Today is the Feast Day of St. Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr. As I write this I am preparing to leave for a celebration with the entire diaconate community in the Archdiocese of New Orleans in honor of St. Lawrence. It is one of two celebrations we have every year where every deacon, wife, candidate and aspirant is invited; the other being the Feast of St. Stephen on December 26th!
St. Lawrence's story is fairly well known in Church history; his dedication to his Bishop, who happened to be the Bishop of Rome, thus the Pope, and his incredible dedication to the poor and needy. As the story goes, after the brutal death of Pope St. Sixtus, Lawrence, already heart-broken, was told he too would die unless be brought all the treasures of the Church to the Emperor. Deacon Lawrence gathered all the poor and needy folks he ministered to and marched them into town. When the Emperor asked him, where is the treasures of the Church, Lawrence answered, they stand here before you.
For the Permanent Deacon, the treasures of the ministries entrusted to him are those he is blessed to serve. For me, my treasure is the men of Rayburn Correctional Center whom I have served now for almost 7 years. Other treasures of my brother Permanent Deacons include the homeless, and the poor, and the widow, and the orphan, and the sick & dying, and families struggling with loss, and the couple preparing for marriage, and the couple trying to save their marriage, and the person who seeks to become Catholic, and the elderly in a nursing home, and the hungry, and the immigrant, and the worker who struggles with any number of issues, the men who work on ships finding themselves in a foreign land, young couples whose babies are ready to be baptized, anyone who needs their feet washed! These are the treasures of the Church; these are the treasures of the ministry of the Permanent Deacon!
St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, pray for us. And may God bless the ministry of the Permanent Deacon!
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