Franciscan Lenten Meditation: Maximilian Mary Kolbe: Witness in the Face of Cruelty

"In The Seven Storey Mountain, the Trappist monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton explains how, when asked by his friend Robert Lax what he, Merton, wanted to be, he replied that he wanted to be a good Catholic. Lax, a poet and mystic, told him, 'What you should say is that you want to be a saint.' Merton deferred, conscious of his own failings and inadequacies. But Lax persisted: 'All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one.' By desiring sainthood, Lax said, we consent to become what God has created us to be. God, in turn, will make us saints."

Franciscan Media is offering a special Lenten series of meditations, "Lent with the Saints." The mediation by Father Greg Friedman, OFM, for the Fifth Wednesday of Lent, entitled "Maximilian Mary Kolbe: Witness in the Face of Cruelty", is as follows:

Franciscan Media: Lent with the Saints: Maximilian Mary Kolbe