SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE (1894-1941)
August 14
	Perhaps most well known for his martyrdom in a concentration camp where he offered to die in place of a father with a family, his story of sainthood began much earlier. He entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in his native Poland at a young age and was ordained a priest at 24. He founded The Militia of the Immaculata to fight evil through the positive witness of a holy life. He also began a magazine to spread the good news and it eventually reached one million subscribers. All that he did was driven by his devotion to the Blessed Mother, for it was she who appeared to him holding in her hands one white and one red crown, asking him if he would like to have purity or martyrdom. He chose both and lived out his days dedicated to her and her son, until he died by starvation and lethal injection to save another man’s life. Although we may not be called to physically die for another, there are many ways we can die to ourselves each day in love and service to others. Let us follow the example of Saint Maximilian Kolbe and be willing to lose our lives that we might find eternal life in heaven. 
―Tami Urcia