Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr
Recently, we called to a situation in the hospital to which our police department also responded. As I stood there with the officer I realized that we were both there for the same reason, to care for the patient. Yet each our badges, his as police and mine as chaplain connoted a different type of help we might provide. While waiting outside the patients room we remarked about this reality. Realizing that for each of us that our badge and our service with the patient would likely reap different responses. For all of us our badge of disciple connotes that we will be joyful servants, but this is not all always the reality we sow. Why is there a disconnect in our understanding the correlation between our actions and attitudes and the fruit they bare?
Today’s first reading clearly try’s to connect the relationship between sowing and reaping. In sowing sparingly we will reap sparingly. In sowing bountifully we will reap bountifully. Consider not only the amount but also the character of what we sow. Perhaps we are sowing negativity and pessimism or we are sowing graciousness and generosity. It is almost beyond comprehension that people believe that negativity and hate will bear the fruit of gratefulness and grace. Even when we have been generous and have experienced that generosity reflected back to us, we sometimes forget this positive feedback loop. Still why is it difficult for us to realize that our actions have real consequences.
Perhaps we fail to believe that there is a relationship between sowing and reaping because real consequences do not always have direct correlations. If we speed regularly yet are seldom pulled over we almost believe that we have done nothing wrong. Sin of course is still a sin no matter how many times we say it is not. It is a contrite heart that is forgiven, because we are will to admit our mistakes.
In the gospel, it is the one who loses one’s life for Christ; it is that one who gains eternal life. The paschal mystery that death leads to new life is not easily understood. Yet this paradox is found in the very nature of the universe. From seeds to stars, one reality changes radically, metaphorically or literally dies and then new life emerges. That almost is incomprehensible. In losing our life we can preserve eternal life. In dying to self, we can have new life in Christ.
The readings and today’s feast of St. Lawrence the deacon remind us of how best to live in order that what we sow bares good fruit. First, be a cheerful giver who reflects the abundance of God’s grace. Second, conduct our affairs with justice. Most importantly, be a servant who follows the Lord. Missionary discipleship means following the Lord all the way to the cross. This was the example of St. Lawrence, he was a servant who literally followed the Lord all the way to his own martyrdom. And if we are as good at it as St. Lawrence, perhaps we could be a servant with a sense of humor. As he was being roasted on a spit, he was said to have joked, “I am done on that side, you can turn me over.” Like St. Lawrence, our joyful service of the Kingdom of God, will elicit the response, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
-- Deacon Michael Montgomery