Lawrence was one of seven deacons who served in the Church in ancient Rome in the first half of the third century. After the death of Pope Sixtus II, whom Lawrence served as deacon, Lawrence was ordered by the Roman authorities to hand over the treasures of the Church. He distributed as much of his wealth as he could to the poor, so when the Roman authorities came, he presented them the poor, the blind, the suffering, and the lame as the true treasures of the Church. As a result, Lawrence was imprisoned and was burned to death by the Roman authorities. Lawrence became a well-recognized martyr in the early Church, having been killed in these Valerian persecutions in the year 258 CE. St Lawrence is honored in our Church’s liturgical calendar today. On Monday and Saturday of this week, we also commemorate as martyrs for the faith Carmelite nun Edith Stein and Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe, Catholics who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in WWII.
Not too long ago, many of us Catholics in the United States thought about martyrs as coming from faraway places such as Africa and the Middle East or as bring from an era in the distant past. However, with Christians being attacked or persecuted today because of their faith throughout the world and even in our own country, with news of priests being killed or attacked in places like Scotland and France, we cannot take anything for granted anymore.
The Gospel today very much exemplifies St Lawrence and his witness of faith, as Jesus tells us about the grain of wheat that enters the ground and dies to produce much fruit. Like St Lawrence did, to serve Jesus, we must take up our crosses and follow him.
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