"Whoever Loves His Life Loses it"

Today's Mass Readings

Today is the feast of St. Lawrence. He was one of the deacons and martyrs of the Roman Church of the third century. He was a victim of the persecution of Valerian in 258. Legend has it that he was burnt on the stakes. Immaterial of the manner of death, his martyrdom can be authenticated rather precisely.

One of the beliefs in the early Christian Church revolved around the “imitation of Christ.” Christians believed in the literal imitation of Christ. In other words, to die like Christ was the greatest privilege that they could ever have. Another belief revolved around living angelic (sinless) lives. Early Christians strived to live sinless lives because for a long time they believed that once a person’s sins were forgiven at baptism, they were required to live sinless lives. This led them to prefer martyrdom to sin.

This brings us to today’s scripture readings. Along with the beliefs mentioned above, the scriptures like today’s first reading, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6) or “The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness”(2 Cor 9:10) and Christ’s words in today’s gospel reading, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” (Jn 12:25), contributed to the self-sacrificing faith of the early Christians.

The effect of martyrdom on the church was dramatic. The more the martyrs the more rapid was the spread of Christianity. As it is said, “The blood of the martyrs was the cement of the Church.” The implication of this for us today is serious. Both the growth of today’s church and the future of the Church depends on the quality of our faith. While no one is demanding martyrdom of us, the zeal and the selflessness of the martyrs must characterize our individual lives. The need for the imitation of Christ and the striving to live sinless lives is as relevant today as it was then. St. Lawrence, Pray for us.