Homily: August 14, 2026, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a saint whose life teaches us what it means to say a complete and generous “yes” to God.

Most of us know the final and heroic chapter of his life. At Auschwitz concentration camp, a prisoner escaped, and as punishment, ten men were chosen to die by starvation. One of them cried out in anguish for his wife and children. Fr. Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and said, “I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place.”

His offer was accepted.

He entered the starvation bunker with the other prisoners. But even there, he continued to be a priest. Instead of allowing that terrible place to be filled only with despair, he prayed with the prisoners, encouraged them, and helped prepare them to meet God. One by one they died. Maximilian survived longer than the others, and finally the guards killed him with a lethal injection.

We know that St. Maximilian Kolbe is in heaven because the Church has canonized him. But I like to think that those prisoners whom he accompanied and prepared for death are with him there too. His priesthood continued until his very last breath.

But Maximilian did not suddenly become a saint in the starvation bunker. His martyrdom was the final “yes” in a lifetime of saying yes to God.

As a child, Maximilian had a remarkable experience of the Blessed Mother. He saw Mary holding two crowns: a white crown, representing purity, and a red crown, representing martyrdom. She asked him which one he would choose. Young Maximilian answered that he would accept both.

And that is exactly how he lived.

He had a deep, filial love for the Blessed Mother, whom he affectionately called the Immaculata. He entrusted himself completely to her. He sought to live with purity of heart, obedience, courage, and love. During the terrible years of Nazi persecution, he opened his monastery to shelter refugees, including many Jews. His love for Mary did not take him away from the suffering of the world; rather, Mary led him closer to those who were suffering.

Mary, the Queen of Martyrs, was preparing him throughout his life for that final moment when Christ would ask everything of him.

Probably none of us will ever be asked to enter a starvation bunker or to receive the red crown of martyrdom. But every one of us is asked to say yes to God.

Sometimes our “yes” is very small: forgiving someone who has hurt us, being patient with a difficult person, helping someone when we are tired, remaining faithful to prayer, accepting a responsibility we would rather avoid, or simply doing our daily duties with love.

These little yeses prepare us for the bigger yeses.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was able to say, “Let me take his place,” because he had already spent his whole life learning to say, “Yes, Lord.”

And we do not have to learn this alone. Like Maximilian, we have a Mother who helps us. Mary is Help of Christians, Refuge of Sinners, Comforter of the Afflicted, and Queen of Martyrs. We can entrust our lives to her and ask her to teach us how to say yes to God.

And when the final moment of our earthly life comes—whether after many years or unexpectedly—we can ask Mary to be near us then too. We may not receive the red crown of martyrdom, but through God's grace, may we receive the crown of eternal life.

Today, through the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe, let us simply pray:

Lord, give me the courage to say yes to you today, so that I may be ready to say yes to you always.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Mary, Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.