Daily Catholic Lectio
Mon, 10 Aug 2026
Saint Lawrence, Feast
2 Cor 9:6-10. Jn 12:24-26
Daily Martyrdom
Saint Lawrence, called Laurentius in Latin, lived from AD 225 to 258. He was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome. During the Christian persecution unleashed by the Roman emperor Valerian, he gave his life as a martyr. In the early Church, deacons were the administrators of the Church’s goods and the ones who distributed them for suitable works of charity.
We know three events narrated about him in history.
First: “These are the treasures of the Church.” Emperor Valerian wanted to seize the possessions of the Church and gave an order that all the goods of the Church should belong to the emperor. As soon as this order came, Lawrence distributed all the goods to the poor. Then he brought all the poor before the emperor and said, “These are the treasures of the Church.”
Second: the Pope, bishops, and priests were beheaded and killed. Lawrence, however, was tortured and killed on a heated iron grid. Historians who write about him say: “He suffered, he was roasted, and he became a martyr.”
Third: when Fr. Sanctulus was rebuilding the church of Saint Lawrence, there was no food for the workers. He prayed to Saint Lawrence and, with the single loaf of bread he had in his hand, fed everyone for nearly ten days.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain.” In the first reading, Paul writes to the Church in Corinth about the greatness of giving.
Saint Lawrence gave what he had to those who had nothing as long as he lived. In the end, he gave even his life and died like a grain of wheat.
Why do human beings die as witnesses for God and for the faith?
The English word for “witness of faith” is “martyr.” It comes from the Greek word martys. It was originally a legal word. In a court, one who gave witness on behalf of someone, or one who spoke exactly what he had seen, was called a martys. We see this use in Acts 1:22. In Christianity, we call those who gave witness to Jesus and to their faith in Jesus by giving their life “martyrs.” They died after suffering in many ways: being cut with saws, stoned, crucified, burned, or beheaded. We also read about martyrdom in First and Second Maccabees.
Tertullian, a Father of the Church, was the first to give a theological meaning to martyrdom when he said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of faith.” Martyrdom became the reason for the conversion of others. It never frightened others and made them withdraw from faith.
When martyrs came forward courageously to give their lives, there were also believers in history who denied the faith and withdrew, and others who abandoned the faith out of fear. There was even division in the Church over the question of whether such people should be received again into Christianity or not.
Why do ordinary human beings give their life for God or for their faith?
First, with the eyes of faith, they see something greater than their own life.
Second, they refuse to compromise with their faith and values.
Third, their courage stands higher than the threats of others.
Even today, we are martyrs in small ways. When we read the Bible or pray the Rosary before going to sleep, even though we feel sleepy; when we share what we have with those who do not have; when we fast; when we take part in acts of devotion; when we put a bridle on our thoughts that want to harm others; when we forgive others from the heart; when we refuse to judge anyone; when we do our work; when we accept the bodily and inner sufferings that come every day; when we accept the weakness we feel in sickness, old age, and loneliness — we live as martyrs.
Moreover, every moment we accept suffering, we are martyrs. The suffering we accept raises us up in our life.
Every day we die and are born like a grain of wheat. Every pain accepted willingly is martyrdom.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
A Yesni Prays Initiative
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