Ciudad Juarez.- Some believers enter on their knees, others remain kneeling inside the chapel where the heat is suffocating in front of the hundreds of lit candles.
“He granted me the miracle, how could I not be grateful,” summed up an elderly woman. The Vatican newspaper describes that “the testimony of this holy martyr, born in Spain in the first half of the third century, is characterized by piety and charity. Pope Sixtus II, after his election, entrusted him with the task of archdeacon. As the person responsible for charitable activities in the diocese of Rome, St. Lawrence manages the assets and offerings to help the poor, orphans and widows.”
Custodian of the “treasures of the Church”
In his youth, he adds, his path was cut short by the drama of persecution: in 258 AD, the Emperor Valerian proclaimed the edict that all bishops, priests and deacons should die. St. Lawrence was captured along with other deacons and Pope Sixtus II. The Pontiff was assassinated on 6 August. The Emperor promised Lawrence that he would spare his life if he handed over to him “the treasures of the Church”. The Saint showed the Emperor the sick, the destitute and the marginalised. These, he said, were the treasures of the Church. Four days later, on 10 August, St Lawrence was also martyred.
Burned alive on a grill.
According to an ancient “passion” recorded by St. Ambrose, St. Lawrence was burned on a grill. St. Ambrose, in the “De Officiis,” imagines a meeting between Lawrence and Pope Sixtus II on the way to martyrdom. At the meeting, Lawrence says: “Where are you going, father, without your son? Where are you hurrying, holy bishop, without your deacon? You never offered the sacrifice without your minister. What displeased you about me, father? Do you perhaps consider me unworthy? Test me, to see if you have chosen an unworthy minister for the distribution of the Blood of the Lord. Will you refuse to let him whom you admitted to the divine mysteries be your companion at the moment of shedding the blood?”
This Saturday at 12:00 noon, Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos will officiate the Mass for the ordination of the deacons on Saint Lawrence Day.
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