High Five

Abraham Heschel demonstrates that the launch point of celebration is found in Genesis with the introduction of the Sabbath: for the first time a component of this universe is consecrated and a moment in time is found for encountering God.

From this weekly return to communion with God emerges the entire calendar and the unfolding of time as a marking of God's engagement in our lives. Thus from the Sabbath you find the Jewish calendar blossoming into an abundance of feasts, with Passovers, Rosh Hashanas and Yom Kippurs.

Each of our lives is marked by the calendar, and as the years go by, birthdays, anniversaries and annual commemorations begin to chart the life that is developing. For the Church as well certain days have universal meaning, including the two days we have just witnessed, the 14th and 15th of August.

On August 14th, 1941, Father Maximilian Mary Kolbe breathed his last in a starvation bunker in Auschwitz after a camp doctor gave him a lethal injection. That date when he gave his life in place of another man was significant, as his passing in the evening placed him in the vigil of his most beloved lady, the Virgin whose Assumption into heaven is celebrated on the 15th of August.

These commemorations of Saint Maximillian and Mary's Assumption took on a new meaning for me five years ago, when in 2004 I was ordained a priest on the 14th and celebrated my Mass of Thanksgiving on the 15th of August.

Ever the pilgrim, I found myself five years later traveling on planes, trains, and an automobile, as well as a bus thrown in for good measure, as I journeyed from Italy to England. I celebrated Mass on my ordination anniversary in a small chapel just blocks from where Father Kolbe had celebrated his own first Mass in Rome over 90 years before. Having then soared on wings of steel I celebrated the Mass of the Assumption in England, arriving in a nation that in centuries past was renowned for its love of the Blessed Mother and shows glimmers of reawakening today.

These five years have raced by so quickly, but one theme continues to return to the forefront in all the many settings I have been: the fidelity of God manifested in the generosity of others, particularly the love of parishioners, family, and friends. God created the Sabbath as a meeting point between himself and those whom he loved, and as I look toward future anniversaries, I am glad most of all for those many meetings which lead into the fellowship of eternity.