special people). This section focuses on the gift of the Promised Land with Jerusalem as its spiritual center. We see the call to praise Jerusalem, the holy city, because in it was revealed the Word of God and a call to holiness. The Lord is praised for sending food that sustains the people. The final strophe also rejoices that the law was handed on to them through Jacob.
 
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Gospel: Matthew 17:22-27
 
As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee,
Jesus said to them,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,
and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
And they were overwhelmed with grief.
 
When they came to Capernaum,
the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,
“Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?”
“Yes,” he said.
When he came into the house, before he had time to speak,
Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?
From their subjects or from foreigners?”
When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him,
“Then the subjects are exempt.
But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up.
Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you.”
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Commentary on Mt 17:22-27
 
This passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the second passion prediction (the first immediately followed the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 16:21). The first time Jesus made this prediction there was argument from the disciples; in this instance they are overwhelmed with grief. (This can be contrasted with St. Mark’s statement that they did not understand. Mark 9:32)
The second element of the reading deals with Jesus and Peter (again we note the special emphasis on Peter as leader of the disciples) and the payment of the temple tax. According to Exodus 30:13-15, each adult male Jew owed a half-shekel each year for the maintenance of the temple. Jesus uses the example of “tolls or census tax” to indicate that they should be exempt from paying the tax. (Roman taxes were for those who were not Roman citizens; hence Roman taxes were for those who were aliens or allies. Claiming the same logic, since Jesus is of God’s family, Jesus [with his disciples] was exempt from the temple tax.)
Yet, the Lord instructs Peter that the tax should be paid regardless, “that we may not offend them.” This implies Christ’s compassion for those who do not understand his identity. God provides what is needed in these situations. (The fish with a coin would be symbolic to the early Christian community of Christ (symbolized by the fish) providing all that was needed.)
 
CCC: Mt 17:23 554; Mt 17:24-27 586
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Reflection:
 
Today’s Scripture is very complex theologically.  We reflect upon Christ’s instruction to Peter to go to get a fish.  We note that the fish was an early Christian symbol for Jesus.  And inside that fish would be a coin that would pay for not only the Lord’s temple tax but Peter’s as well.  The price he paid was, in essence, for all of us.
 
There is no way of telling if we should assume there was a practical meaning for the early Church as it related to the temple, or post-70 A.D. when the Romans reintroduced the tax to pay for the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.  We can however be assured, especially as this discourse immediately follows the Lord’s prediction of the passion, that the price he paid for us was extreme and for all time.
 
If there were one like Moses here today, he would be standing in front of us (as Moses did with the Hebrew tribes) reminding us that we are called to be the Lord’s chosen people.  We were redeemed by Jesus’ blood; through him our tax was paid.  Moses would tell us, as he told those ancient forefathers, to “circumcise our hearts,” to become visibly attached to the faith we profess and the faith we were given with so high a price.
 
Today we pray that we are worthy to be called Christians, followers of the Lord, the Only Son of God who, for our sins, paid twice the tax that we might have life.
 
Pax

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[1] S.S. Commemoratio
[2] The picture is “St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe” photographer and date are unknown.
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.