“like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.” 1 Peter 2:5
Spiritual houses are strong yet joyous, just take for example the life of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. At the Auschwitz concentration camp of World War II, Franciszek Gajowniczek was being placed into a starvation bunker. Gajowniczek began pleading for his life, “My wife! My Children!”, when Kolbe calmly stepped forward and asked to take Gajowniczek’s place. Maximilian Kolbe joined the other nine men in the bunker facing starvation and the guards were shocked when instead of hearing the expected weeping and crying they heard the group singing songs and reciting prayers being led by Maximilian Kolbe. Maximilian Kolbe’s body was cremated in the Auschwitz death camp on August 15, 1941, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.
Let us become living stones, spiritual houses of strength and joy.
Casa Grande, Big Bend National Park, Texas