August 14
St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
First Order ☩ Feast
Maximilian Mary Kolbe was born in Poland on January 7, 1894. He entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and was ordained a priest in Rome in 1918. His ardent love for Mary the Virgin Mother of God inspired him to found a sodality which he called the Militia of Mary Immaculate (also known as the Militia Immaculata, M.I.). This he promoted in his native land and in other countries as well. His missionary activity in Japan was also placed under the patronage of the Immaculate Virgin. On returning to Poland, he endured many trials as he worked in the area of Oswiecim in the district of Krakow during World War II. He brought his life of activity to a close by offering himself as a victim of love at Auschwitz. He died August 14, 1941.
Entrance Antiphon
Come, you blessed of my Father, says the Lord. Amen, I say to you:
Whatever you did for one of the least of my brethren, you did it for me.
Collect
O God, who filled the Priest and Martyr
Saint Maximilian Kolbe
with a burning love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary
and with zeal for souls and love of neighbor,
graciously grant, through his intercession,
that, striving for your glory by eagerly serving others,
we may be conformed, even until death, to your Son.
Who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Prayer over the Offerings
We present our oblations to you, O Lord,
humbly praying that we may learn
from the example of Saint Maximilian
to offer our very lives to you.
Through Christ our Lord.
Reading I (First Option)
A reading from the Book of Wisdom
The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine
and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
They shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.
The word of the Lord.
Reading I (Second Option)
A reading from the first Letter of John
Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters,
if the world hates you.
We know that we have passed from death to life
because we love our brothers.
Whoever does not love remains in death.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If someone who has worldly means
sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion,
how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
The word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
℟ (15) Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.
I believed, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
I said in my alarm,
“No man is dependable.”
℟ Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
℟ Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
℟ Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.
Alleluia
℟ Alleluia. Alleluia.
Whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
℟ Alleluia. Alleluia.
Gospel
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Jesus said to his disciples:
“This is my commandment:
love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me,
but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name
he may give you.
This I command you:
love one another.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Communion Antiphon
Greater love has no one
than to lay down his life for his friends, says the Lord.
Prayer After Communion
We pray, O Lord,
that, renewed by the Body and Blood of your Son,
we may we be inflamed with the same fire of charity
that Saint Maximilian received from this holy banquet.
Through Christ our Lord.