Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel John 10:11-18 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Pope St John Paul II said of this man, a Polish Jew, a paediatrician, writer and teacher who went to his death with a group of orphans in his charge although he had been offered the chance to be spared, for the world of today, Janusz Korczak is a symbol of true religion and true morality.
There were similarities between the sacrifice of of St Maximilian Kolbe OFMConv, canonised on 10 October 1982, and Dr Korczak, both Polish. Fr Kolbe offered his life in exchange for that of Franciszek Gajowniczek, a young Polish soldier interned in Auschwitz who was to be executed with nine others chosen at random because three of their companions had escaped. The Franciscan friar heard the young soldier cry 'My wife and my children'. His offer was accepted and he and the other nine were put in a cell and left without food or water. After two weeks the Franciscan priest was the only one still alive and was given a lethal injection on 14 August 1941.
Almost a year later Janusz Korczak was to die in Treblinka extermination camp along with nearly 200 Jewish orphans who had been living in the orphanage that he had set up in Warsaw in 1911-12. However, when the Nazis took over Warsaw they forced the orphanage to move to the Ghetto that they created in a district of the Polish capital in late 1940.
German soldiers came on 5 or 6 August 1942 to collect the orphans and about 12 staff members to take them to Treblinka. Dr Korczak had already turned down offers of sanctuary for himself before this and turned down an offer at this point.
A witness described the scene: Janusz Korczak was marching, his head bent forward, holding the hand of a child, without a hat, a leather belt around his waist, and wearing high boots. A few nurses were followed by two hundred children, dressed in clean and meticulously cared for clothes, as they were being carried to the altar.
At the point of departure for Treblinka an SS officer recognised Dr Korczak as the author of a book that was a favourite of his children and offered him a means of escape. Once again this remarkable man turned down this offer and went with the children to the camp where their lives were soon to end in the gas chambers.
Janusz Korczak could not save the lives of the children under his care but he made sure that they left the orphanage with dignity, wearing their best clothes and each bringing an item that was special to him or her. He chose not to leave them but to die with them.
St Maximilan Kolbe chose to give his life for someone he did not know because that man had a family and he hadn't.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
St
Maximilian Kolbe and Janusz Korczak, both sons of Abraham, our father in faith, could say as Jesus did, I
know my own and my own know me . . . and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Traditional Latin Mass
Third Sunday after Easter
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 04-21-2024 if necessary).
Epistle: 1 Peter 2:11-19. Gospel: John 16:16-22.
Passover begins 22 April
The words ‘B’YomHaShoah yikatevun’ in the song mean ‘On Holocaust Day it is Written’.
In memory of Dr Janusz Korczak, the twelve nurses from his orphanage and the nearly 200 orphans murdered in Treblinka for the sole reason that, like Jesus, Mary and Joseph, they were Jewish.
1 comment:
Dearest Father Seán,
Yes, that is a perfect reading about the Good Shepherd—my turn tomorrow to be the lay reader.
St Maximilian Kolbe and Janusz Korczak both deserve to be canonized for their courage to lay down their own life for and with others!
Fr Gerry Truno was another Good Shepherd and we need more like them in this world today.
Hugs,
Mariette
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