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alms, courage, martyr, poor, selflessness, St. Lawrence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasure
When I went to high school, my first homeroom teacher was Sister Lawrence Joseph. I was used to the masculine names of religious Sisters; in those days most of the more prestigious saints were men. Sister Lawrence wasn’t the best math teacher I ever had but I always remembered that her feast day was August 10th – the feast on the liturgical calendar of Saint Lawrence, Martyr – because of the way legend says he lived and died.
Lawrence was a deacon in the Church at Rome during the third century, the time when Christians were still being persecuted for their faith. As such, he was in the inner circle of the Pope so that when the Pope was assassinated, he knew it was likely that he would be next. As deacon of the Roman church, Lawrence had the responsibility for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor. He had been giving all the money on hand to the poor and even selling sacred vessels of the altar to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he demanded that Lawrence bring all the treasure of the Church to him, “rendering to Caesar what was due.” Lawrence was given three days to assemble all the riches of the Church. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence had gathered all the poor, blind, lame maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed people and said to the prefect, “These are the treasure of the Church.”
The fury of the prefect was known by the cruelty of the kind of death Lawrence was to die and the heroism of the saint was sealed by his response. The prefect had a large gridiron prepared with hot coals beneath it and Lawrence’s body placed on it. After he had suffered the pain for a long time, legend says, the saint made his famous cheerful remark, “It is well-done. Turn me over.” (http://www.franciscanmedia.com) Lawrence was said to be 33 years old at the time of his death.
In a moment of such violence in our own country and such courage seen in the lives of many young people speaking out and caring for their elders, St. Lawrence shines as an example of selflessness and ingenuity. Let our prayer today be for the end of senseless cruelty and a willingness to stand for those most in need of our courage and care.
As one who is not overly enamored of the workings of internet technology, I must admit that I appreciate my findings more and more when I go surfing in the morning. Today I typed in the word generosity and found a lovely short paragraph from the University of Notre Dame that expresses what I think is inherent in all the lectionary readings for this date, celebrating the feast of St. Lawrence.
All of the lectionary readings today are about generosity. On this feast of St. Lawrence, we hear about this young deacon in Rome the very early days of Christianity (c. 225 – 258). Legend tells us that Lawrence was charged with giving alms to the poor and when the pope was put to death and Lawrence knew that he would suffer the same fate for his faith, he gave all the money on hand to the poor and then sold the sacred vessels of the Church to add to what was available. In the first reading from 2 Corinthians 9, Paul says that whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully…for God loves a cheerful giver. Psalm 112 reminds us that those who are gracious and lend to those in need shall be blessed. Finally, in the gospel Jesus says, 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.
The 2,000 years of Christianity have been punctuated with reminders of our duty toward “the poor among us.” The verse that begins today’s readings is clear. Paul says: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 COR 9:6) We would do well to meditate on the actions of St. Lawrence, whose feast is today, as we consider this Scripture text. He was a deacon in Rome during the early days of Christian persecution about whom almost all of the little that is known is legend. There is no birth date and a question mark follows the printed date of his death (d. 258?). He is remembered, however, as the story goes, for his actions when he was commanded to bring all the holy vessels that comprised the riches of the Church to the prefect (governor). He agreed but asked for three days to put together an inventory of what was valuable. When the prefect returned, Lawrence had gathered “a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed persons and put them in rows…[and] simply said, ‘These are the treasures of the Church.'” (