Trudie
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 Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: August 10th - St. Laurence (or Lawrence) |
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August 10th - St. Laurence (or Lawrence)
St. Laurence was chief of the seven Roman deacons of Pope Sixtus II. In 258
Emperor Valerian increased his persecutions of the Christians. One day when
Pope Sixtus II was in the cemetery of St. Calistus celebrating the Holy
Mysteries accompanied by some members of his clergy, he was arrested.
As the soldiers took the Pontiff to be put to death, Laurence followed him
in anguish saying: "Where are you going, my father, without your son? Where
are you going, Holy Pontiff, without your deacon? Isn't it the custom to
offer the sacrifice with an assistant? Let me prove I am worthy of the
choice you made when you entrusted me with the distribution of the Blood of
Our Lord."
Sixtus replied: "I am not leaving you, my son. They are lenient on old men,
not the youth. A greater combat is reserved for you. You will follow me in
three days."
Thinking that the Christians had hidden great treasures, the prefect of Rome
called for Laurence, who as first deacon was the custodian of the Church's
goods. The prefect ordered Laurence to hand over all the Church's treasures.
Laurence answered that he would do so but first he needed to assemble them.
So he went out and gathered all the poor and sick people of Rome, then
returned and showed them to the prefect, telling him that these were the
sole and greatest treasure of the Church. The poor people were the gold, the
virgins and widows were the pearls and other precious stones. Furious, the
prefect condemned Laurence to die a slow and cruel death.
The saint was undressed and laid on a grill with burning coals beneath it.
Witnesses of the scene saw a radiant joy on the martyr's face. After a
certain time had passed, he addressed his torturers saying: "Turn me around,
because this side is already well cooked." They turned him, and after a time
he said: "It is done and ready to eat." Then turning his eyes to Heaven he
prayed to God for the conversion of Rome and expired. His body was carried
away by converted Roman Senators who buried him in a grotto in the Verano
field, near Tivoli.
Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corręa de Oliveira: (died 1995)- There are
numerous precious data in this selection.
The first is the dialogue between St. Laurence and St. Sixtus. You know that
the holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the bloodless reenacting of the holy
sacrifice of the Cross. Now, when a martyr offers his holocaust he imitates
Our Lord Jesus Christ who immolated Himself. It is not the reenactment of
the sacrifice of the Mass, but it is analogous to it.
Therefore, one finds two correlations with the Sacrifice of Calvary in the
admirable dialogue between St. Sixtus and his Deacon. St. Laurence said to
the Pontiff: "Often have you offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with me
as assistant. Now at the moment you go to offer you life, would you have no
more need of my assistance? Are you putting me aside at this moment? Don't
you want my help? Let me go with you to be killed with you. Since I have
served you at the foot of the altar during my life, let me serve you now at
the feet of death."
After hearing this marvelous proposal, St. Sixtus prophesized: "I will have
an easy death compared to yours. You, young man, will be spared much less
than the old man I am. In three days you also will be killed."
Second, the fidelity of St. Laurence to St. Sixtus shows us a first spark of
the Middle Ages. Theirs was a relationship that was primordially
ecclesiastic, but it was already a feudal fidelity. This union between lord
and vassel in which the person who serves unites himself to the one he
serves is much more than a work contract; it is a link of veneration and
dedication, it is to offer one's life. The person who serves realizes that
he loses his reason to exist without his superior. In this splendid bond of
fidelity of St. Laurence to St. Sixtus, we see a beginning of feudalism. In
his turn, the superior esteems and protects the inferior. This kind of
relationship represented one of the glories of the Middle Ages. Its remnants
survived in Christendom even after the French Revolution. In its depth, what
the Progressivist Church does is struggle to extinguish the last vestiges of
this.
Third, another admirable point to consider is the episode with the prefect.
St. Laurence brought him all the treasures of the Church: the poor people.
You have to consider that for the pagan mentality, the poor were despicable.
The Roman of that time had an extreme repulsion for the poor. But St.
Laurence presented the poor to the prefect as the Church's treasure. He gave
the prefect an extraordinary lesson of the supernatural spirit.
Why is the poor a treasure?
