{"id":9609,"date":"2014-06-01T13:19:54","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T17:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=9609"},"modified":"2017-08-14T13:41:25","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T17:41:25","slug":"love-unconcerned-with-being-returned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/06\/love-unconcerned-with-being-returned.html","title":{"rendered":"“Love Unconcerned with Being Returned”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So far, when I\u2019ve used Jen Fulwiler\u2019s Saint Generator<\/a> to pick a saint to learn about and from for the month, I\u2019ve mostly pulled saints I hadn\u2019t heard of before, from times and places that are very far from me. \u00a0Today, when I visited her randomizer, it spun up a saint I already love very much: Saint Maximilian Kolbe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think the first time I heard of him was in RCIA (people in the class were supposed to pick out and present lives of various saints at each class), and I had the same kind of sense I do sometimes when reading a passage in a book I\u00a0know<\/em> I\u2019m going to keep quoting and referencing.<\/p>\n

Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan priest who founded the Militia Immaculatae<\/em><\/a>, an evangelization group whose publishing wing gained worldwide influence. \u00a0But the part of St. Kolbe\u2019s life that stayed with me was the end of it. \u00a0Kolbe sheltered 2000 Jews in his priory during World War II, and was eventually arrested and sent to Auschwitz.<\/p>\n

One day in the camp, the guards picked out 10 men to be starved to death. \u00a0When one of the unlucky men,\u00a0Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out in grief, \u201cMy wife! My children!\u201d Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take his place. \u00a0For as long as he and the other prisoners lived, he prayed and sang with them. \u00a0After two weeks of starvation, Kolbe was the only man left living, and was killed by an injection of carbolic acid.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I actually was speaking about St. Maximilian Kolbe yesterday, at our debate on\u00a0R: Every Dollar Spent on Dog Food is Stolen Directly from the Mouths of the Poor<\/em>. \u00a0As might be expected, the debate followed two major threads: the question of human exceptionalism, and the question of what kind of service we owe to others.<\/p>\n

The debater speaking before me had talked about dogs as\u00a0more\u00a0<\/em>worthy of love and care than humans, since they were more steadfastly loyal. \u00a0Humans were a bad investment of your time and money, he argued, particularly those who were strangers and\/or unstable. \u00a0And, since they were worse at returning the love offered to them, they were less deserving of the gift in the first place.<\/p>\n

In part of my rebuttal, I brought up St. Maximilian Kolbe, as an example of someone who offered\u00a0more<\/em> than loyalty. \u00a0Loyalty is usually offered\u00a0in response to previous care or\u00a0ties, but, when Kolbe stepped forward to volunteer for a stranger\u2019s death, he was acting out of\u00a0agape<\/em> \u2014 a love that wills the good of the other without any consideration for what will be returned or reference to some prior, particular debt.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one prayer written by Kolbe<\/a>, that is certainly directed at a kind of service that goes beyond reciprocated love:<\/p>\n

O Immaculata, Queen of Heaven and earth, refuge of sinners and our most loving Mother, God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to you. I, (name), a repentant sinner, cast myself at your feet, humbly imploring you to take me with all that I am and have, wholly to yourself as your possession and property. Please make of me, of all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases you.<\/p>\n

If it pleases you, use all that I am and have without reserve, wholly to accomplish what was said of you: \u201cShe will crush your head,\u201d and \u201cYou alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world.\u201d Let me be a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing your glory to the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For wherever you enter you obtain the grace of conversion and growth in holiness, since it is through your hands that all graces come to us from the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.<\/p>\n

V. Allow me to praise you, O Sacred Virgin<\/p>\n

R. Give me strength against your enemies<\/p>\n

Amen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today is the fifth day of my\u00a0Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0and you\u2019re welcome to join in.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So far, when I\u2019ve used Jen Fulwiler\u2019s Saint Generator to pick a saint to learn about and from for the month, I\u2019ve mostly pulled saints I hadn\u2019t heard of before, from times and places that are very far from me. \u00a0Today, when I visited her randomizer, it spun up a saint I already love very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":9612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[181,226],"class_list":["post-9609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morality-in-practice","tag-offering-resistance","tag-saint-of-the-month"],"yoast_head":"\n"Love Unconcerned with Being Returned"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So far, when I've used Jen Fulwiler's Saint Generator to pick a saint to learn about and from for the month, I've mostly pulled saints I hadn't heard of\" \/>\n<meta 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