Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 10, 2021
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.”
The words of Christ are often thoroughly inconvenient. Today, after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and looking forward to his impending passion, he makes no exception. He leaves us little room for interpreting our way out of it: serving him, being where he will be, means we must accept that death is part of the equation.
But what can a 24-year-old, full of life and illusions of invincibility, possibly have to say about death? Fortunately for me, saints have unpacked this concept in every generation, showing that death is not just physical, visited upon us by the passage of time or injury. Instead, it can be something lived, something chosen by letting pieces of ourselves go in the journey to become empty before God. And yet even with this knowledge, still my heart says, “My life is quite nice, thank you very much, and death, physical or otherwise, would be thoroughly inconvenient at present.”
In the face of so formidable a challenge to my selfishness and recalling that I have often failed to die to self and produce fruit, I humbly offer one insight and a word of encouragement. Grace for me has often been a gentle current, slowly and patiently taking away those pieces of my heart that I have built up in attempts at self-creation. My grand story is not a decisive moment where God has shattered my heart of stone, but one of many almost imperceptible deaths, small pieces of me floating down that grand river, born of living water, where God’s love is poured out into the world. For most of us, I would imagine our grand stories are this way, and we can take solace in the fact that the fruit of Christ can be borne in and through us, not always in measurable moments but in lifetimes of death and rebirth.
Prayer
Lord, our God, your deacon, Lawrence spent himself for the poor of the Church. Thus he merited martyrdom and was deemed worthy to receive an eternal reward. As Christians may we also accept our daily sufferings as a sign of our willingness to join our lives to the millions who have gone before us giving their lives freely for the sake of the kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Lawrence is one of the most venerated saints among the Christian martyrs, and his manner of death has inspired cooks to ask for his prayers.
He was one of seven deacons that served the Church in Rome—his role was to manage the material goods of the Christian community, and to distribute financial support to the poor. In 257, the emperor ordered the suppression and persecution of Christians. The pope was arrested and killed, and Lawrence followed him four days later. This is all we know for certain of this saint’s life.
Other details have been filled in by the faithful. St. Ambrose and others have offered more details to his life, but it is unclear if these are embellishments or fact. The most prominent of these stories involves Lawrence’s clever retort to a greedy Roman official.
The official imagined that the Church held great wealth, and wanted to seize anything of value, such as the precious metals used in sacred vessels and candlesticks. He ordered Lawrence to hand all of these things over.
Lawrence replied to him, “The Church is indeed rich—the emperor has no treasure equal to what it possesses.” He asked for a few days to take an inventory and to set everything in order.
Then Lawrence went through Rome, seeking all of the poor people who were supported by the Church. On the appointed day, he lined them up—people who were disabled and blind and sick with leprosy, as well as widows and orphans. Then he invited the official to come and meet him.
When the official arrived and saw this collection of suffering people, he asked Lawrence what this meant. Lawrence replied, “What are you displeased at? These are the treasures of the Church.”
The official was infuriated and threatened to kill Lawrence slowly. He ordered a gridiron prepared over a bed of hot coals, and had Lawrence roasted upon it. St. Ambrose tells us that while Lawrence’s body was subject to fire, his spirit was set aflame with divine love. In fact, it is said that after roasting on one side, Lawrence said to his executioner, “Let my body be turned; this side is broiled enough.”
Lawrence is certainly one of the most venerated martyrs of the early Church, and is included in one of the Eucharistic prayers in the Mass. With an ironic nod, he is patron saint against the threat of fire, and of those who prepare food. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel of the Basilica, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art holds this sketch of his martyrdom by Luigi Gregori. The image at top is a detail from a fresco by Blessed Fra Angelico and depicts Lawrence distributing alms to the poor.
St. Lawrence, courageous martyr and patron of chefs and cooks, pray for us!
Luigi Gregori (Italian, 1819-1896), The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, n.d., graphite, ink, and wash on laid paper. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Gift of Luigi Gregori, AA1972.031.094.