There are some titles that make any baptized Catholic a treasure: he is a
man who is a son of the Catholic Church; he was saved by the infinitely
precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ; he was worthy of the supremely
valuable tears of Our Lady in the Passion.
But, there are other titles that specifically apply to the condition of one
who is poor. God loves those who suffer deprivation with resignation and in
union with Him. When poverty is involuntary, it should be loved by both the
one who is poor and by the one who is not. The latter should help the former
to leave the state of poverty, but both should realize that there is a real
merit in accepting such poverty with resignation. The same applies to
sickness. The Church does more than anyone to alleviate illnesses, but she
also loves the sick and praises the afflicted man when he bears the
suffering with resignation to the will of God. Therefore, one can say that
the poor, like the widow and orphan, is a treasure. They are truly treasures
within the Holy Church. St. Laurence gave an admirable lesson of the
supernatural spirit to the prefect of Rome.
Fourth, the last lesson St. Laurence gave us was his martyrdom. Without a
miracle - and a first class miracle - one cannot understand how a man
suffered what he did. He was slowly roasted on a grill with live coals
beneath it. You can imagine how painful this would be. Consider how a live
animal put to such torment would react: it would roar and jump trying to
escape the pain. In a man this torture would raise even stronger reactions,
because the animal doesn't have intelligence and can't understand what is
happening. Understanding makes the suffering still greater.
St. Laurence, however, was extremely tranquil before such suffering, with
his face radiating joy. When he realized that a part of his body was dead,
he asked to be turned over to the other side. He was turned, and then he
died. You can see that there were successive miracles that permitted him to
remain calm and joyful, and then to live longer even after he was entirely
roasted on one side. When his hour finally came, he asked for the conversion
of Rome. And God heard his prayer at that very moment he expired. For
several Roman Senators who were assisting at his martyrdom converted and
carried his body to the grave. That is, he, a simple deacon, poor himself
and living in the catacombs, had his body carried by members of the highest
legislative and political organ on earth at that time, the Roman Senate.
In the Magnificat Our Lady entoned this rule: Deposuit potentes de sede et
exaltavit humiles - God puts down the mighty from their seats and exalts the
humble. Today no one knows the name of the prefect of Rome, almost no one
knows anything about the Emperor Valerian. Regarding the latter, people
either forgot him or consider him with horror. On the contrary, a great many
people know about the humble St. Laurence and love him. One of the most
famous palaces of the world, the Escorial, was built in Spain by the great
King Philip II in honor of St. Laurence.
Philip II had a difficult time fighting the French Protestants. On the feast
day of St. Laurence in the place called St. Quentin he engaged in a hard and
decisive battle against the Protestants. He made God a promise to build a
magnificent basilica in honor of St. Laurence if he won the battle. He
crushed the heretics, and to commemorate the occasion he erected the
greatest work of art of his reign, the Escorial. This palace was built in
the shape of a grill to celebrate the martyrdom of St. Laurence. In this way
Philip II perpetuated the glory of St. Laurence. This is just one example.
The Catholic Church has honored him in many other ways, celebrating his
virtues and venerating him.
You have, then, a realization of what Our Lady entoned: the powerful were
put down and erased from the memory of the people and the humble were
glorified.
Let us ask St. Laurence to give us that same supernatural spirit he
displayed before the prefect, and his panache in face of his sufferings and
death.
See Images at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j085sdLaurence_8-10.htm
Saint Quote:
People who keep themselves low in their own estimation and love to be
considered of little account and despised by others please God in the
highest degree.
-St. Thomas a Kempis
Bible Quote
And they brought to him young children, that he might touch them. And the
disciples rebuked them that brought them.. Whom when Jesus saw, he was much
displeased, and saith to them: Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.. Amen I say to you,
whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not
enter into it. (Mark 10:13-15)
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PRAYER FOR PROTECTION AGAINST DEMONS
O Mary, powerful Virgin,
You are the mighty and glorious Protector of the Church.
You are the Marvelous Help of Christians.
You are Terrible as an Army set in Battle Array.
You alone have destroyed every heresy in the entire Church.
In the midst of my anguish, my struggles and my distress,
Defend me from the power of the enemy,
And at the hour of my death,
Receive my soul into Paradise.
(Saint John Bosco, C. 1880) |
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