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.
This was for March 24th, recorded for the Ascension App
Thanks for your patience - here is our next installment of The Journey - it's session # 96, but I'm also calling it PART 1 of a "miniseries" on John chapter 6.
Whoever watches it first, please let me know if it looks good or if there are any problems with it - I get through the first two sections of the text on the feeding of the 5,000.
Enjoy!
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!
As I'm going through all my belongings as part of our move, I have come across some audio CDs of my old music, from when I had my band, Remember Rome - if any of you still have a CD player, and you would like me to send you some of what I have, send me the address to send them to at this email address: [email protected]
Some of these CDs are in their original cases, and some were demo samples, but either way, it's all original music written by me, and performed by me and my band back in the late 90s and early 2000s.
I'll be happy to find a good home for these CDs in case you might enjoy them, and because you all have been supporting me (and I haven't produced much content in the last month or so) I'll send you one or more CDs for free. Just give me an address.
Thanks!
Here's the link to the new edition of my Rome book on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Rome-Second-Pilgrims-Guide-Eternal/dp/B0F8TGTWZX
