RESPONSORY IN HONOR OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
God our Father in heaven, receive our humble prayers.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, save us.
God the Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with your love.
Holy Trinity, one God, grant us your salvation.
Holy Mary, Mother of our Savior, intercede for us.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, great hearted lover of God and man, pray for us.
Faithful follower of St. Francis of Assisi, teach us your total dedication to the Gospel life.
Man of living faith, lead us to believe as you did.
Brave Knight of the Immaculata, help us to be instruments of Mary.
Apostle of the Miraculous Medal, give us confidence in Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
Model of religious life, assist us to be poor, chaste and obedient.
You encouraged the union of all Christians, teach us to respect all true believers in God.
You practiced poverty and simplicity, encourage us to live a modest life.
Example of angelic innocence, elevate us to keep our hearts and minds pure.
Apostle of Christian example, teach us to remember what Jesus said and did.
Angel of peace and reconciliation, inspire us to be living examples of God’s peace.
You were loyal to the teachings of Christ, teach us the same fidelity.
Apostle of the communications media, help our journalists to be promoters of truth and goodness.
Educator of youth, uplift our young people to find true meaning in their lives.
Defender of morals and Christian values, protect us from the immorality in our midst.
Zealous apostle of Nagasaki in Japan, defend us from nuclear destruction.
Great missionary of our times, help us participate in the evangelization of the world.
You prayed for your oppressors, teach us how to forgive and forget.
You had respect for every person, help us to see in each other the image of God.
You saw God’s will in your sufferings, intercede for the sick and those with terminal illness.
Victim of violence and hatred, teach us how to love our enemies.
You volunteered to die for another, lead many persons to offer their talents in service.
You shared a meager piece of bread with fellow prisoners, intercede for the hungry and starving of the world.
Victim of planned extermination, inspire our doctors and nurses to protect human life.
You died for the father of a family, restore the Christian dimension of family life.
You assisted the dying prisoners, stand by us also in the hour of our death.
Patron of the dying, intercede for those who are in agony of mind and body.
You were united with Christ in suffering, help us to understand that we do not suffer alone.
You died by a poisonous injection, aid those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Martyr of Auschwitz, help us endure our sufferings patiently.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, teach us that without sacrifice there is no proof of love.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, hear our prayers.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, receive the intercession of your saints.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, to you be glory in heaven and on earth.
PRAYER TO ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, most faithful son of St. Francis, the beggar of Assisi, inflamed with love for God you journeyed through life practicing heroic virtues and performing true apostolic deeds.
Turn your gaze on us who honor you and have recourse to you.
Radiating with the light of the Immaculate Virgin, you brought countless souls to holiness and introduced them to various apostolic endeavors for the victory of good over evil and to thereby extend the Kingdom of God throughout the whole world.
Obtain for us the light and the strength we need to do good and to bring many souls to Christ.
Perfectly conformed and united with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, you achieved such a high degree of love of neighbor that you were able to freely offer your life in exchange for a fellow prisoner in witness of true evangelical charity.
Beg the Lord on our behalf that, filled with the same fire of love, our faith and good example might also bring others to Christ and secure for us the reward of everlasting life, where we shall praise Him together with you in eternal glory. Amen.
“LOVE ALONE CREATE” PRAYER
St. Maximilian, amidst the hate and lonely misery of Auschwitz, you brought love into the lives of fellow captives, and sowed the seeds of hope amidst despair. You bore witness to the world, by word and deed, that only “Love alone creates.”
Help me to become more like yourself. With you and Mary and the Church, may I proclaim that only “Love alone creates.” To the hungry and oppressed, the naked and homeless, the scorned and hated, the lonely and despairing, may I proclaim the power of Christ’s love, which endures forever and ever. Amen.
FOR ARDENT LOVE
St. Maximilian Kolbe, faithful follower of St. Francis of Assisi, inflamed by the love of God you dedicated your life to the practice of virtue and to works of the apostolate. Look down with favor upon us who devoutly confide in your intercession.
