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| September 2004 |
| They were two saints of Auschwitz
who can teach us |
Travis and Kelly Benson
Co-directors
Office of Respect Life
Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls
Lobbyists |
We recently discovered that, within five
days of each other, the Church celebrates the feast days of
two saints murdered at the very same place. These two well-known
saints are Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who was also
known as Edith Stein (August 9th), and Saint Maximilian Kolbe
(August 14th).
A brief review of their lives provides us with a testament to
the sanctity of human life, and what is frighteningly possible
when fellow humans decide that their brothers and sisters are
disposable.
Edith Stein was born into a large Jewish family in 1891. At
the age of 25, she earned a doctorate degree in philosophy.
She was drawn to Catholicism after witnessing the strength of
faith of her Catholic friends, and was welcomed into the Church
in 1922.
She became a major force in German intellectual life, and entered
the Discalced Carmelites of Cologne in 1933, taking the name
of Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was a profound
spiritual writer, a teacher in the Dominican school in Speyer
and a lecturer at the Educational Institute in Munich, until
she was forced to resign her positions by the Nazis.
Being from a Jewish family and a professed Catholic, she was
targeted by the Nazis and therefore smuggled out of the country
to Holland in 1938.
However, when Germany invaded Holland, she was captured, along
with her sister, and forced by cattle train to Auschwitz, where
she was gassed and cremated.
Born in Poland in 1894, Maximilian Mary Kolbe was ordained a
Franciscan priest in 1918.
Driven by his devotion to the Blessed Mother, he established
and promoted the sodality (devotional or charitable association
of Catholic laity) called the Militia of Mary Immaculate. He
published his own newspaper and a monthly magazine.
In 1941, he was also captured by the Nazis and imprisoned at
Auschwitz. While there, he continued to carry out his priestly
duties, hearing confessions and offering Mass.
He eventually offered his own life for the life of another prisoner
because that man was the father of a family.
These two modern day martyrs literally fought until death for
the law of God. They did not cower to the threats of torture
and death at the hands of the wicked, but instead, stood up
for human life no matter the cost, serving their fellow brothers
and sisters by acts of kindness, strength, and love. This is
the choice they made.
But the Hitler regime, and those acting under it, also made
a choice – the choice to beat, oppress and kill so many
innocent people.
So how does our society exercise choice today?
“Choice” for many means “the right to abortion
on demand,” which has resulted in over 43 million lives
lost since 1973, including almost a thousand per year in South
Dakota alone. “Choice” is leading to the genocide
of innocent people in the Sudan and many other areas around
the world. “Choice” is used to justify the movement
to legalize euthanasia in our country and around the world.
“Choice” means being able to form our children in
petri dishes in a laboratory through in vitro fertilization,
intentionally denying the creative act of God, and then “selectively
reducing” some of our children because too many were given
life, or because some appear weaker than others.
While the word “choice” sounds positive, choice
is not some abstract ideal. It comes with consequences, which
in many cases today are matters of life and death. God bestowed
upon us “free will”, the ability to choose our course
in life. However, His Truth has remained constant from the moment
of that bestowal – those who choose to take innocent life
reject God.
Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, mentally and physically handicapped
persons, homosexuals, and many others had no voice, no protection
in Nazi Germany. They were deemed non-persons by the German
government, and therefore disposable, mere items to be discarded
by a bullet, the gas chamber, or some other means.
It is our responsibility as Catholics, as citizens, as human
beings, to not only choose life for ourselves and our brothers
and sisters, but also to cry out against the injustices we see
before us - to refuse to be silent. We are called to follow
the examples of these two Saints. |
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