Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 10, 2023
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.
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr. The lives of martyrs can seem distant to us since few are called to such a witness in our time. Personally, I connect more with St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Maria Goretti, two women who also gave their bodies for the life of the church.
But no matter how closely we see our lives aligning with any particular saint, the gospel reminds us of the fruitfulness that God can bring about even in the face of death. Jesus tells us that just as it is by falling to the ground and dying, a grain of wheat produces abundantly, so too by following Jesus and laying down our lives, we gain new life.
Similarly, St. Paul writes to the Corinthians that it is through giving abundantly that we receive an abundance. St. Lawrence bears witness to this. By laying down his life, St. Lawrence gains a new life for himself with Christ in eternity, strengthens the Church, and provides a model for Christians who come after him.
As the early Christian writer Tertullian tells us, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” While not all of us will be called to the shedding of our blood for Christ, we are all called to self-sacrifice. As a wife and mother, I recognize this need in marriage and family life, particularly through the physical shedding of blood during childbirth. In this freely chosen laying down of our lives, mothers receive and produce new life, just like those recognized as martyrs by the church.
Whatever our vocation in life, we hope to find the courage to lay down our lives for others and allow God to produce an abundant harvest with our lives. We have countless witnesses in the saints and martyrs to encourage us. When we arrive at these decisive moments, may we follow in their footsteps in faith.
St. Lawrence, pray for us.
Prayer
Lord, our God, your deacon, Lawrence spent himself for he 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.
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 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!
Image credit:
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.