Seeds are no good if they stay in the packet. They must be surrendered to the earth to be of any use. It is the same with us and our life – we are called to give it up in service, just as St Laurence did in his witness of martyrdom. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.
Readings for the Feast of St Laurence can be found here.
Imagine that someone gives you a packet of seeds. As they hand them over, they say “these seeds are amazing … they will produce something wonderful”. “Great”, you think to yourself. “I better look after these special seeds”. And so you put the packet carefully in a cupboard, which you lock. Weeks go by and nothing happens. “They don’t seem so special”, you think, so you open the packet and pour the seeds into a dish. You leave them there, occasionally spending a while gazing on them and their specialness. Still nothing happens. You end up quite disappointed with the gift.
The mistake in that scenario was of course wanting to hoard the gift. The seeds will only produce something amazing if they are given away, buried in the ground. Hidden from sight, they soon cease to be what they once were. No longer mere seeds, they start to grow into that amazing thing promised by the giver. This is the essence of Jesus’ words in the Gospel, and the example of St Laurence whom we honour today. The human instinct is to hoard and protect things. We see this with the wealth of the world’s millionaires and billionaires. It is tied up in bank accounts, property or other assets, and just sits there, of no use to anyone. Instead, it is the act of giving something away which makes it useful. Jesus applies this to our very life. When we give it away to others in service, or even in martyrdom, it suddenly becomes worth so much more than if it was kept locked away in a cupboard. Like the seed planted in the ground, we cease to be what we once were and are transformed into the likeness of Jesus.
Jesus, of course, is the supreme example of giving himself away so that something amazing might happen. This occurs every time we celebrate the Mass, as he gives us his very self, his body and blood. We adore the host and the chalice at the moment of consecration, but soon these sacred elements disappear as they are consumed. Within us, they enable something extraordinary to occur. They give us the grace which enables us to follow Our Lord, Laurence and all the saints in giving ourselves to him and to one another.
Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 6.30pm (preceded by Eucharistic Adoration at 5.45pm).
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