+ It is so wonderful: God the Father will honor all those who simply serve Jesus: serve him by their belief in him; serve him by their attentiveness to what he has to say: serve him by the deeds they perform which demonstrate that they have truly understood what he had to say to them.
St. Lawrence was one such servant of God. A deacon to Pope Sixtus II, whose feast we celebrated last week, Lawrence was ever mindful of the love that Jesus had for him, and his desire to serve Jesus in any way he asked to be served by him: even to the point of death: "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." Lawrence, in life and in death, lost his life in the Lord Jesus – and he was always full of what he needed to do the very next thing. For because of the death and resurrection of Jesus to die is to live; to suffer is to rejoice; to surrender is to gain everything that God wants to give us!
Lawrence is Rome's most famous post apostolic martyr. He lived in the third century during the time of the persecution of Emperor Valerian. He was noted for his almsgiving to the poor. To him is credited the beautiful story about the true riches of the Church: when ordered to surrender the Church's riches, Lawrence assembled the poor to whom he distributed the possessions and said "these (poor) are the Church's real treasures." For this reason he was killed: some say he was roasted on a gridiron, telling his executioners to turn him over when he was done on one side; others say he was simply beheaded three days after the one whom he served as deacon with six others, Pope Sixtus II was also beheaded.
The first reading today reminds us that whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully… And when sowing bountifully, do so without sadness of compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. May we this day, like Lawrence of Rome, give ourselves entirely for God's use, cheerfully, and without sadness or compulsion: simply with great love and devotion and faithfulness and all will be well for us – as it was with Lawrence of Rome – for both in life and in death we are the Lord's and he will never let us be without his undivided attention and divine assistance and shepherd's care!
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life, says the Lord.
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