Having consecrated yourself to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, you inspired countless souls to holy life and to various forms of the apostolate in order to do good to others and to spread the kingdom of God. Obtain for us the grace by our lives and labors to draw many souls to Christ.
In your close conformity to our Divine Savior, you reached such an intense degree of love that you offered your life to save a fellow prisoner. Implore God that we, inflamed by such ardent charity, may through our living faith and our apostolic works witness Christ to our fellowman, and thus merit to join you in the blessed vision of God. Amen.
PRAYER FOR FAMILIES
St. Maximilian Kolbe, you gave your life so that a family might not be deprived of a husband and father. By your heroic martyrdom of charity, teach us that the value of family life is worth our sacrifices also. Just as you found in Mary the channel of those graces that strengthened you to be faithful to her Son, help us to rejoice also in her who was given to us as a mother by Jesus from the cross. Be with us, St. Maximilian, as we pray for the special needs of our family (Say petitions here). Amen.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS PRAYER FOR THE ADDICTED
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, your life of love and labor for souls was sacrificed amid the horrors of a concentration camp and hastened to its end by an injection of a deadly drug.
Look with compassion upon ___________________ who is now entrapped in addiction to drugs 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 bonds 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.
A PRISONER’S PRAYER
O Prisoner-Saint of Auschwitz,
help me in my plight. Introduce me 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
me in my confinement. May she teach me always to be good. If I am lonely, may she say, “God is here.” If I feel hate, may she say, “God is love.” If I am tempted, may she say, “God is pure.”
If I sin, may she say, “God is mercy.” If I am in darkness, may she say, “God is light.” If I am unjustly condemned, may she say, “God is truth.” If I have pain in soul or body, may she say, “God is peace.” If I lose hope, may she say: “God is with you all days, and so am I.” Amen.
PRAYER TO END ABORTION
St. Maximilian Kolbe, patron of the pro-life movement, hear this prayer of supplication that I address to you with confidence.
St. Maximilian, I honor your life that was guided by the unshakable faith in the mystery of the Incarnation. I admire your public witness for the sanctity of life and your ultimate sacrifice for the life of another when you offered yourself to save a fellow prisoner.
I pray, please move the consciences of those contemplating abortion. Please move to repentance, and healing, for the women and men who have chosen abortion over the gift of life.
Please intercede for all the unborn children. Pray that their mothers will see, hear and know that what they carry in their womb is a person, a special and unique gift from God our Creator.
Please comfort the women who suffer from the post-abortion trauma and inspire them to seek spiritual and psychological help.
Please sustain the courage and wisdom of the pro-life movement, so that they may be peaceful witnesses to the sanctity of life. Intercede for our young people who march and witness for life today that God may bless and protect them.
Please move the hearts of our lawmakers, judges and fellow citizens so the scourge of abortion will no longer be the law of the land.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.
Amen.
KOLBEAN PRAYER TO MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH
Mary, Mother of the Church, I come before you in the spirit of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who consecrated his Franciscan life and work to you without reserve. You accepted Maximilian’s self-offering; accept me. You led Maximilian to Christ; lead me. You formed Maximilian into a mirror of Christ; form me. Your union with Maximilian provided the backdrop for his works of evangelization and heroic acts of charity.
Please grant, through the intercession of St. Maximilian, that I might fully collaborate with you and the Holy Spirit as an instrument for the upbuilding of Christ’s Church. Amen.
KOLBEAN PRAYER FOR THE GRACE TO BE AN INSTRUMENT
Almighty and Eternal God, you gave us in the person of St. Maximilian an example of true devotion to the Immaculate Mother of our Savior and of unselfish love for our neighbor. Grant we beseech you through his intercession, that we may grow in our understanding of love of the Immaculata; that we may recognize her presence, her voice, her love and her power with us and be filled with an ardent desire and will to fulfill her will in every detail, and thus become sharers and true instruments of her most perfect response to you, in the Holy Spirit through Christ our Lord. Amen.
