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1 " In his final article Father Maximilian wrote: "No one in the world can alter truth. All that we can do is seek it, find it, and live it." Here he touched on a crucial point. Does not the conflict that lacerates the modern world reduce itself to a crisis of truth? All reformers would like to change the truth; but the question is simply to recognize it as it is, serve it, and love it. "No one in the world can alter truth..." These words sum up the testament of Father Maximilian. They ought to be written in flaming letters above the chapter of history which God is in the process of writing, straight and upright over the crooked lines of our treason. Is not Satan's name the Father of Lies? "
― Maria Winowska , The Death Camp Proved Him Real
2 " How can we reach our highest excellence? Simply by becoming saints. On this point, Father Maximilian was uncompromising. "I demand that you become saints, and very great saints!""But look here, Father, do you not ask too much?""Why, no," he answered, "Sanctity is not a luxury, but a simple duty. It is one of Christ's first principles: Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. I will show you that it is not difficult. Have you a piece of chalk?"Speechless, they stared at him. Father Maximilian smiled and continued, "It is a question of simple calculation. In a second, I shall put the formula for sanctity on the blackboard for you. You will see how simple it is!"Calm and grave, he wrote on the blackboard before the wide-eyed young listeners: v = V."Here is my formula. Do you understand it? The small v is my will; the capital V is God's will. Unite your will and the will of God, who wants you to become a saint! It is so simple, the one requisite is to obey! "
3 " Father Maximilian bought land in the outskirts of Nagasaki, on a steep slope which goes down a long ridge in the opposite direction from the city. Everyone criticized him. Had anyone ever thought of building under such conditions? Why turn your back on the city? The priest smiled but remained unconvinced.After the cataclysm of the atomic bomb, Mugenzai no Sono -- translated "The Garden of the Immaculata" -- remained almost intact, because it was protected by the ridge. only the window panes were blown out; no one was killed in the precincts of the friary. Then, and only then, did they understand. "
4 " The stone over which certain modern Christians anxious for renewal stumble, is Marian doctrine. For twenty years but especially since the end of Vatican II, we have been watching a real campaign to squelch the Holy Virgin, or at least to put her under a bushel. It is all done with great, good intentions and not without reverence. As was often the case in the Church's past, this doctrinal and spiritual ostracism justifies itself by claiming Christ will be harmed by the worship given His Mother. Its practitioners start by condemning pious exaggerations no sensible person would think of defending, then proceed to throw the baby out with the bath. I mean they throw out recognized doctrines and practices which both the Catholic Church and all eastern Churches have proclaimed and recommended from the dawn of salvation. In the name of a narrow and "wild" ecumenism they thus undermine the most venerable bonds which unite us to our Orthodox brothers, and let's say it bluntly: they scandalize them.The tree is known by its fruits. Let us put to our readers a simple question: the methodical and progressive elimination of the Virgin Mary from the piety and the attention of the People of God - has it made them more open and more sensitive to Christ? If Marian doctrines and practices were curbs and obstacles, shouldn't we be seeing now a great soaring of Christ-centered theology and spirituality? Right here is where the saddle pinches. The doctrinal clouding we now witness, the progressive draining of the very notions of 'mystery' and 'the sacred' of their meaning, the mini-theologies on "the death of God" that find their way into would-be Catholic magazines, the growing confusion of the People of God, especially the little ones and the poor - all this says little in favor of those updated people who believe they build up Christ by pulling down His mother. For those who know how to observe it, the drying up of priestly and religious vocations, as also the crisis in the interior life - the famous "horizontalism" that plagues the Church - seems to coincide in certain countries of Europe with the slow but progressive elimination of Marian observances from the official prayer of the Church.(From the Epilogue, written in 1971) "
