th<\/sup>century, his was one of the more important feasts throughout much of western Christiandom. His name is mentioned along with Sixtus in the canon of the mass (Eucharistic Prayer I).<\/p>\nThe death sentence did not take away Lawrence\u2019s joy. Legend tells us as Lawrence was being burnedto death on a grill over hot coals, he called out to his executioners, \u201cThis side is done. Turn me over and have a bite,\u201d bringing to mind the first reading which tells us God loves a cheerful giver!<\/p>\n
So how could Lawrence face his death with so much courage and even good humor? The first reading and psalm provide an answer: God made his grace \u201cabundant\u201d for Lawrence (\u201cGod is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance\u201d) and that empowered him to give of himself in a heroic way. Psalm 112 adds \u201cThey are not afraid of evil; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.\u201d Those words certainly apply to Lawrence, and should also apply to us.<\/p>\n
We may not die as physical martyrs, although in this current world climate, that seems more likely all the time. However, we are called to, as Archbishop Emeritus Adam Exner OMI put it in theology class, \u201cLive Calvary in slow motion.\u201d That means daily dying to ourselves, in big and small ways. Or as St. Theresa of Lisieux wrote, we can do small things with great love.<\/p>\n
It also means the ability to accept some redemptive suffering in our lives \u2013 to be able to accept some inconvenience or suffering without bitterness or resentment, as Jesus did, going to the cross with only compassion and unconditional love in his heart, and words of forgiveness on his lips.<\/p>\n
These words of St. Paul ending the first reading should apply to us in our spiritual walk: \u201cGod who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Eucharist empowers us to run this triathelon to the best of our ability \u2013 to be the seed that dies for Christ, that is willing to lose its life to find it again, and that as a servant of the Lord follows him to the Cross.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HOMILY WEEK 18 03 \u2013 Year I Living a Spiritual Triathelon – Feast of St Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr (2 Cor 9:6-10; Ps 112; Jn 12:24-26) ********************************************** Have you ever participated in a triathelon? Today\u2019s gospel challenges us to do just that \u2013 participate in a spiritual triathelon of three activities: be a grain of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2644,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642\/revisions\/2644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/St-Lawrence.jpeg\")
This feast honoring St. Lawrence provides us with a spiritual athlete who did just that \u2013 lived that gospel fully. St. Lawrence was probably a Spaniard from Toledo, one of the seven deacons of Rome around the year 258. A trusted friend of Pope Sixtus II, he was responsible for the administration of the finances of the Church.<\/p>\n