Deep-fried for God

Today is the feast of St Laurence.  My family, especially Papa, has been a great devotee of St Laurence.  The fact that Attur, in Karnataka has a large shrine dedicated to St Laurence and to which both my parents belonged to, has much to do with this attachment.  And so, the first and most 'exciting' martyrs tale that we as children heard was that of St Laurence.  That too what a tale it was: being burnt on the iron grid!  I always tried to imagine how they would have burned him and which side they burned first for I always found it amusing that after a while on the grid, he told his tormentors that one side of his was sufficiently burnt and that they should turn him over to the other side! 

This is the statue of St Laurence we always had on our family altar

While at Mass today, the most immediate instance in our times that flashed across my mind, was the news reports of the recent wild fires in Greece. Remember reading about the firefighters discovering bodies of victims in a group. When they knew that they could not outrun the fire or escape it they formed a huddle, placing the younger ones in the centre, trying to shield them from the fire. Gives an insight into the great love that parents have for their children and dear ones.  Even in the face of agonizing death, their priority and thoughts are all about the well being of their loved ones.  Even so was St Laurence, when even faced with death, all he was concerned was God and the poor.