Fr. Kolbe Missionary of the Immaculata
St. Maximilian Kolbe's glasses are his identifying mark. He's the balding man, with the giant beard... and those glasses. He shaved his beard? Well, he's got those glasses anyway! Unable to imagine St. Maximilian without his glasses, some have depicted him in Auschwitz wearing them, which of course, was not the case. If you've seen pictures, you know that there are still heaps of glasses taken from prisoners... maybe one of those pairs is the famous Kolbe pair?!
By the time he was in Rome he was wearing them. I would argue, however -and this is the point of this post - that he put a much more important pair of glasses on at a very young age. Arguably around the time that he spoke with the Blessed Mother, perhaps before, little Rajmund put on supernatural or sacramental glasses.
It was then that he began to see the world differently, and to see his own purpose in that world: to love heroically. Throughout his life these glasses would have their lenses adjusted by Divine Power, he saw more clearly after the masonic demonstration in Rome that he was called to fight spiritually for souls. He saw more clearly after months of convalescence, the scope and mission of the Militia of the Immaculata. He had his vision once more perfected through the struggles in founding Niepokolanow, and then almost radically in Japan amid intense suffering and equally intense affection. So much time spent seeing through supernatural lenses, and making the necessary adjustments to always see through them - as it were through God's eyes - led him to a near 20/20 supernatural vision!
On that day in Auschwitz, when ten men were chosen, and St. Maximilian came forward - he was perhaps the only man there who knew what was really happening. He was, perhaps, the only man there that saw things as God saw them. His vision as magnificent, and because of that he had NO FEAR.
Approaching the Commandant, Fr. Kolbe was weak, sickly, short, and incredibly meek. This image was in
stark contrast to the powerful egoist of robust health personified in the Commandant. But, who stepped away? Not Father Kolbe. Power gives way to Meekness, because power is full of fear as it gazes into the unknown, incomprehensible darkness. Meekness, rather, knows no fear for it sees with the eyes of God, through supernatural lenses.
Father Kolbe, meek and mild, was a lion of power capable of striking fear into the pathetic and darkened hearts of the wolves of war. This was not a phenomena unique to him. We are all called to see with the eyes of God. By our baptism, we too are blessed to receive these glasses, this vision. The real question remains - will we have the love to keep them on?
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