Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 10th August
Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 10th August 2021
Today is the feast of St Lawrence, one of the most popular of the early martyr saints of the Church. His name can also be spelt Laurence. The magnificent medieval church at Ludlow is dedicated to him, as is the nearby medieval church at Preston on Wye, both well worth a visit. In Rome there are no less than eight early churches dedicated to him and associated with his life and martyrdom. Lawrence was born in Valencia and it was here that he met the future Pope St Sixtus II, who was Greek and an eminent teacher of theology in the local Church. They travelled together to Rome and when Sixtus was elected Pope, he ordained Lawrence a deacon and appointed him head of the seven deacons of the city of Rome. As such it was his task to organise the distribution of food to the poor, from the donations and collections of the faithful. In the persecution instigated by the Emperor Valerian, all bishops, priests and deacons were ordered to be arrested and put to death. Pope Sixtus and his deacons were captured on 6th August 258, while celebrating the Liturgy in the catacombs of St Callixtus. All but Lawrence were immediately executed, but knowing that he was in charge of the Church’s goods, the authorities did not kill him immediately, hoping to gain access to whatever the Church possessed. St Ambrose recounts that, “He worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the poor as he could, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church, he presented the indigent, the crippled, the blind and the sick, declaring that these were the true treasures of the Church.” So it was that he was martyred on 10th August at the age of 32. He was probably decapitated like Pope Sixtus and the other six deacons, but due to an orthographic error in the manuscript of the account of his martyrdom, it came to be said that he was roasted over a gridle iron, hence the legend and the many wonderful works of art that are based on it. For many years, Fr Joseph was parish priest of San Lorenzo in Peru. We pray today for all those suffering persecution for their Christian faith.
Our short Gospel passage for his feast comes from John, (Jn 12: 24-26), in which Jesus is speaking with his disciples about his own Passion and Death.
“I tell you, most solemnly,
unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,
it remains only a single grain;
but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves his life loses it;
anyone who hates his life in this world
will keep it for the eternal life.
If a man serves me, he must follow me,
wherever I am, my servant will be there too.
If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.”
St Lawrence and his companions will have read these words many times, hence they had no fear of death, for they knew that their suffering and death, like that of Jesus, would bring many more people into the Church and encourage them to persevere in the faith, knowing that they were destined to eternal life. They also realised that, freely accepting the way of Jesus, they would walk in his footsteps, protected by the Father who loved them and would keep them safe. Let us pray that, aided by St Lawrence’s prayers and motivated by his example, we, too, like him, might reach the glory of heaven and the joy of eternal life through fidelity to Christ.
