On the feast of St Laurence [martyred in 258, during the persecution of the emperor Valerian] the liturgy proposes a Johannine passage that befits him, concerning his journey of faith.
One of the seven deacons of Rome who died for the cause of the Gospel, he was a fruitful seed for souls, testifying that to lose one's life in this world is to keep it for eternal life.
Francis, in his new life, was truly the grain of wheat that dies to rise again with Christ and in Christ. It is not for nothing that he is often remembered as 'Alter Christus' because he became, by grace, very like Him.
The Saint spent his bare existence in the service of the Lord and his neighbour, often wondering whether he had really become a servant of his Word or not.
The light that the Sources offer us is truly revealing:
"From the moment Francis rejected transient things and began to adhere closely to the Lord, he did not want to waste even a particle of time [...].
He considered it a great sin not to do something good and judged it a retrograde step not to always make progress.
While he was staying in a cell in Siena, one night he called his sleeping companions to him.
"I invoked the Lord," he explained to them, "that he might deign to show me when I am his servant and when I am not.
For I would like to be no other than his servant.
And the Lord, in his immense kindness and deigning, has now answered me:
"Acknowledge thyself my servant truly, when thou thinkest, sayest, actest holy."
For this reason I have called you, brothers, because I want to blush before you if at times I have failed in these three things'" (FF 743).
In prayer, he often repeated:
"Rapture, I pray thee, O Lord,/ the burning and sweet power of thy love/ my mind from all things that are under heaven,/ that I may die for love of thy love,/ as thou hast deigned to die/ for love of my love" (FF 277).
"If the grain of wheat that falls to the ground does not die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn 12:24).
10 August 2022. St Lawrence. (Jn 12:24-26)
