St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

I can't help it. I'm partial to today's Feast. St. Lawrence is, after all, my patron saint.

We take a break from reading Matthew's Gospel and hear the word of God through St. John the Evangelist for this Feast. Whoever loses . . . whoever hates his life . . .

St. Lawrence is one of the Roman martyrs. He gave his life for his faith. He was a deacon who served Pope St. Sixtus whose memorial is celebrated a few days before the Feast of St. Lawrence. When we celebrate the memory of martyrs, the Church asks us to consider the theme of reversal which runs throughout the four Gospels. The first will be last, those who lose will find, those who serves Jesus must follow Jesus, etc.

The words are familiar. Their power becomes even more pronounced when we stop to consider that these words of Jesus were spoken on the night before he died! As many Scripture scholars point out, the "last words" of any person, the words uttered before they die, are usually considered very significant. St. John includes a rather lengthy dissertation on the lips of Jesus on that particular night. One of the things that is clear throughout these chapters of St. John's Gospel is that he is reminding the followers of Jesus that they should expect the same fate that befell Jesus.

In the first Eucharistic Prayer, the so-called "Roman Canon," one of the options provides for naming those Roman citizens who died for their faith. They include Cosmas and Damian, Perpetua and Felicity, most of the Twelve Apostles, Stephen, Cecilia, Agatha, Anastasia, Marcellinus and, of course, Lawrence, to name a few. By recalling their names, we remember how precious they held their faith in the Lord Jesus and in the power of his resurrection.

I daresay most of us will not be called upon to shed blood for our faith. At the same time, feasts like today's observance ask us to consider how highly we rank our faith as a priority in our lives. It is a gift to be cherished.