During the October 10, 1982 canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe by Saint Pope John Paul II, many items were on hand to be blessed by the Holy Father, including a statue of St. Maximilian Kolbe that can be found in a small shrine on the property of the Shrine of St. Anthony, in Ellicott City.
On each side of the statue are prayers asking for the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe:
For Families and Friends of Someone Addicted to Drugs
St. Maximilian Kolbe, your life of love and labor of souls was sacrificed amid the horrors of a concentration camp and hastened to its end by injection of a deadly drug.
Look with compassion upon ________________ who is now entrapped in addiction to drugs or alcohol and whom we now recommend to your powerful intercession. Having offered your own life to preserve that of a family man, we turn to you with trust, confident that you will understand and help.
Obtain for us the grace never to withhold our love and understanding, nor to fail in persevering prayer that the enslaving bond of addiction may be broken and that full health and freedom may be restored to him/her whom we love.
We will never cease to be grateful to God who has helped us and heard your prayer for us.
Amen
Prayer for Prisoners
O Prisoner – Saint of Auschwitz,
help all prisoners in their plight, especially __________________
Introduce them to Mary,
the Immaculata, Mother of God.
She Prayed for Jesus in a Jerusalem jail.
She prayed for you in a Nazi prison camp.
Ask her to comfort all those in confinement.
May she teach them always to be good.
If they are lonely, may she say,
“God is here.”
If they feel hate, may she say,
“God is love.”
If they are tempted, may she say,
“God is pure.”
If they sin, may she say,
“God is mercy.”
If they are in darkness, may she say,
“God is light.”
If they are unjustly condemned, may she say,
“God is truth.”
If they have pain in soul or body, may she say,
“God is peace.”
If they lose hope, may she say,
“God is with you all days, and so am I.”
Amen
“When I think of St. Maximilian Kolbe, I hear Jesus saying to me again, ‘Love, to be true, to be real must cost, must hurt.’ St. Maximilian Kolbe knew what that meant, he knew how to love like Jesus. His life of giving until it hurt began long before he went to the concentration camp. That is why he could keep the joy of loving Jesus in his heart until the very end and share that joy with all with whom he came in contact. Who was his help in this? Who taught him the joy of giving until it hurt? Our Lady – to whom St. Maximilian had entrusted everything. The same will be true of us. If we entrust ourselves to Our Lady, the Cause of Our Joy. She will teach us the joy of loving like Jesus.”
(A quote from a letter from Blessed Mother Teresa to Fr. James McCurry, 20.I.95)
McCurry, James. Maximilian Kolbe – Martyr of Charity. London: The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 2013.
On the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14th), the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province) will be the recipient of the 2015 Kolbe Award, given on the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe – August 14th, presented at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe – Marytown.
