Sunday, August 10, 2008

10 AUGUST 08


THE TWELTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

10 AUGUST 08

LECTIONARY READINGS

Morning Prayer: Psalm 139; Ecclesiasticus 15:11-end; Philippians 2:12-18

Holy Eucharist: II Corinthians 3:4-9; St. Mark 7:31-37

Evening Prayer: Psalm 27; Tobit 13:1-5, 7-11; Romans 15:14-21

REFLECTION

Today's reading the the Gospel, found in the Holy Eucharist, is about Jesus' healing of the man who is mute and deaf. Jesus takes this man aside an in a very tangible way heals him. His ears and tongue are released. Those who observe this healing are charged not to talk about it, but they are simply unable to contain what they have heard and seen. They proclaim the works of Jesus all around.

You and I are often deaf and mute. So often we are not able to hear the call of the Lord to speak lovingly of His truth, peace, and mercy to us individually as well as to the entire creation. Our mouths remain silent out of fear or cynicism. So often we turn a deaf ear to the pain of the world around us. Our hearts do not break at the sin and brokenness of creation: individual lives, political systems, economics, wars between nations, the poor, the environment, the homeless, the hungry, those wrongly imprisoned, division in families, sexual brokenness, the preying of the powerful on the vulnerable, etc., etc., etc.

Today, ask the Lord to come close to you and heal your hearing and speaking. Ask that you might grow in the healthy fear/awe of the Lord. Ask that you grow in courage, that you might boldly proclaim the love and mercy of the Lord to all those who will be willing to hear about their need for His healing in their lives. Ask that your hearing be sensitive to the pain of people's lives around you, and to the brokenness of all creation around us. Truly, may our hearing and speech be loosed by the Lord's work of grace in our lives!

Be blessed in Christ!

Fr. Greg

THE COLLECT FOR THE TWELTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

SAINT OF THE DAY

St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr (225-258)




Laurence (or Lawrence) was chief of the seven deacons of the congregation at Rome, the seven men who, like Stephen and his companions (Acts 6:1-6), were in charge of administering the church budget, particularly with regard to the care of the poor. In 257, the emperor Valerian began a persecution aimed chiefly at the clergy and the laity of the upper classes. All Church property was confiscated and meetings of Christians were forbidden. The bishop of Rome, Sixtus II, and most of his clergy were executed on 7 August 258, and Laurence on the 10th. This much from the near-contemporary records of the Church. The accounts recorded about a century later by Ambrose (see 7 Dec) and the poet Prudentius say that, as Sixtus was being led to his death, Laurence followed him, saying, "Will you go to heaven and leave me behind?" and that the bishop replied, "Be comforted, you will follow me in three days." They go on to say that the Roman prefect, knowing that Laurence was the principal financial officer, promised to set him free if he would surrender the wealth of the Church. Laurence agreed, but said that it would take him three days to gather it. During those three days, he placed all the money at his disposal in the hands of trustworthy stewards, and then assembled the sick, the aged, and the poor, the widows and orphans of the congregation, presented them to the prefect, and said, "These are the treasures of the Church." The enraged prefect ordered him to be roasted alive on a gridiron. Laurence bore the torture with great calmness, saying to his executioners at one time, "You may turn me over; I am done on this side." The spectacle of his courage made a great impression on the people of Rome, and made many converts, while greatly reducing among pagans the belief that Christianity was a socially undesirable movement that should be stamped out. The details of these later accounts have been disputed, on the grounds that a Roman citizen would have been beheaded. However, it is not certain that Laurence was a citizen, or that the prefect could be counted on to observe the law if he were. More serious objections are these: (1) The detailed accounts of the martyrdom of Laurence confuse the persecution under Decius with the persecution under Valerian, describing the latter, not as an emperor, but as the prefect of Rome under the emperor Decius. (2) We have early testimony that Bishop Sixtus and his deacons were not led away to execution, but were summarily beheaded on the scene of their arrest.

For these reasons, the Bollandist Pere Delahaye and others believe that Laurence was simply beheaded in 258 with his bishop and fellow deacons. On this theory, it remains unexplained how he became so prominent and acquired so elaborate an account of his martyrdom. Lawrence's emblem in art is (naturally) a gridiron.

***by James Kiefer at http://www.satucket.com/***

THE COLLECT FOR ST. LAWRENCE

Almighty God, who didst call thy deacon Laurence to serve thee with deeds of love, and didst give him the crown of martyrdom: Grant, we beseech thee, that we, following his example, may fulfil thy commandments by defending and supporting the poor, and by loving thee with all our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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