Jesus uses
an analogy of a grain of wheat in today’s Gospel, telling us if that grain of
wheat dies, it will produce much fruit.
Willingness to sacrifice and to work for a cause and to give ourselves
over to something greater than ourselves is what being a follower of Jesus is
all about. If we are concentrated on
ourselves, if we just think about the pleasures and joys of this life, then we lose
something of what our faith is about.
The martyrs in the early Church had a very special place in that time of
persecution and trial. The believers in
the faith saw them as models and as true examples of the faithful who were
willing to walk with Jesus on his way to the cross.
Lawrence was one of seven deacons that
who know about who served in the Church in ancient Rome in the first half of
the third century. It was said that
after the death of Pope Sixtus, whom Lawrence served, he was ordered by Roman
authorities to hand over the treasures of the Church. He distributed as much wealth he could to the
poor, so when the authorities came, he presented them the poor, the blind, the
suffering and the lame. As a result,
Lawrence was imprisoned and was burned to death. Lawrence became a well-recognized martyr in
the early Church, having been killed in these Valerian persecutions in the year
258.
In
our modern era, perhaps we are being presented with a different kind of
persecutions. Perhaps we are now being
called to sacrifice for our faith and to witness to what we believe in
extraordinary ways. It gives us a lot to
think about in light of today’s Gospel
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