August 10, 2011
Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr
By Colleen O'Sullivan
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, 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. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” (John: 12:24-26)
Piety
Lord, help us to love you above all, even more than what we hold most dear in this world.
Study
Just prior to today’s Gospel verses, a couple of people express the desire to “see” Jesus. Presented with this request, Jesus makes no direct reply. Instead he comes out with a brief parable about a grain of wheat; a paradoxical statement about loving one’s life and losing it or hating one’s life and, in so doing, gaining eternal life; and the statement that if we want to serve him, we must follow in his footsteps.
It seems like a strange reply, but I think Jesus was saying: if you really want to see me, you have to look beyond outward appearances. What I look like doesn’t matter. It’s who I am and what I’m about that is important. I’m like the grain of wheat. My ministry on earth is almost at an end. I am going to die, but that will not be the end. Like the grain of wheat, I will rise again to new life. Through the power of my rising, you will have the possibility of eternal life. But none of this can happen unless I die.
Beyond that, Jesus is also telling the disciples and us that if want to serve him, we have to follow in his footsteps. We have to make a choice. Either we love our life in this world as an end in itself or we surrender that life so that we can bring new life to others in Christ’s name. It sounds like a no-brainer until we reflect on what we hold dear, what we spend our time on, where our priorities lie. It’s surprising how strong our ties are to things of this world – our homes, our vehicles, our wardrobes, our degrees, the schools we attended, our jobs, our friendships, our favorite electronic devices, even the hurts we’ve suffered at the hands of family and friends and the grudges we bear toward them in return. You can fill in the blanks with how you spend your time, effort and money, what binds you to this world.
Jesus says that to follow him, we need to allow our worship of all those things to die. Only then will we be free to show his love to those who don’t have cars, homes or fashionable clothes, those who are desperately searching for work, those whose children will go to bed hungry tonight, the lonely elderly, the sick and dying and their families, the frightened immigrants in our midst.
Action
Today we remember St. Lawrence, a 3rd century Roman deacon renowned for his generosity to the poor. He was martyred several days after Pope Sixtus II, both under the persecution of the Roman emperor Valerian. His ministry and death exemplify what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel reading – dying to self and rising to new life in Christ. The persecuted Church didn’t shrivel up and die; in the face of cruel opposition and many martyrdoms, it grew and spread.
What in your life do you need to let go of in order to rise to new life in Christ?
