a year of prayer: 365 Rosaries

"Hatred is not a creative force: only love is."


Today, August 15, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe (1894-1941), martyr of the faith, and founder of the Militia of the Immaculata, a group devoted and consecrated to Our Blessed Mother. During his life, Saint Maximilian founded and grew the largest religious community in Europe, assisting those in need, speaking out against the tyranny of war, and aiding thousands of Jews escape persecution during the Second World War. His commitment to the rights and dignity of all, as filtered through his zeal for the Lord and devotion to Mary, allowed him to achieve great works while alive, and the crown of martyrdom in death.

In the words of John Paul II, “Maximilian prepared for this definitive sacrifice by following Christ from the first years of his life in Poland. From these years comes the mysterious vision of two crowns – one white and one red. From these our saint does not choose. He accepts them both. From the years of his youth, in fact, Maximilian was filled with great love of Christ and the desire for martyrdom.”

Born into a poor family in Russian-occupied Poland in 1894, Raymond (his given name) was a boisterous and difficult child. His mother famously—in exasperation—asked of him, “what is going to become of you?” Raymond’s life changed dramatically around the age of 12 when, when he made his First Holy Communion at the Church of the Assumption of Mary. At that time, the young boy was graced with a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was to change his life. In recounting the vision, Raymond said:

“I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.”

His mother, in her memoirs, wrote of the event:

"I knew ahead of time, based on an extraordinary event that took place in his infancy, that Maximilian would die a martyr. I just don't recall if it took place before or after his first confession. Once I did not like one of his pranks and I reproached him for it: ‘My son, what ever will become of you?!’ Later, I did not think of it again, but I noticed that the boy had changed so radically, he was hardly recognizable. We had a small altar hidden between two dressers before which he used to often retire without being noticed and he would pray there crying. In general, he had a conduct superior to his age, always recollected and serious and when he prayed he would burst into tears. I was worried, thinking he had some sort of illness so I asked him: ‘Is there anything wrong? You should share everything with your mommy!’ Trembling with emotion and with his eyes flooded in tears, he shared: ‘Mama, when you reproached me, I pleaded with the Blessed Mother to tell me what would become of me. At Church I did the same; I prayed the same thing again. So then the Blessed Mother appeared to me holding in her hands two crowns: one white the other red. She looked at me with tenderness and asked me if I wanted these two crowns. The white one signified that I would preserve my purity and the red that I would be a martyr. I answered that I accepted them...(both of them). Then the Virgin Mary looked at me with sweetness and disappeared.’ The extraordinary change in the boys' behavior testified to me the truth of what he related. He was fully conscious and as he spoke to me, with his face radiating; it showed me his desire to die a martyr.”

At age 13, Raymond and his elder brother illegally crossed the border so that they could enter the Franciscan Fathers Seminary in the polish city of Lvov, which was at that time occupied by Austria. There he took the name Maximilian Maria, to demonstrate his love and devotion to the Blessed Mother. He traveled to Krakow and Rome, continuing his studies, earning a doctorate in theology. He completed his religious studies in Rome, and was ordained a priest at age 24.

During his time in Rome, Maximilian witnessed increased opposition to papal authority, and various attacks on the Church from both within and without. Devoted to the Immaculate Conception, he believed that the Church should be more militant in its cooperation with Divine Grace for the advancement of the Catholic Faith. Moved by this devotion and conviction, in 1917 he founded a movement called, "The Militia of the Immaculata" whose members consecrated themselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary and whose purpose would be to fight, through all the morally valid means available, for the building of the Reign of God in the whole world. In his own words, the movement would have "a global vision of catholic life under a new form that consists in a union with the Immaculata.” The means of consecration was accomplished through the Immaculata Prayer, penned by the saint.

The Immaculata friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques in publishing catechetical and devotional tracts, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000 and a monthly magazine, named “Knight of the Immaculata” with a circulation of over one million. This magazine was oriented to promote knowledge, love, and service to the Blessed Mother in the conversion of souls.

