August 10 2017 - St. Lawrence of Rome - A Cheerful Giver

St. Lawrence is remembered both for his courageous martyrdom and his care for the poor.
As a deacon in Rome, Lawrence was in charge of the Roman Church’s treasury, and had the responsibility of distributing alms to the poor.  When Pope Sixtus was arrested and killed, Lawrence knew that he would be next—he sold all of his personal possessions and gave them away to the poor widows, orphans, and beggars of Rome.

When the prefect of Rome heard this, he imagined that Church must have a considerable treasure hidden somewhere in the city.  He ordered Lawrence to bring the Church’s treasure to him.  So, Deacon Lawrence gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed persons. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, “These are the treasures of the Church.”

In great anger, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. The Saint was to be slowly roasted alive upon an iron grill.  Lawrence however was burning with so much love of God that he almost did not feel the flame. He even joked.  I'm done on this side! Turn me over” Among many other things, Lawrence is a patron saint of Comedians.

Both St. Paul and our Lord draw from the realm of agriculture to speak of how Christians are called to pour themselves out in service, generosity. Our Lord speaks of the grain of wheat, falling to the ground and dying before it can bear much fruit. Each Christian is to be that grain of wheat in imitation of Our Lord who died to bear the fruit of eternal life. Our witness, our service, our charity requires us to die to our selfishness and self-centeredness.

Paul, too, states: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Paul was exhorting the Corinthian Church to be generous in their contributions to poor members of the Church, reminding them, that their generosity will be blessed in eternity. But this proverb is applicable, not simply in our contributions to the poor, but in the gift we are to make of ourselves, giving back to God the life, the talents, the blessings he has bestowed upon us.

St. Lawrence, being roasted alive, joking to his torturers was a model of the cheerful giver that Paul commends all of us to be. Even as we are giving of ourselves, dying to ourselves, we do so cheerfully, because we do it for the Lord who is the object of our Love.

Let us cheerfully give of ourselves, let us cheerfully die to ourselves, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may grow in their awareness of and charitable attentiveness to the needs of the poor in their midst.

That Christians persecuted for the faith may be courageous in their witness to the saving Truth of Christ. And that the witness of the martyrs may never be in vain.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.