Choices

When Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a boy the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him. She showed him two garlands, one white and the other red. She said to him,

The white one means that you will remain pure; the red one that you will die a martyr. Which do you want?

I suspect that most of us would choose the white garland, purity, thinking it easier than suffering a martyr's death. Doubtless, though, some of the martyrs would disagree, and maybe some of the virgins, too. Which did young Maximilian, then little Raimund, choose?

He answered Our Lady, saying,

I'll take both.

I don't expect many of us would have even considered such an answer, so accustomed are we to choosing one or the other. Choosing both seems greedy, does it not? Or at least presumptuous.

Mary offered no reprimand or correction. She simply smiled and departed.

Perhaps Maximilian's answer stems simply from the boldness of a child. Would that we were all so bold! Is this not what Jesus meant when he declared, "unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter the kindgom" (Matthew 18:3).

Let each of say, "I'll take both."