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Holy Spirit, the life of any saint or any of

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us in the Church. If it has any power, if it

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has any strength, if it has any reflection of

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the Almighty God, it's because of our love for

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Christ and His love for us. Nothing can separate

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us from the love of Christ. The hymn, one of

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the hymns for St. Lawrence, has him crying that

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out at the end. What can separate us from the

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gospel, that line from the gospel? What can separate

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us from the love of Christ? No threat, no fear,

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no suffering. Not even our own sins, because

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the sins which cause us to die have been forgiven.

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And we know that even now, death is not something

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to be afraid of, because Christ is risen, and

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we shall rise by the same power he rose, the

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glory of the Father. Same for St. Lawrence, it

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was his love of Christ. He was a martyr, he was

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an archdeacon in Rome. He was martyred in the

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year 258, as best as we can determine. The crime,

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of Christians, the reason they were being arrested

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and killed was that the state determined that

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they were bad for society. They were very corrosive

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for society. Christians would not recognize Roman

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religious practices. So they were considered

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atheists, strangely enough. They were impious

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from the point of view of the magistrates and

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the authorities because they were apostates from

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the venerable customs of Rome, the religious

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practices that determined that you were a Roman

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citizen and a faithful and a good one. Worse,

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they worshipped a convicted, condemned, and crucified

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criminal who was a Jew. They refused to swear

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by the emperor as divine and offer incense. They

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criticized the pagan worship and their own worship

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was done in secret. So upon his arrest, the Archdeacon

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Lawrence was given a choice. These people in

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Rome were not barbarians after all. He was given

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a choice. If he offered a little incense, on

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the coals, before the Roman gods and in honor

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of the emperor's genius, he would be granted

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the authority over all the pagan temples and

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priests in the great city of Rome. Work with

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us. Imagine the rewards you could hear them saying.

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Yet he refused. He didn't want to offer anything

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except himself to Christ, who offered himself

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to us. And he was then made worthy to suffer

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shame for his name, as it says in Acts. While

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in prison, he healed a blind man. It wasn't his

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first miracle. There were many more to follow.

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And he baptized every man. Many prayers and intercessions

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followed. In due time, you see, when we are in

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trouble, when we are pressed upon all sides,

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when we are feeling most weak, That's when the

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grace of God helps us the most. We don't want

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to get there, and we're afraid that the Lord

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will abandon us, but nothing can separate us

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from the love of Christ. Eventually, the prison

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warden himself was baptized, a man named Hippolytus,

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and his whole household, and he would become

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a martyr as well in this story. Now, through

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a bit of very clever negotiation, The archdeacon

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managed to become free for three days. And during

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that time, he distributed all the wealth of the

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church, whatever that was there, to the needy,

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to the poor. Except for one item. Now it's claimed

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whether this is true or not. It's hard to say.

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No one knows. But it's claimed that the chalice

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used by Jesus at the Last Supper, which is called

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the Holy Grail, was in St. Lawrence's care. And

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he had it sent off to his homeland, Spain, for

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safekeeping. And they say it's still there. You

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already know the story, because you hear it every

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year from me, I won't tell you again, of how

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he was told to bring the treasures of the church

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to the magistrate. And not what they were expecting.

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He brought them, the people of the church, that

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were poor, that were sick, that were lame. And

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he boasted before the magistrate, the church

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is far richer than your emperor. Many intellectuals

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of our day have forgotten about the revolution

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that took place when Christians served the fellow

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man, the poor, the sick, the homeless, children

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that were set out because they weren't wanted,

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infants that were left out. to be exposed so

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that they would die. It was a revolution because

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Matthew 25, the words of the Lord, to care for

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the least of these, my brother, was taken extremely

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seriously by the Christians. A pagan writer named

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Lucian of the second century mocked Christians.

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He mocked them for their charity because it was

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considered gauche, silly. Let the poor die. He

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said, the earnestness with which the people of

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this religion help one another in their needs

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is incredible. They spare themselves nothing

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for this end. Their first lawgiver put it into

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their heads that they were all brethren. We can

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learn about love here. We can let the shame of

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our own lack of involvement cause us to repent,

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maybe, and to do. So that love, which is about

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action, carries forward in our church. That our

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church is not just known for the glending, which

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is great, I love that. But it's known for the

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help for the poor. And the love and the care

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for the poor. Many of you do a great deal already,

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I know this. And give a great deal of money.

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But as a group we need to maybe consider... The

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treasures that St. Lawrence was talking about.

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At the end of his life, St. Lawrence was placed

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on a hot grill, heated by coals, he was held

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down by iron spears, and he offered himself as

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a true sacrifice, not to gods, but to the God.

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His whole mind, his whole soul, his whole body.

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As I tried to explain last Sunday in that homily,

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about the phrase, a rational sacrifice. And he

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said this as he was suffering. He said, With

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a contrite spirit have I offered myself as a

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sacrifice to my God, as sweet -smelling incense,

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and its face shone with bright radiance, the

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radiance of the glory of God that he gives to

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all those that love him, that shone in his own

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face at the transfiguration. And as he was powerful,

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before his death, in his intercessions and his

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prayers. So he became even more dynamic in his

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power after his death. Now a martyr is not just

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someone who suffers and dies for his faith. A

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martyr has dedication, self -dedication, self

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-offering. They go willingly, joyfully even,

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because they know they are called to something

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unique and incredible. And nothing's going to

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separate them from the love of Christ. And the

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martyr is going to bear witness to Christ and

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to that love and to that power of the resurrection.

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And that suffering and the death that they're

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going to endure, as terrible and horrible as

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it can be, isn't going to steal that prize from

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them. They follow what the Lord said. No one

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takes my life from me. I lay it down with my

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own accord. And so they do the same. Tyrants

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threaten evil. and suffering and abuse, are we

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going to bargain with that in that time of pressure?

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No. Because suffering is evil. It's not from

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God. It's not natural to us. Neither is death,

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nor is sin. But martyrs, when they accept the

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suffering that is laid upon them, they co -opt

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it, they drain out of it the evil. then it's

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God's power sufficient in our weakness. Bishop

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Callasus said three things about suffering and

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martyrs. He said, we can meet suffering with

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resentment and rebellious defiance, but our own

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anger will annihilate us in the end. Or we can

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meet it with passive resignation, but our helplessness

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will make us, as he said, moral zombies, will

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crush us. Or we may meet it actively in the spirit

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of love. He says it can be accepted, offered,

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and through this offering transfigured, literally.

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It's not easy. Don't go looking for it. But don't

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run away from it. It's the way of Jesus Christ.

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It's something that we can practice each day

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in our own life to affirm. one another to deny

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our own passions, so that nothing comes between

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us and the love of Christ. St. Constantine the

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Great built a chapel over the tomb of St. Lawrence

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in the 4th century. It's known as St. Lawrence

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Outside the Walls, and I'm hoping when Nicholas

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goes to Italy, if you go to Rome, you will visit

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this place. There's another church, San Lorenzo

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in Panisperna, which was built at the place of

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his martyrdom. And in this church you can venerate

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the gridiron upon which he was put to death.

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He's considered the patron of librarians because

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he had care for the goods and the treasures of

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the church. Archivists, cooks, and deacons. Through

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his prayers, his intersections, his example,

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his life. May we follow Christ each day, enjoying

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his love and not let anything come between us

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and that. Our Lord, who strengthens us in weakness

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and gives glory to martyrs, glory not in us,

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but to angels of age. Amen.