Saint Lawrence

August 10, Tuesday

NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

As a deacon, Lawrence was placed in charge of the poor of Rome. When he was ordered to surrender the goods of the Church to the persecutors, he distributed them to the poor. When asked where the treasures of the Church were, he showed the poor… He was broiled alive. Rome venerates him as one of the greatest saints and co-patron of Rome with Peter and Paul. May we learn loyal service from him.

 

First Reading: 2 Corinthians 9:6-10

Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds,
    giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
    never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

 

Gospel: John 12:24-26

Jesus said to his disciples, “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

“If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

 

Prayer

Our generous God,
You want us to be to everyone
ministers of your joy and generosity.
Help us to express our gratitude to you
and to reveal your goodness
by sharing what we are and have
with joy and in all sincerity
like the deacon St. Lawrence,
who imitated the self-giving
of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

 

Reflection:

Die to the desires of the self

The Church celebrates the feast of Martyr St. Lawrence. Liturgical Feast Days preserve the past for the present and the future. Today’s feast preserves the memory of persecutions under emperor Valerian in August 258 in Rome. The emperor had ordered all the bishops, priests and deacons in Rome to be executed. Pope Sixtus II and six deacons were martyred on August 6. There was only one more deacon left in Rome – It was Lawrence.

Legends say that the emperor demanded Lawrence to surrender all the valuables and treasures of the Church to him because the Gospel teaches to give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar! Lawrence requested time to collect all the treasures. Three days later, the deacon presented all the blind, lame and sick people who were under his care before the emperor as the valuables and treasures of the Church. The emperor turned furious and ordered him to be burned alive on August 10.

For the Feast days of Martyrs, the Church chooses the teaching of Jesus on the grain of wheat that falls and dies to generate life. This is the paradox. People are normally scared of death. But Jesus in the Gospel presents death as the source of abundance of life. How could this be explained? He takes the example from the nature, the example of the grain of wheat. The farmers of his time understood that process very well. A grain of wheat generates new life only when it dies in the soil.

Jesus speaks of safeguarding our life for eternal life. “Life in this world” is to be understood as desires of the self and unchecked ego, which are influenced by the values of the world. Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane has taught us by example how to die to the interests of the self. In his moments of agony, the Lord’s prayer to the Father was, “not my will, Father, but let your will be done.” This is the moment of dying to the interests of the self. In the scene of annunciation, Blessed Mother had said a similar prayer: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, Let it be done to me according to your Word.” It was an act of dying to the interests of the self. And when the Lord taught his disciples to pray, he reiterated this act of dying to the self, and we repeat this prayer every time we pray the Lord’s prayer: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

A true Christian community would become a reality only when the self-interest of the individual members dies and is replaced by love. Evangelist John encourages his persecuted community to follow the Lord by giving up the desires of the self in order to discern the will of God.

Video available on Youtube: Die to the desires of the self