Following his ordination, Maximilian returned to a now liberated Poland, and founded the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, a seminary, a radio station and several other organizations and publications. Niepokalanów became the largest religious community of its time—with nearly 800 brothers living in a “city of the Immaculata.” The monastery and seminary were joined with homes for the poor and sick, a hospital, living quarters, radio station, printing presses and distribution centers, and stores. Among the inhabitants of Niepokalanów were doctors, dentists, farmers, mechanics, tailors, builders, printers, gardeners, shoemakers, cooks. The “city” was entirely self-supporting. Through their work, the people of Poland were converted to Catholicism. Years later, after the war, the Polish bishops sent an official letter to the Holy See claiming that Father Kolbe's magazine had prepared the Polish nation to endure and survive the horrors of the war that was soon to follow.

Saint Maximilian was not content to build only one city for Mary, however. In 1931, after the Pope solicited missionaries, he offered himself as a volunteer to travel to Japan where he founded a new city of the Immaculata ("Mugenzai No Sono") and published in Japanese the magazine, "Knight of the Immaculata" ("Seibo No Kishi"). He further founded a monastery at the outskirts of Nagasaki, which remains prominent in the Roman Catholic Church in Japan. Built on the “wrong side” of a mountain, according to Shinto beliefs, the monastery miraculously survived the atomic bomb blast which devastated Nagasaki during the Second World War. Had he built the monastery on the preferred side of mountain as he was advised, his work and all of his fellow monks would have been destroyed.

Having contracted Tuberculosis as a child, Maximilian was frequently sick as he grew older. His already frail constitution weakened and he was frequently racked by violent headaches and covered with abscesses. He bore his suffering with patient endurance, but could not remain quiet about the approaching war in Europe. He became active as a radio amateur, with Polish call letters SP3RN, vilifying Nazi activities through his reports. The many publications of the Immaculata also spoke out against war and the growing disrespect for human dignity.

When the Germans invaded Poland in September of 1939, Father Kolbe realized that his monastery—like everything else-- would soon be taken over. He sent most of the friars home, warning them not to join the underground resistance, but to preserve their lives for God. Niepokalanów was ransacked, including the monastery where he lived, and Maximilian, accompanied by 40 other friars, were transported to a holding camp in Germany, and later to one in Poland. He is remembered as having said at the moment of arrest: “Courage, my sons. Don’t you see that we are leaving on a mission? They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she wishes”

The friars were released and allowed to return to the monastery in December of 1939. Niepokalanów became a refugee camp for thousands of Poles and Jews seeking escape from Nazi persecution. The friars shared everything they had with the refugees and the monastery became a universal shelter of brotherhood. For this reason, Father Kolbe and his friars soon came under suspicion by the Gestapo. Furthermore, German citizenship had been extended to Maximilian—as a journalist, publisher, and intellectual of advanced degree. However, he had declined to accept the offer, which infuriated German authorities and roused their suspicions further. To incriminate him, he was permitted one final printing of the "Knight of Mary Immaculate" in December of 1940. It was in this issue that Father Maximilian wrote:

“The real conflict is inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the catacombs of concentration camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are victories on the battle-field if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?”

Two months later, in February 2941, Father Kolbe was again arrested—this time on charges of aiding Jews and participating in the Polish underground which stood in resistance to the Nazi regime. Maximilian was sent to the infamous Pawiak prison in German-occupied Warsaw, and subsequently to Auschwitz. There, he was given the prison number 16670, and was singled out for special ill treatment.

On June 15, 1941, he managed to write a letter to his mother, which was smuggled out of the camp. It read:

"Dear Mama, At the end of the month of May I was transferred to the camp of Auschwitz. Everything is well in my regard. Be tranquil about me and about my health, because the good God is everywhere and provides for everything with love. It would be well that you do not write to me until you will have received other news from me, because I do not know how long I will stay here. Cordial greetings and kisses, affectionately. Raymond."

