Today is the feast of St. Lawrence, or as they call him in Rome, San Lorenzo. St. Lawrence is a favorite in Rome, and there are actually several churches there dedicated to him. San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence Outside the Walls) is where his tomb is, and we usually visit that church on our pilgrimages. I'll post some photos.
St. Lawrence is the one famous for having been martyred by being burned on a gridiron, and according to the story, as he was dying, he mocked his executioners by saying, "turn me over, I'm done on this side." And so he is the patron saint of cooks and comedians. He is also the patron saint of seminarians and other students, wine makers, and poor people - that last one because of another famous story about him.
He was a deacon in Rome in the third century, during a brutal wave of persecution. The pope, and all six of the other deacons had been martyred, and when the Romans finally caught up with Lawrence and arrested him, they demanded that he bring them "the treasures of the church" - because they heard that he was the deacon in charge of collecting and distributing the church's alms. So he went to get the treasures of the church, and when he came back, be brought with him the poor and the sick and said, "these are the treasures of the church."
One last story about Lawrence. When the relics (remains) of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, were brought to Rome from the east, it was decided that they would be deposited in the same tomb with St. Lawrence in San Lorenzo (don't ask me why St. Stephen doesn't get his own tomb, because there is a church of St. Stephen in Rome) - anyway, when they opened St. Lawrence's tomb to put in the relics of St. Stephen, it was said that St. Lawrence's body shifted on it's own - moving over to make room for his brother martyr.
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I'm back, up and running, and ready to go - I should have a new JOURNEY episode within the next week or so - and because you are my loyal peeps, here is an exclusive, just-for-you, behind the scenes SNEAK PEEK into my new office:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
St. Albert the Great - teacher and mentor of St. Thomas Aquinas
The Original Church
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The problem with us men is that often we don't have the wisdom to be a father until we're a grandfather.
This may sounds like some ironic statement that makes you nod your head in agreement but shrug your shoulders in resignation, thinking, well there's nothing we can do about that. But the practical application of that is that it demonstrates how important it is for kids to grow up around their grandparents. But as in our culture the family becomes ever more fractured and spread out, that is harder and harder to do.
Lately I've been thinking that part of the problem is the whole concept of college. It used to be that everyone thought a person had to go to college to make a good living. Not only is that not the case (truck drivers make more money than I do) but now college has gone from useless to actually ruining our kids. But when I went to college, what you were supposed to do is figure out what career you wanted (as if anyone knows that at age 18) and then go away to the college ...
