Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, one of the heroes of this Church’s faith. St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) was a Polish Franciscan friar, priest, missionary, and martyr whose life was remarkable for his self-sacrifice during the Second World War. Out of love, he took another man’s position and died in his place. Before that, after his arrest and imprisonment in Auschwitz in May 1941, he was stripped of his name and given the prisoner number “16670.”
Maximilian’s life reveals once more the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis, under Hitler, during that heinous war. They had systematically replaced prisoners’ names with numbers as a way to erase their individuality and identity, which Maximilian Kolbe refused to let define him. His identity remained rooted in Christ and his vocation. Today, the number “16670” has become a spiritual emblem and a reminder that all dignity derives from God, the author of all that is good, which means that you have honor and glory beyond whatever label the world around you might give you.
As God told Joshua at the beginning of today’s first reading (Joshua 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17), this moment might be one of those special occasions to rightly appropriate a new significant meaning and identity for yourselves before anyone who chooses to reduce your God-giving true dignity. God told Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all people, that they may know I am with you, as I was with Moses.” Because of wickedness, some people initiate negative branding with derogatory adjectives to make others feel inferior and intimidated.
Contrary to that, showing empathy in considering everyone’s needs changes this narrative as God gives us our proper names, whether white, brown, or black, devoid of derogatory innuendos. I understand that there may be bad people out there to be targeted by State power and punished for specific crimes they may have committed, including deportation or imprisonment. Moreover, even with legal penalties for crimes that are also sins, our sins are forgiven by God if we repent. The point here is, we are not all criminals or bad people. We are all God’s children and heirs of His kingdom.