During his time at Auschwitz, Saint Maximilian remained true in his devotion to Our Blessed Mother, doing all that he could to ease the burdens, struggles, and suffering of his fellow prisoners. At night, he moved from bunk to bunk, saying: "I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?" A prisoner later recalled how he and several other men often crawled across the floor at night to be near the bed of Father Kolbe, to make their confessions and ask for consolation. Father Kolbe pleaded with his fellow prisoners to forgive their persecutors and to overcome evil with good. When he was beaten by the guards, he never cried out. Instead, he prayed for his tormentors.

At that time, to discourage escapes, the guards at Auschwitz had a rule that if a man escaped (or attempted to escape), ten men would be killed in retaliation. In July 1941, a man from Kolbe's bunker was believed to have escaped (although it was later discovered that he had drowned in one of the camp latrines). Ten men were selected to die in the most horrific manner—the ten would be placed in a “starvation chamber” where they would suffer without food or drink for two weeks. At the end of that time, if any survived, they would be executed by having carbolic acid injected into their veins.

One of the ten men selected, Franciszek Gajowniczek, sobbed upon being pulled out of formation: "My poor wife. My poor children - what will they do?" Maximilian stepped silently forward, took off his cap, and standing before the commandant, said, "I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place. I am old. He has a wife and children."

The Nazi commandant asked, "What does this Polish pig want?"

Father Kolbe pointed with his hand to the condemned Franciszek Gajowniczek and repeated "I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place, because he has a wife and children."

Mr. Gajowniczek would later recall:

"I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me - a stranger. Is this some dream?


I was put back into my place without having had time to say anything to Maximilian Kolbe. I was saved. And I owe to him the fact that I could tell you all this. The news quickly spread all round the camp. It was the first and the last time that such an incident happened in the whole history of Auschwitz.


For a long time I felt remorse when I thought of Maximilian. By allowing myself to be saved, I had signed his death warrant. But now, on reflection, I understood that a man like him could not have done otherwise. Perhaps he thought that as a priest his place was beside the condemned men to help them keep hope. In fact he was with them to the to the last.'”

Father Kolbe, along with the other victims, were left to starve in Building 13. Maximilian Kolbe encouraged the others with prayers, psalms, and meditations on the Passion of Christ. After the two weeks, only four remained alive. The cell was needed for more victims so the camp executioner came in and injected a lethal dose of carbolic acid into the left arm of each of the four dying men. Kolbe was the only one still fully conscious. With a prayer on his lips, the last prisoner raised his arm for the executioner.

Bruno Borgowiec, a fellow prisoner assigned to give services to that bunker, gave a personal testimony about Maximilian Kolbe’s death to his parish priest before he died in 1947:

"The ten condemned to death went through terrible days. From the underground cell in which they were shut up there continually arose the echo of prayers and canticles. The man in-charge of emptying the buckets of urine found them always empty. Thirst drove the prisoners to drink the contents. Since they had grown very weak, prayers were now only whispered. At every inspection, when almost all the others were now lying on the floor, Father Kolbe was seen kneeling or standing in the center as he looked cheerfully in the face of the SS men. Father Kolbe never asked for anything and did not complain, rather he encouraged the others, saying that the fugitive might be found and then they would all be freed. One of the SS guards remarked: ‘this priest is really a great man. We have never seen anyone like him.’ Two weeks passed in this way. Meanwhile one after another they died, until only Father Kolbe was left. This the authorities felt was too long. The cell was needed for new victims. So one day they brought in the head of the sick-quarters, a German named Bock, who gave Father Kolbe an injection of carbolic acid in the vein of his left arm. Father Kolbe, with a prayer on his lips, himself gave his arm to the executioner. Unable to watch this I left under the pretext of work to be done. Immediately after the SS men had left I returned to the cell, where I found Father Kolbe leaning in a sitting position against the back wall with his eyes open and his head drooping sideways. His face was calm and radiant."

Father Maximilian Mary Kolbe was 47 years old when he was executed, on the vigil of the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. His body was burned in the crematorium on the following day, the Feast of the Assumption. He had stated years earlier: “I would like to be reduced to ashes for the cause of the Immaculata, and may this dust be carried over the whole world, so that nothing would remain.”

