This is the Church's treasure; St Lawrence the Martyr

Please allow me to admit that before my formation began, I paid very little attention to the lives of the Saints. Oh yes, I knew all about the big ones but I really never paid attention to the dates of all the memorials and feastdays. That all changed in 2003 when I began my formal journey to discern a vocation to the diaconate.

One of the great traditions of the Deacon community in New Orleans was to gather in the summer heat and celebrate the Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr. In the beginning, nobody knew us. We were just inquirers. Once accepted we were aspirants and a few faces became more familiar. Then candidates, then Hurricane Katrina. Yes, she even interrupted our celebration of St. Lawrence.

Once we resumed the tradition, we were acolytes, just a few short months shy of ordination. Our celebration last year was also special as it was the last celebration in the only church in New Orleans named in honor of St. Lawrence. The parish was merged and the church itself is being converted to a worship space to accomodate the extraordinary form of the Mass for the particular deanery served by St. Lawrence.

Tommorrow night the entire Deacon community will once again be together to celebrate one of our patron Deacons. While the gathering will be in a new church, it will be special for me and my classmates as it will be our first celebration as Permanent Deacons. I'm so looking forward to the event.

Of course the focus of the day must be on St. Lawrence himself. His is a powerful witness to both the mission of the Church and the charism of the Deacon. Way back in the 3rd century Lawrence was one of the seven Deacon to Pope Sixtus in Rome. The Church was under a terrible persecution by the Emperor Valerian. Sixtus and his companions were put to death but Lawrence was momentarily spared. Lawrence was even more motivated to serve the poor and needy and continued to raise funds to distribute among the poorest in Rome.

The Roman Prefect was a greedy man who despised the work of the Deacon. One day, realizing that Lawrence continued to find funds to give to the poor, he ordered Lawrence to cease and bring to him the treasures of the Church. St. Lawrence asked for three days and at the end of the time he marched all the poor and needy, the sick and the marginalized in front of the Prefect and boldly proclaimed, "this is the Church's treasure."

In great anger, the Prefect had Lawrence arrested and sentenced him to a slow cruel death. St. Lawrence was tied to a huge gridiron and was literally roasted to death. Always filled with joy and trusting totally in the Lord, it is reported he would ask his excutioneers to turn him over because he was done on this side. When he said it is cooked enough now, he uttered one final prayer for the conversion of Rome and for the spread of the faith in Jesus Christ and then he died.

St. Lawrence received widespread devotion by the Church as early as the 4th century and Constantine the Great had a basilica built near his tomb. He truly represented all that a Deacon is; devoted to his Bishop, devoted to the poor, animated by works of charity and mercy, filled with joy. For that reason, we honor him to this day as a great example of a Deacon and a Christian witness, to the point of martyrdom.

His feast day is tommorrow August 10th. The entire diaconate community looks forward to our community celebration and invite all of you to invoke the intercession of St. Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr, and pray for all the many Deacons, permanent and transitional, who serve the Church.

St. Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr, pray for us.