True selected chapters cropped - Flipbook - Page 8
During the next two weeks the prisoners in the death chamber were
not given any food or water. One after another they died until only
four were left, including Maximilian. The authorities felt that death
by starvation was taking too long, and the cell was needed for new
victims. Each remaining prisoner was given a lethal injection of
carbolic acid (phenol) in the vein of his left arm. Maximilian, with
a prayer on his lips, gave his arm to his executioner. Maximilian
Kolbe was forty-seven years old when he was executed.
Maximilian’s gift of his life reminds me of Jesus Christ’s
gift of his life for the whole of humanity.
During a ministry trip to Poland I visited Auschwitz, which is
still surrounded by a triple row of fences that were originally
electrified. Inside the prison chamber I stood motionless, gazing
through the bars at the dark and gloomy cell in which Kolbe was
kept before his death. I could not but think about the amazing love
that this one man had for another. Maximilian’s act of love was to
sacrifice his own life; it was voluntary. This death had purpose –
it allowed another, Francis Gajowniczek, to live to a very old age.
Maximilian’s gift of his life reminds me of Jesus Christ’s gift of his
life for the whole of humanity.
The day that changed the world
Two thousand years ago something wonderful happened that would
affect the world for ever. It was a day that changed the world. Indeed,
it was a day that changed history. It was the day God’s Son died.
God so loved the world that he gave up his one and only Son to be
crucified on the cross so that whoever believes in Jesus today may
live abundantly – in this life and in eternity. Since the day Christ died
2,000 years ago until today – and forever – the cross has never lost
its power and effect to forgive, bless, empower and grant eternal life
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