Pope John Paul II, in his homily at the canonization of Maximilian Mary Kolbe, proclaimed the character and steadfastness of a man who believed in the supreme value of every human life:

“’Greater Love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ (John 15:13). From today on, the Church desires to address as “Saint” a man who was granted the grace of carrying out these words of the Redeemer in an absolutely literal manner.” For towards the end of July, 1941, when the camp commander ordered the prisoners destined to die of starvation to fall in line, this man-Maximilian Mary Kolbe spontaneously came forward and declared himself ready to go to death in the place of one of them. This readiness was accepted and, after more than two weeks of torment caused by starvation, Father Maximilian’s life was ended with a lethal injection on August 14, 1941.”

The life and works of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe are hard to imagine. His suffering and death are remarkable, and impossible to comprehend. They seem as events of the distant past, when in fact these things happened only 70 years ago. Since that time, genocide and other forms of disrespect for the dignity of human lives have continued unabated across the world. Saint Maximilian found his strength through devotion and consecration to Our Blessed Mother—the refuge of sinners, advocate for mankind, mediatrix of grace, and co-redemptrix of the world. Through his love for Mary, he urged aggressive promotion of the love of Christ on earth, to build a kingdom of God. We each are called to action, to confront the evils of the world, and to stand up for the dignity and respect of every human life!



Selected Quotations from Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe:

"God sends to us the one who personifies his love: Mary, the spouse of the Spirit - a spirit of maternal love - immaculate, all beautiful, spotless, even though she is our sister, a true daughter of the human race."
"Sanctity is not a luxury but it is an obligation, and is not difficult."

“The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers.”

“For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.”
“No one in the world can change truth. What we can do and should do is seek it and serve it when it is found."

"God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."

"He remains among us until the end of the world. He dwells on so many altars, though so often offended and profaned."

"The culmination of the Mass is not the consecration, but Communion."
"You come to me and unite Yourself intimately to me under the form of nourishment. Your Blood now runs in mine, Your Soul, Incarnate God, co penetrates mine, giving courage and support. What miracles! Who would have ever imagined such!"

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."





Gracious God, you filled your priest and martyr, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, with zeal for souls and love for his neighbor. Through the prayer of this devoted servant of Mary Immaculate, grant that in our efforts to serve others for your glory we too may become like Christ your Son, who loved his own in the world even to the end, and now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.



Year 2: Day 226 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Respect for the dignity of all human life.

Today, June 22, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Paulinus of Nola (354-431), bishop, Confessor, writer, and inspiration to many—including six great saint of the Church who referenced him in letters of encouragement to others: Augustine, Jerome, Melania, Martin or Tours, Gregory and Ambrose. Saint Paulinus’ writings include a letter to Crispinianus, a soldier in the Roman military. Paulinus exhorts Crispianus, a Christian, to leave the military and devote his life to God. His letter is below.




Letter 25, to Crispinianus


1. Though I am unknown to you personally, I already know you in spirit. Victor, my dearest son in the Lord, ensured that I knew you, though distance separates us, by telling me of your scrupulous life. So I have begun to love you as a future comrade in Christ, for Victor recounted to me how he was an associate and attendant of your mess in that worldly military service in which you are still occupied. This has induced me to take the liberty of writing to you through him. For I hope that you will come to the true path by the same road as he, since in him you have sent one of your comrades ahead to us, and the Church holds him as your pledge that she may gain you after him.


There is nothing, my blessed son, which can or ought to be preferred to Him who is the true Lord, the true Father, the eternal Commander. To whom is it right to devote our lives more than to Him from whom we received them, and for whom we must preserve them to the end, because we live by His kindness? If we have been a soldier for Him in this world, we shall then deserve to pass over to Him. But if we love this world more, and prefer to be a soldier for Caesar rather than for Christ, we shall later be transported not to Christ but to hell, where the cause of the princes of this world rests.


2. So we ought not to put loyalties or fatherland or distinctions or riches before God, for Scripture says: “The fashion of this world passeth away.” And those who love this world will also perish with it. This is why the Lord Himself speaks these words of the Gospel in witness: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doth not take his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.”


