The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr, 10 August 2023 2 Corinthians 9:6-10 <*[[[[><< + >><]]]]'> John 12:24-26
God our loving Father, help us to see and follow Jesus your Son like your servant St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr. Though there may be less persecutions these days of Christians, the call to be Christ's witnesses is more compelling today as we live in world that tries to forget you and negate you. Like the Greek visitors in Jerusalem who asked help from Philip and Andrew to see Jesus, we too want to see him.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
John 12:24
To see you, O Lord Jesus is more than laying one's eyes on your image or your Blessed Sacrament; to see you like St. Lawrence is to have an insight, to penetrate your inner mind of self-sacrifice, of losing one's self like the grain of wheat that falls on the ground to die, disintegrate and be transformed as new wheat bearing much grain to feed more people.
Like St. Lawrence, let us see that reality to have the courage to offer ourselves to you through others in a life of service and sacrifice so we may inspire more to serve you, most especially see you too.
Let us not count the costs of what we give up for they have all been paid for by Jesus; like St. Lawrence, let us consider everything as a pure grace from you meant to be shared for indeed, "you love a cheerful giver"; may we keep in mind and heart that "God is able to make every grace abundant for us, so that, always having all we need, we may have an abundance for every good work" (2Cor.9:8). In this world of affluence amid the ironic poverty of so many, may we emulate St. Lawrence in learning and living Christ's teaching that true wealth is found not in having things for ourselves but in sharing and giving with the others the gifts we have received. Amen.
St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, Pray for us!
