Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where we read the daily gospels and the saint of the day.
Let’s get started! Today is Thursday, August 14th, and the gospel reading is Matthew 18, 21 through chapter 19, 1.
And the scripture to reflect on is Matthew 18, 22.
Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
How many push-ups can you do?
How many times can you bounce a ping-pong ball on a paddle?
How many free throws can you score with a basketball?
You think you can do it 490 times in a row without messing up?
I think it would be hard to do something 490 times.
Today’s saint of the day is St.
Maximilian Kolbe.
He was born on January 18, 1994, and died August 14, 1941.
He’s a patron saint of families and prison people.
Raymond was born in Poland when he was 16.
He had a vision of Mary holding two crowns, one right for purity and one red for martyrism.
She asked him to choose which one he wanted, and he said, I chose both.
After the vision, he later became a Franciscan, taking the name Maximilian Maria.
He had such a devotion for Mary that he published a popular magazine, religious literature, and even a radio station.
This was a good way to evangelize.
After the Nazis invaded Poland, St.
Maximilian and his other Franciscan brothers hid 2,000 Jews and published anti-Nazi literature.
This made the Nazis so mad.
So, Caption Maximilian is sent into prison.
One day, some prisoners escaped, and for punishment, the guards executed 10 prisoners.
One of the men said, please, my wife and my children.
So, Maximilian volunteered to replace him.
The prisoners and his wife and his children attended his funeral.
70 times 7 is 490.
That’s a lot of times to forgive someone.
We don’t keep track how many times we forgive.
We just need to keep forgiving and forgiving and forgiving, no matter what.
And we need Jesus to help us forgive.
We forgive others since Jesus forgave our debts.
St.
Maximilian Kolbe showed us how everything, even suffering, can be an opportunity to be with Jesus and to share love with others.
St.
Maximilian died in the concentration camp.
He brought Jesus' love everywhere.
He went and he used every ounce of strength to serve him, and we should too.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, thank you for giving your son to die so our sins are forgiven.
Help me to have forgiveness towards others, even as it is more than I want to.
And help me to be filled with your son’s love to give me strength and to serve you with my whole heart.
St.
Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!