Feast of Saint Lawrence

Good morning. The greatest obstacle we experience in life is our very own self. This truth is made ever clearer in the sacrament of marriage. In the sacrament of marriage we are forever challenged with the task of escaping our own selves and attempting to make our way in to the world of our other. This is no easy task. Because of our humanness, to understand that our spouse and our spouse’s thoughts and feelings are two different things can be quite challenging. This notion of feeling into that life experience of our other is something which more times than not escapes us, for to do so we must first escape ourselves. In order to truly enter into the we of our marital relationship we must first remove ourselves from the I of ourselves. Not an easy task, and because of our sinfulness not often possible, and without God’s grace likely impossible. Yet, that is precisely what we are called to, not just in marriage but in whatever journey we find ourselves. Jesus in today's Gospel says: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” To “die” to oneself whatever does that mean? It means to escape our own self and enter into God’s way. In marriage it means to escape our own self-righteousness, to accept our own inadequacy and humbly walk next to our other. Jesus assures us that in order to have true life in Him we must escape life in this world, we must escape living in the world of I. So too in marriage, for it to be successful we must escape the world of I and discover the world of we. Discover the world of we today. Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr.