Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn
Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr John 12:24–26
The story of Saint Lawrence is well known.
He was a deacon of the Church of Rome.
When the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence hand over the riches of the Church,
Lawrence acted quickly.
He distributed as much as he could to the poor and the needy,
so that the wealth of the Church would not fall into the hands of the powerful.
Then, when he was ordered to present the treasures of the Church,
Lawrence brought forward the poor,
the crippled,
the blind,
and the suffering.
“These,” he said, “are the treasures of the Church.”
For this, he was put to death.
Today’s Gospel gives us the image that explains his life:
the grain of wheat.
Jesus says:
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single grain.
But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
First of all, Jesus is speaking about Himself.
He is the grain of wheat.
His death is not the failure of His mission.
It is the way His mission bears fruit.
From His pierced side, life flows.
From His cross, forgiveness is given.
From His death, many children are born for God.
The world looks at death only as loss.
But Jesus shows us another mystery.
A seed must fall.
A seed must disappear into the earth.
A seed must be broken open.
Only then does life come forth.
What is true of Jesus must also become true of His disciples.
A disciple who refuses to die to self remains alone.
Closed.
Protected.
Unfruitful.
But a disciple who gives his life to Christ becomes fruitful.
To “hate” one’s life in this world does not mean to despise life.
It means to refuse to make the self the center of everything.
It means to say:
my life is not only for me.
My gifts are not only for me.
My time, my strength, my love, my possessions are not only for me.
They belong to Christ.
And Christ often comes to us in the poor,
the crippled,
the blind,
and the suffering.
Saint Lawrence understood this.
He knew where the true treasure of the Church was hidden.
Not in gold.
Not in buildings.
Not in power.
But in the poor whom Christ loves.
Tertullian once said that the blood of the martyrs is seed for the Church.
Saint Lawrence became such a seed.
He died, but his witness continued to bear fruit.
He lost his life, but he did not lose Christ.
He was burned by hatred, but he became light for the Church.
Today, Saint Lawrence teaches us that Christian life is not self-preservation.
It is self-gift.
We do not live for ourselves alone.
We live for Christ.
And when we serve Him in the poor,
when we give ourselves without counting the cost,
when we fall like a grain of wheat into the soil of love,
then our life will not remain alone.
It will bear fruit.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Content License
© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
(Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial).