A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. There was a certain Pharisee who had invited Jesus to dine with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's home and reclined to eat. A woman known in the town to be a sinner learned about it, that Jesus was dining in the Pharisee's house. The woman brought in a vase of perfumed oil and stood behind Jesus at his feet, weeping so that her tears fell upon the feet of Jesus.
Then she wiped them with her hair, kissing them and perfuming them with oil. When the the host, the Pharisee, saw all of this, he said to himself, if this man were in fact a prophet, he would surely know who and what sort of a woman this is that touches him, that she is a sinner. Jesus, in answer to his thoughts, said to him, Simon, I have something to propose to you. Simon answered, teacher, speak. So Jesus spoke.
Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One man owed a total of 500 coins, the other 50. Since neither of them was able to repay his debt, the man wrote off both of the debts. Now, Jesus says, which of them was more grateful? Simon, the host, the Pharisee answered, why I presume he to whom he remitted the larger amount.
Jesus said to him, you are right. Then Jesus turning to the woman said to Simon notice, he's turning to the woman, but he's talking to Simon. You see this woman? I came to your home, and you provided me with no water for my feet. She has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You gave me no kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with perfume. I tell you, Simon, that is why her many sins are forgiven, because of her great love. Little is forgiven the one whose love is small. Then Jesus said to the woman, your sins are forgiven.
When Jesus said that, his fellow guests began to talk among themselves. Who indeed is this that he even forgives sins? Meanwhile, Jesus said to the woman, your faith has been your salvation. Now go in peace. And this is the gospel of the lord.
In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. And it needs no commentary. It's perfectly clear in many, many many ways. It's one of the the most dramatic incidents of our lord's life. It is one of the most touching, even sentimental.
I use that word with respect in our Lord's career, and a great deal of nonsense has been, written about it. But I with considerable effort, I'm eschewing, addressing my remarks to this. Because I've been reading a book about Maximilian Kobe, you know, the Franciscan, the conventional Franciscan, they're the ones who wear up the black robe, who who made international history and who has become become well well known known and and has has become become a a saint, saint, chiefly, chiefly known at least. I don't say chiefly because of that he became a saint because of it, but he has become chiefly known because because of what he did in volunteering to die of starvation and thirst in place of a man he didn't even know, in a concentration camp at Auschwitz, 1941. The book I've been reading is based chiefly upon interviews with people, with men and women who knew father Colby as a Franciscan priest.
Now the last couple days, for some reason, I found my remarks when I review them have been sort of emphasizing two things. That is you can't exaggerate devotion to Mary and skip her son. Where you have honest, authentic devotion to Mary, there you have devotion to her son Jesus Christ. That's one of the themes. We, of course, today have downgraded Mary.
Don't let's deny it. And the second point I've been making is this, that if anyone concentrates on God, he cannot escape loving his neighbor. But the reverse is absurd. Now when you read Colby, these two things come out magnificently and eloquently. And they come out in a way that words can't express it because nothing speaks as eloquently as a life as a life.
Now when Colby you was a very young boy, seven or eight years old, apparently, he was kind of wild. And one day, his mother looked at him and said, what in the world is going to become of you? Now for some reason, the kid took that seriously. I don't know why. He doesn't know why.
But this is a memorable event in that little boy's life. He was only six or seven years old, and he went to the church. He was disturbed by what his mother said, What's going to become of you? You know how mothers can say that. I can hear that tone of voice even in Polish.
Now something odd happened there. At least he thought that he saw the virgin holding out two crowns, one of martyrdom and one of love of fellow And he was supposed to make a choice, and he chose both of them. Now this is a fact. I mean, the the the fact is that he thought he had this experience. Whether he had it or what, I don't know.
But he thought he had it and it changed that kid's life. I guess it would change mine too. From that day on, from that day on, that boy who became a seminarian, who became a priest, who became a missionary, who became finally a martyr to charity for his fellow man, had a tremendous devotion to Mary Immaculate. He married he founded a city that had a had a monastery of over 700 men. He founded a daily newspaper.
