August 10--St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

August  10—St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

“Bring me the treasure of the Church!”  This was the charge made by the prefect of Rome to St. Lawrence in A.D. 258.  As first among the seven deacons of Rome, St. Lawrence was responsible for the goods of the Church, its treasury and monies, as well as distributing alms to the poor.  Thus it was most likely that he be the one to hand over (traditore—from which we get the word “traitor”) the wealth of the Church.  He requested three days to gather the wealth.  In that time he distributed all that he could to the poor of the Church and on the third day presented the true wealth of the Church to the prefect:  the poor, the suffering, the blind and crippled, saying that these were the treasures of the Church.  It is said that he declared to the prefect:  “The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor.…  This is the Church’s treasure.”  With that, according to legend, he was sentenced to death by being grilled alive on a gridiron.

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Mt. 6:21).  The Church’s treasure is Jesus, himself.  And where do we find Jesus?  In our families, in our neighbors, but especially in the poor and downtrodden.  “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours“(Lk 6:20). 

Moreover, Pope Francis reminds us about poverty and the connection to Jesus when he spoke on June 7, 2013 to students from Jesuit schools in Italy and Albania:  “You can't speak of poverty in the abstract: that doesn't exist. Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus, in that child who is hungry, in the one who is sick, in those unjust social structures. Go forward; look there upon the flesh of Jesus. But don't let well being rob you of hope, that spirit of well being that, in the end, leads you to becoming a nothing in life. Young persons should bet on their high ideals, that's my advice. But where do I find hope? In the flesh of Jesus who suffers and in true poverty. There is a connection between the two.”

Jesus is our treasure.  We are the Body of Christ.  The poor and the suffering are our special members for through them Jesus calls us to put our hearts where our treasure is, in Him.