St Lawrence of Brindisi

“I will give thee hidden treasures.” Isaiah 45. 3. Jesus has treasures which He hides from those who love Him not and do not seek Him. To His favoured ones, His faithful servants, He opens wide the storehouse where they lie and pours His graces forth unmeasured. He is a hidden God. He dwells not with the proud and haughty. He lingers not amid the tumult of the world.

COMMENT: Fr Doyle didn’t write these sentences about St Lawrence of Brindisi, but they are entirely apt for this feast. I’m not aware that Fr Doyle ever wrote about St Lawrence, but I imagine that he had some affection for him, for St Lawrence was himself a military chaplain.

St Lawrence was a remarkable man with a stunning list of achievements. He was a first rate scholar with a command of numerous European and Biblical languages. He was a super-star preacher for who was surrounded by crowds eager to hear him preach (and snip off a piece of his beard or clothing as relics!). He was an advisor to Popes and was sent on delicate diplomatic missions on behalf of the papacy. He was an advisor to royalty throughout Europe. He was an inspirational military chaplain, largely responsible for military victories at a critical juncture in the history of Europe. He held, at one time or another, every office in the Capuchin order, including that of vicar-general (overall superior) and was the founder of several monasteries and convents. To top it all off, he was a renowned mystic and miracle worker. He is also one of the elite Doctors of the Church.

Fr Doyle tells us today that Jesus has a storehouse of graces which he will pour out on those who love Him and seek Him. We see this in an extraordinary way in the life of St Lawrence. We also see it, albeit in a more subtle way but no less real way, in the life of Fr Doyle. When we look at Fr Doyle, we see a man who was transformed over the course of his life. He was born into privilege, yet he was devoted to ordinary workers, and was loved by the ordinary working class soldiers he encountered in the war. He had a nervous breakdown as a young man over a fire that broke out in his building and he almost had to leave the Jesuits, yet during the war he was a rock of fortitude and calm in the midst of fear and turmoil.

But we can also experience this transformation through grace in our own lives. The measure in which we open ourselves to grace is the measure in which we will receive it. As the Imitation of Christ says:

The more perfectly one renounces the things of the world, and the better he dies to himself by the contempt of himself, the more speedily will grace come to him, and the more abundantly will it enter in, elevating to greater heights the heart which it has found free and devoid of all.

Finally, returning to a consideration of St lawrence of Brindisi, Pope Emeritus Benedict gave a very worthwhile catechesis on this Doctor of the Church here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110323_en.html