Monday 10 August 2026
St Lawrence
2 Corinthians 9:6-10. Happy the merciful who give to those in need – Ps 111(112):1-2, 5-9. John 12:24-26.
Giving of ourselves is a lifelong project
Today we remember St Lawrence, one of many martyrs who died in the persecutions of Diocletian and Valerian in the third century. Pope Sixtus II was caught saying Mass and executed immediately. Lawrence was his deacon and ordered to turn over the riches of the church. After three days he presented the city’s poor and needy, the crippled and blind, saying this was the true treasure of the church. One tradition says that Lawrence was roasted slowly over a grill. That story is not well founded. Valerian executed immediately – he did not waste time ‘roasting’. What is the message for us? ‘God loves the cheerful giver,’ St Paul says. ‘If anyone serves me, he must follow me,’ says the Lord. The giving of ourselves is a lifelong project. We are the ones roasted slowly.
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