Feast of St. Lawrence (Deacon and Martyr)-Homily for Thursday of the 18th week in ordinary time 10th August 2023

Homily for Thursday of the 18th week in Ordinary Time

Feast of St. Lawrence (Deacon and Martyr). 

2 Corinthians 9:6b-10. Psalm 112:1b-2,5-6,7-8. John 12:24-26.

In the first reading, St. Paul tells us that "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Cor.9:6). Those who are generous will experience God's blessings in abundance.

In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks of himself as a grain of wheat that falls on the ground and dies, and in dying yields a rich harvest. By giving our lives away for Christ's sake, we find our lives.

These words of our Lord Jesus Christ and that of St. Paul can be applied to St. Lawrence, whose feast we celebrate today. He was a deacon and was martyred during the persecution of Valerian four days after Pope Sixtus was also martyred by the same Emperor.

During the time of his persecution, besides providing for the Church's ministers of Rome, the Church maintained one thousand five hundred poor people and even sent alms to distant countries. St. Lawrence was commanded to surrender the treasures of the Church, and he promised to show them to the Emperor. On the third day, instead of gold and silver, he exhibited the poor whom he had gathered together.

For this, he was roasted to death on a gridiron like a barbecue. Strengthened by divine grace, he endured his suffering with heroic fortitude and even found strength to jest at the expense of his torments and his persecutor. To his last breath, he prayed for the conversion of the city of Rome, that the faith of Christ might spread throughout the world. Several senators, who had witnessed his execution, were converted to Christianity and gave decent burial to his body. He died in the year 258.

Through the intercession of St. Lawrence, may God grant us a generous heart to be able to give without counting the cost through Christ our Lord. Amen.