“He was the saint needed for our time, because of the way he manifested his love for God through love of his neighbor, forgetting himself completely.” - Sr. Felicitas Sulatycka, friend of St. Maximilian Kolbe

Greetings and Happy Easter Season!

Thank you for considering supporting me on my pilgrimage to Poland! This powerful pilgrimage is unique because, alongside fellow USC students and spiritual guides, we will follow Kolbe’s life from his birthplace to where he was martyred in Auschwitz. There, we will celebrate Mass outside his cell on his feast day!

Visiting these sites means a lot to me personally because last fall I read A Man for Others, a biography of St. Maximilian Kolbe. This saintly hero transformed prayer, service, suffering, and practical virtue for me. I have found rallying cries in Kolbe’s writings on his knightly mission of noble love. His words roused me to imitate and pursue Christ through His Mother, and have further bolstered my personal devotions to Mother Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Divine Mercy. Yet it does not stop there! I will also encounter these devotions at shrines of St. Faustina, St. John Paul II, and Częstochowa, Queen of Poland.

I am certain these spiritual behemoths will guide our pilgrimage to fortify the practical ways I live out my faith and manifest my love for God through loving those around me. I cannot wait to prayerfully explore what it means to give up one’s life for another in the bleakest of circumstances, as Our Lord modeled in Golgotha and St. Maximilian Kolbe followed in Auschwitz.

I invite you to walk with us in Kolbe’s footsteps financially by donating to help me cover my flight, lodging, and meals, or spiritually through your invaluable prayers. Either way, I will be praying for you on this trip through the intercession of Our Mother, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Faustina, and St. John Paul II! I am deeply grateful for your support and God Bless!

With gratitude,

John Wehn