continuation...

The Mariology of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe
by Fr. James McCurry, O.F.M. Conv.

The creature most completely filled with this love, filled with God himself, was the Immaculata...United to the Holy Spirit as his spouse, she is one with God in an incomparably more perfect way than can be predicated of any other creature.

In view of all these factors-namely, Kolbe's zeal to proclaim the kingdom of Christ's Sacred Heart, which is equitable with a kingdom of love, and which in turn finds its first verification among creatures in the figure of Mary Immaculate--Kolbe's emphasis on the Immaculate's role in building this Kingdom becomes clearer. In 1933, while returning from the Orient to Poland, Kolbe summarized the Immaculate's role and his own apostolic objective: We have to win the universe and each individual soul, now and in the future, down to the end of time, for the Immaculata, and by her for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Furthermore, we must be on the watch so that nobody tears any soul away from its consecration to the Immaculata; we should strive rather that souls may constantly deepen their love for her; that the bond of love between her and these souls may grow ever closer, and these souls may henceforth be one with her, with her alone. This is how the Immaculata is able to live and love and act in these souls, and through them. For just as the Immaculata herself belongs to Jesus and to God, so too every soul through her and in her will belong to Jesus and to God in a much more perfect way than would have been possible without her.

Such souls will come to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus much better than they have ever done up to now. Like Mary herself, they will come to penetrate into the very depths of love, to understand the cross, the Eucharist much better than before. Through her divine love will set the world on fire and will consume it; then will the "assumption of souls in love" take place. When, oh when, will the divination of the world in her and through her come about?

What, then, is the "starting point"-or rather, the underlying theological premise-that informs all of the speculative and apostolic dimensions of Kolbe's life's work? It would seem to be the proclamation of the primacy of Christ in this world-a primacy which finds concrete verification in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, who in turn serves as means for drawing creatures into that Kingdom where Christ's love holds primacy. Anyone familiar with the centuries-old "Franciscan School" of theological reflection can immediately see the "seraphic" antecedents of Kolbe's thought in this regard. Kolbe himself acknowledge the Franciscan connection in a letter which he wrote to young friars studying in Rome at his Order's Collegio Serafico:

"From the very cradle of our Order seven centuries ago, a golden thread of the cause of the Immaculata has without interruption been developed. It fought for the knowledge of the truth of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The battle ended with victory. This truth is universally acknowledged and has been proclaimed as a dogma of the Faith.

"And now, is it the end of the matter? No one interested in building a house will rest satisfied merely in describing the plans for it. But is not the plan necessarily merely a preparation for the actual realization of the building.

"Now, then, a second page of our history is opening, namely, we must disseminate this truth in the hearts of all men, those who now live and all who will live until the end of the world, and we must watch over the growth and fruitfulness that leads to sanctification. We must introduce the Immaculate into the hearts of men that there She may erect the throne of Her Son and lead al to the knowledge of Him and inflame them to a love of His Most Sacred Heart."