Of the riches of this world, which some embrace and love as the highest and necessary good, He says: “Treasuries shall not profit wicked men, but justice delivers from death.” Again He says through a prophet: “All were destroyed who were exalted with gold and silver.” In the Gospel, too, He cries out in condemnation of the rich men of this world: “Woe to you rich; for you have your consolation. Woe to you that are filled; for you shall hunger. Woe to you that now laugh; for you shall mourn and weep.”


3. Therefore do not any longer love this world or its military service, for Scripture’s authority attests that “whoever is a friend of his world is an enemy of God.” He who is a soldier with the sword is the servant of death, and when he sheds his own blood or that of another, this is the reward for his service. He will be regarded as guilty of death either because of his own death or because of his sin, because a soldier in war, fighting not so much for himself as for another, is either conquered and killed, or conquers and wins a pretext for death-for he cannot be a victor unless he first sheds blood. So the Lord says: “You cannot serve two masters,” the one God and mammon, that is, Christ and Ceasar, even though Caesar himself is now keen to be Christ’s servant so that he may deserve kingship over a few peoples. For it is not some earthly king who reigns over the whole world, but Christ God, for “all things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Whatever He pleases He does in earth, in the sea, in the deeps.”


4. Let us follow Him, then. Let us be soldiers for Him. The soldier who wears armour for Him is never unarmed. On them that fight for Him He bestows the glory of eternal life, the distinction of the heavenly kingdom, the riches of His inheritance, and an everlasting share in the knowledge of God. But Scripture says: “He that loveth money shall not be justified,” and “he that seeketh after earthly possessions shall become entangled in them.” So divine Wisdom speaks through the mouth of Solomon in Ecclesiasticus: “Many have been brought to fall for gold, and the beauty thereof hath been their ruin. Gold is a stumbling block and casts down those that follow after it. But only fools shall perish by it.” So flee from it, my son, as from the appearance of a serpent. Trust in Christ, who in the Gospel solemnly states to all men: “A man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.”


5. Perhaps, however, the confidence of youth, your family tradition of distinctions, and your increased riches prompt you to say: “I am still young and have time to complete my army service, marry, have children, and afterwards serve God.” You are answered not by me but by the Lord speaking through His prophets and apostles. The prophet says: “Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day, lest His wrath come on a sudden.” The Gospel indicates with what eager haste we should seek conversion when it says: “From the days of John the Baptist until today, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.”


Such violence is welcome to God, for it disturbs no one and is achieved without harm to any. Direct your hands to the plunder which is sinless and brings salvation. Why should you trouble about the provision of solders’ pay which involves the violence you loathe, when doubtless your integrity makes you mild in levying even the regular taxes? Whereas without rousing anyone’s hatred and with God’s grace you can be violent in seizing the kingdom of heaven. When it “suffereth violence,” Christ rejoices at being attacked, because with His abundance of love and power He is capable both of donating what He holds and of retaining what He gives. For when He allows His saints to reign in His kingdom, He will reign amongst those whom He has adopted as comrades in His heavenly kingdom. Scripture says that God’s kingdom will be shared with His saints and that those saints are themselves God’s kingdom. If God is good and you are converted, you will discover this by reading, and understand it by believing.


8. Listen, then, my son, and give me your ear. Break off all ties which bind and entangle you in this world. Change your secular military service into something better-start being a soldier for the eternal King. I hear that you now help and protect civilians; I pray that you may become the count of Christ. Again, you in secular military service are wont to pray for advancement to the rank of protector, but if you prove yourself before God, you will begin to have Him as your Protector. See to what kind of military service I invite you as a comrade, for God will be to you what you hope to be to a man. Once you begin to follow Him, you begin your service as a count, and the end of your service will be kingship not on earth or in time, but in eternity and in heaven.

Source: Letters of St. Paulinus of Nola. Translated an annotated by P.G. Walsh. (Westminster, MD: Newmann Pres: 1966-67).

