St. Laurence, MARTYR, A.D. 258.
by VP
Posted on Saturday August 10, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
O Glorious Saint Lawrence, Martyr and Deacon, who, being subjected to the most bitter torments, didst not lose thy faith nor thy constancy in confessing Jesus Christ, obtain in like manner for us such an active and solid faith, that we shall never be ashamed to be true followers of Jesus Christ, and fervent Christians in word and in deed.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.
V. Pray for us, O holy Lawrence,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, the grace to quench the flames of our vices, Thou who didst enable blessed Lawrence to overcome his fiery torments. Through Christ our Lord Amen. The Raccolta, 1957
"St. Lawrence was a holy deacon at Rome; who, envying the glory of the martyrs, desired to lay down his life for Christ. Pray for this spirit, and beg of God that in all your troubles you may suffer with the patience of a martyr. He was seized by the persecutors, and after many torments, his torn body was laid on a gridiron, where he expired, giving praise and thanks to God. Pray for the love of God, which sweetened all the torments of this martyr. It is for want of this, that your troubles banish all content from your breast. Pray for remedy.The spirit of this holy deacon is no where more manifest than in the address which he made to the holy Pope St. Xystus, who was going to martyrdom. He had often assisted him at the altar, as his deacon; and seeing him led by the executioners to give his life for Christ, he hastily made up to him with this complaint: "Father, whither art thou going without thy son? Whither goest thou, O holy priest, without thy deacon? Thou wert never wont to offer sacrifice without me thy minister. Wherein have I now displeased thee? Hast thou found me wanting to my duty? Try me now and see, whether thou hast made choice of an unfit minister for dispensing the blood of our Lord." This was his complaint to his bishop going to suffer without him. And who cannot imagine here the spirit, that moved him to this complaint? To see himself at liberty, and desire to be in chains; to see himself at liberty, and importune for the rack and the axe; to judge himself ill-treated, because he is not to die with his bishop: whence can all this proceed, but from the love of God, and the earnest desire to be with Christ? For this, he contemned liberty and life; for this, he thought of no other honor, but that of suffering for his Lord; for this, he reputed the world to be nothing, and that his happiness was in leaving it, that so he might come to the enjoyment of his God. How much do we see here to raise our admiration, and oblige us to praise the goodness of God, who in so weak vessels shewed the wonderful power of his grace? And how much do we see here to reproach ourselves with the perverse indispositions of our own hearts, who place all our comforts in the things of this life; who think nothing honorable, but what carries with it the applause of this world; and who are so far from desiring to suffer, that we dread it as a misfortune, and then only think ourselves unhappy, when we are under the trials of divine appointment? O God, what can we do, but humble ourselves at the consideration of this our misery, beg for thy mercy, and beseech thee to mould over again this unhappy clay, and quicken it with a more lively faith, and a more perfect love of thee!
It is for want of this faith and love, that we are thus miserable: for did we truly believe, as we profess, that the next life is eternal, that the goods of it are unspeakable, that the evils of this life bear no proportion with them, and that it is by patience and humility under these evils that we are to come to the possession of those eternal goods; this faith would change all the sentiments of our soul, and oblige us to frame our judgments of all the things of this world, not from their agreeableness to sense or inclination, but only from the consideration of their being helpful or prejudicial in regard of our future happiness. And, therefore, though the judgment of persecution, violent death, and all manner of troubles, as it is framed from their disagreeableness to sense, and the aversion which nature has to them, has something terrible in it, and condemns them all as real evils, which are to be avoided; yet when faith comes in and assures us, that going through all these evils is the way to eternal happiness, and the most effectual means of obtaining it, this shews their value, and that to the spiritual and Christian man, they are not evils, but real and desirable goods." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Saint Lawrence, Martyr
By Parochial hymn book, 1881 Hymn 482
Holy Deacon! By the yearning
For the Martyr’s glorious crowns;
By thy tortures, by they burning,
By thy death of bright renown;
When the world and flesh and devil
Tempt our souls to sin and evil,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By the love that thou didst ever
To thy Pontiff-Father bear,
Pray that no base act may sever
Us from Peter’s loving care!
But when men would once more lead us
Into bonds from which Christ freed us,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By the Pontiff’s words of warning,
Bidding all thy sorrows cease,
Words foretelling bitter mourning
Leading unto lasting peace!
That to Jesus in our sadness
We may look for help and gladness,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By thy love, which knew no measure,
For the needy and the old,
Giving them the Church’s treasure -
Teaching us that alms well given
Are but treasures stored in heaven,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By thy fervent love for Jesus,
By thy strong and constant faith,
Or our sinful burdens ease us!
Help us at the hour of death!
When the fears of death confound us,
When the cleansing fires surround us,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us.
