Monday – Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

Gospel – John 12:24-26

Service with a Smile

Zucchini

Five years ago we hit the ‘garden jackpot’.  We had 3 zucchini plants in our garden that year!  3 plants grown from 3 quite tiny seeds, each one barely a half-inch long.  And yet, from those 3 plants, we made 40 loaves of zucchini bread, 2 dozen zucchini lemon cookies, 4 dozen zucchini chocolate muffins, and 1 zucchini blueberry cake.  And that doesn’t include the 5 zucchinis still waiting to be cut up, much less the many that were still on the vine.  Such little seeds!  Such an abundance of life and productivity!  Side note – this year in Tennessee, the harvest was rather underwhelming!  But the baking shall continue!!!

We are all a bit like the seeds in today’s Gospel.  The life, the real life, lies inside the seed.  And, in order for the life to germinate and grow, the seed has to die, to break open and let the life burst forth.  That means we all have to die a little, let go of the things of this life – money, power, personal fame, possessions - in order to prepare for the Kingdom.  In order to reach the Kingdom, we have to sacrifice and we have to serve!

As Deacons, we are all called to a mission of service!  It comes from the Greek “diakonia” which means servant.  I learned something new today; it also means ‘dusty one’, someone who kicks up the dust of the street as they go about on their ministry.  I kind of like that, someone who get dirty as they perform their service.

We celebrate today the Feast of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr.  When he was asked by the Prefect of Rome to bring him all the treasures of the Church, Lawrence brought to him all the poor, widowed, maimed and lepers – the real treasures of the Church.  When he was being roasted to death, he is purported to have said “Turn me over, I’m done on this side.”

A life of service – it is what we are all called to – to serve God by serving others.  St. Lawrence’s life, and Jesus’ words today, remind us that it will not be easy and we will have to sacrifice.  But, like St. Lawrence, we should not be afraid to get ourselves dusty and we should perform our service with joy and even a good sense of humor! 


 

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