Today, June 11, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Barnabas (died 61), martyr, humble preacher of Christianity, early apostle, and faithful companion to Saint Paul. He is largely credited for beginning the work of spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles, bringing Saint Paul to the disciples, and recounting the story of his conversion:


26When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. (Acts 9:26-27)

Saint Barnabas was instrumental in the foundations of the Church, and it’s eventual spread throughout the world. Initially, Scripture leads us to believe that he was a wealthy landowner, who gave up all he had to the fledgling Christian community. He was humble, concerned only with the glory of God (not his own personal glory), and provided support and encouragement to the disciples. He was able to see the good in others (even Saul). For his gifts, the disciples gave him a special name—unique to his contributions to the community— “Son of Encouragement.”

32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.


36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. (Acts 4:32-37)

Saint Barnabas lived his name—the Son of Encouragement-- first with the disciples, and then later with Saint Paul during their evangelical travels together. He was a warm and encouraging person. He was positive and uplifting. He was able to see the best in people ---- to overlook the differences that could produce personal prejudice. This very virtue was used to open the possibility of membership in the early Church to converts of all nations. In the Acts of the Apostles (11: 22-24), Saint Luke tells us that Barnabas was sent to Antioch to see Christian ministry with the Greeks was going. Barnabas was pleased with the progress and "encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord." Saint Luke further described Barnabas saying: "For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith"

Saint Barnabas, filed with the Holy Spirit, traveled to Tarsus to seek out Saint Paul (whom the disciples had not yet fully accepted). Together, they returned to Antioch, where Scripture indicates that Paul served as assistant to Barnabas in preaching and evangelizing. They had great success, and in the midst of their preaching, prayer, and fasting, were moved by the Spirit to travel to Cyprus—the birthplace of Barnabas. There, Barnabas was content to humbly fill the role that the Lord had planned for him, and Saint Paul moved into the leadership position. Never jealous or prideful, Barnabas continued to travel with Paul, together making great progress in the spread of the Gospel of the Lord.

On one occasion, Paul and Barnabas were mistaken for gods and nearly stoned to death:

At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. 2But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. (Here they are mistaken for gods, and the crowds wish to offer sacrifices to them.) 14But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15"Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." (Acts 14: 1-3; 14-17)

At the Council at Jerusalem, Barnabas (demonstrating his characteristic love of all peoples) defended the claims of the Gentile Christians. He later he returned to Antioch with Paul, but later they parted company. Barnabas continued to travel widely, as in later epistles, Paul mentions him as if he were known to the Galatians, the Corinthians, and possibly the Colossians. After traveling to Italy, Saint Barnabas returned to Cyrus, where he was martyred at Salamis by stoning while preaching in the synagogue. His body was buried by Saint John Mark (his younger cousin), and his relics were housed in a monastery built at the place of his death. He remains the patron saint of Cyprus.

The witness and life of Saint Barnabas reminds us of the importance of humility, encouragement, and acceptance of everyone, regardless of our differences. Saint Barnabas saw the good in all he encountered. His ability to see past Saint Paul’s persecution of Christians, and instead embrace him as a brother changed the face of the Church. Barnabas ministered to all who would listen—Gentile or Jew—at a time when great prejudices existed. His support and encouragement to those around him, as well as his pleasure at diminishing himself to increase the glory of the Lord, are lessons we could all benefit from in our society built upon recognition of individual accomplishments. How many opportunities to serve the Lord have we missed due to our need for recognition, or own pride, or our prejudices about those in need? Saint Barnabas, pray for us!


God our Father,
You filled Saint Barnabas with faith and the Holy Spirit and sent him to convert the nations. Help us to proclaim the Gospel by word and deed.

Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Most Holy Spirit, Saint Barnabas was converted shortly after Pentecost, and he gave up all his possessions in order to detach from the world and follow the way of Christ to Heaven. His helpful, compassionate and optimistic nature inspired other new Christians, including Saint Paul. I ask him to pray for my attitudes. Loving God, help me to convert any negativity that's within me into an optimism that comes from hoping and trusting in You. Deliver me from selfishness and turn it into a generosity that benefits the people who need my help. Anoint me to become an inspiration for others. Saint Barnabas, pray for me. Amen.