On Aug. 10, the church celebrates the patron saint of the largest Catholic mission to young adults in the state of Kansas. What is this mission? Where can it be found?
Lawrence, Kansas.
When the deacon St. Lawrence heard that on pain of death he must surrender the “treasure of the church” to the Roman authorities, he did.
But it wasn’t what the Romans expected.
St. Lawrence gave the church’s money to the poor and then brought them before the Roman prefect declaring, “Behold, the treasure of the church!”
For this, St. Lawrence was grilled — literally.
As he died, he joked: “You can turn me over; I’m done on this side!”
The Roman people remembered St. Lawrence as “the saint who died laughing.” He is a model of selfless service, confidence in the power of the Gospel, advocacy for the vulnerable and joyful freedom, even in the face of death.
“Behold, the treasure of the church!”
It is true that the church has no greater treasure than Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul and divinity. There is nothing that is more powerful, beautiful or valuable than Christ.
Nothing.
But Christ shows us every time we meet him in the Eucharist what he thinks the treasure of his church truly is, what his Sacred Heart burns and bleeds for.
What — or, more to the point, who — is the treasure of the church?
That’s right; you are!
As you look at Jesus, truly present in the holy Eucharist, and acknowledge that he is your great treasure; he immediately responds to each of us: “And you are mine!”
That’s why Christ was born, suffered and destroyed death. He started the church and gave us the Eucharist and shepherds after his own heart for you.
Jesus reminds us of this at every Mass when he speaks the words of consecration through the priest: “This is my body which is given up for you.”
St. Lawrence knew who was worth the cost of his life. It was not money, power, honor or pleasure.
Rather, St. Lawrence bet his life on love. He was utterly convinced that he knew the love of Jesus Christ so completely that he was unafraid to give his life for the same people who Christ died to save.
At the St. Lawrence Center at the University of Kansas, we want KU students to know Jesus Christ as a person and to stand in their God-given identity. We strive to facilitate an encounter with the living person of Jesus, and not just the things that point to him.
Christ is not a liturgical rite, a political issue or a philosophy. Rather, he is a person who kneels with the lost, walks with the blind and cares for the brokenhearted. He is the great treasure of his church, and he comes to remind each of us, no matter how far we have strayed, that his heart will never stop burning for us.
How would the story of our future families and communities be impacted if more young people encountered Jesus Christ and the power of his love? How would your life be different if you were utterly convinced, like St. Lawrence, that there is no power, even in the face of death, that defines you or offers you more than the power of love?
What if we asked ourselves for what — or for whom — do we burn?
