“Turn Me Over I Am Done On This Side”-St. Lawrence, Deacon, And Martyr

2 Corinthians 9:6-10
John 12:24-26

HOW DEEP IS YOUR PASSION FOR GOD?

St Lawrence was outstanding among the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II. He was made to be in charge of theChirch’s treasury. At this time, the Church was facing great persecution under the Roman Emperor Valerian. After the persecution of the Pope, the prefect of Rome confronted St. Lawrence and order him to bring the Treasury upon which Lawrence got all the poor and needed together as the Treasury of the church. He was arrested and was later condemned by the Perfect to a slow and cruel death by being roasted slowly on a heated grill iron instead Lawrence was burning for the love of God to the point that he had to tell his persecutors to turn his body to the other part and when he was about to give up, he said I am cooked already.

Are you courageous enough to lay down your life for the sake of Christ? The Lord himself did it and he tells us in today’s Gospel reading that,” unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain”. Can anyone die for you like Jesus? Do you make sacrifices in your friendship for/with others? Is your friendship about selfish gain or selfless sacrifice? Jesus came to show us the Father’s love. When we are hard-beset with this world, or with the severer trials within the Church, we find it a most blessed thing to pillow our head upon the bosom of our Saviour. Regardless, I believe that in serving and following Christ, we will be repeatedly crushed and challenged to die and leave behind many things we cherish, learn what is worth preserving and expanding, and trust in the sometimes excruciatingly painful process inherent in the Paschal Mystery.

Fr Joseph Osho