Building a culture of life – the simple things.
August 14, 2009, the day of Christian Rossiter’s landmark Supreme Court case, was also the feast of St Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan Priest who lived in Poland.
During World War II St Kolbe was arrested by the Gestapo for his work on a Catholic Magazine and sent to Auschwitz.
Here in these horrific conditions he would share his small food rations, secretly say Mass and hear confessions, encouraging the prisoners not to hate their oppressors but to conquer evil with good. “Hate is not creative,” was a common declaration from Fr Kolbe.
One day a man from Fr Kolbe’s block escaped, the Gestapo made all the men line up and as warning and punishment to those left in the camp, chose ten men to be placed into the starvation block.
One man begged to be spared, worried that his family would not survive without him.
Fr Kolbe at this moment stepped forward and told the commander “I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place, because he has a wife and children.” Amazingly the commander allowed this.
The guards who worked the starvation chamber were familiar with the sounds of screaming, yet from Fr Kolbe’s group there came the sound of prayers, hymns and particularly the Rosary. Even when pained and weak from hunger Fr Kolbe would whisper prayers and consolation to those left in the bunker. Unusual for the starvation bunker four men, including Fr Kolbe, were still alive after two weeks. The room was now needed for new prisoners, so the men were given a lethal injection.
Witnesses report that Fr Kolbe prayed until the end and died with peaceful countenance and brought a light and hope to those in a very bleak place.
Fr Kolbe was building a culture of life in a place dedicated to death.
In our society, with cases like Christian Rossiter’s creating debate about euthanasia, it is crucial that we ask “what can I do to build up a culture of life?”
Prayer is important but our actions are vital, like Fr Kolbe we can inject hope into our everyday settings. Loneliness, lack of self worth, and disconnectedness with life affect many in our society, particularly the old and people with disability. People start to believe that their life has less value than others but the culture of life is about constructing a community in which people are not forgotten or seen as burdensome.
In building a culture of life even our modest actions can generate hope, affirming people, making the effort to listen even when it is a challenge, volunteering at a care facility or praying with people not just for them can contribute to building a culture of life.
Jean Vanier founder of an international Catholic community for people with and without disability articulates, to “be human is to be bonded together, each with our own weaknesses and strengths, because we need each other.”
-bronia@perthcatholic.org.au