He founded a weekly that had a circulation of over a million copies. All of it to foster devotion to our blessed mother especially under her title of the immaculate conception. And that is is continuing. That work of his is continuing. He took it to Japan and established some monasteries over there, a monastery, which he called again the city of the Virgin Immaculate.
Immaculate Virgin. He had a tremendous devotion to Mary. Well, did this man did did his if you look at it, say, you well, did he have any place in his religious devotion for God? Look at his life. Look at his life.
Did he have a love of God? Why? It's the silliest question I can ask. Did he have did did he have an extreme devotion to bless to our blessed lady as the immaculate conception? He surely did, but that didn't detract in the slightest from his devotion and love of God and of Jesus Christ his savior?
Not at all. Now I know this is a problem with many sincere non Catholics and converts. I know that. And there's no reason for them to get excited about it. Time it'll help.
Time will help them. But the point I'm making is you have this objection, and the objection has found it and is now reaping its harvest in this country at least, when the blessed mother is becoming forgotten woman. What has happened to our devotion to her? On what grounds have we neglected her? What has happened to the rosary?
We're having a big celebration over at the shrine and people have to be told to bring their rosaries. Some don't even own rosaries anymore. Do you know it's not easy to buy a rosary today? I I tried to buy some. I I should say it's not as easy as it used to be.
You could go into any jewelry shops shop some years ago and find have a good selection of rosaries. Try it today. Now the second point I want to make is that is be that that this man's life illustrates beyond all words to express is that if a remember, there's no religion apart from the individual man and woman. Keep that in mind. There is no religion.
Religion is of the human being and we are all persons. As our holy father says, irreplaceable. We are all individuals and it's religion and the only meaning collectively, community, or whatever words you wanna use, the only meaning it has is the collectivity of human individual, independent, autonomous human beings who individually go to god and say, my lord and my god. Society can't say it. Has no voice except the voice of the individuals.
And so here's a man who went directly to Jesus Christ. Did he love his fellow man? Let's not just think of Auschwitz. This was the culmination of the man's life. Even as a kid, as a young student, as a seminarian in Rome, as a priest, a Franciscan priest, you find these people who knew him saying, the one thought he had at all times was to be kind, to be generous, to be helpful, even if it meant just telling some jokes to his his associates around him.
Not to the Eskimo up in the North, but to the men and women he was working and associated with, and that's the reality of life. Not the green grass over the hill. It's our own milieu, the people, the men and women we are working with day in and day out, the ones who rub us the wrong way, whose very presence irritates us sometimes. Their very presence. I've heard people say, I can't stand being in the same room with that man or woman.
And they mean it. Colby's life was dedicated to to to being kind and generous and thoughtful, sympathetic, helpful to those around him, no matter who or what they were. And he attracted tremendous allegiance. Remember that man, and I should add that he was a he fought tuberculosis all his life. He was a sick man all his life, you know.
How he did it, I don't know. He didn't do it with the help of his organization because they looked upon him as half a nut for trying these things. They thought, well, this is vainglory, he can't accomplish anything. But they gave him his moral support, but he did it. He did it.
Remember, in a in a few years, over 700 men were attracted to him and formed this city of the immaculate conception, where you had printing presses running twenty four hours a day, the last word in the printing presses business, where he had his own radio station, was going into television over a great deal of criticism. This is the man. And so I'm not theorizing when I say we can't exaggerate devotion to our blessed lady. Let's get back to this. Let's remember her Hail Mary and say it slowly and mean what we say.
You say it's a simple prayer. Look at the prayer that Jesus taught us if you want a simple prayer. Let us think of of this man as an example. It the last moments of his life tower and are remembered and are notable and have become very dramatic. But remember, this was simply the climax of a life that was very little different from the life in that bunker where he die where he finally was was murdered.
He just refused to die. They had a they had a killing with an injection in his arm. So here's a man whose life speaks as no words can speak. But we have to know it. You have to know this you have to know these things.
You don't get it with your mother's milk. Here's a man who stands up not for the just the end of his life, but for his whole life. From the day that his mother said, what's going to become of you? To the day when he stood up and said, I'm a Catholic priest. I will take that man's place.
And he went into the bunker to come out a corpse. In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen. Go