[Officium]
Octave of St. Lawrence, Martyr

[Oratio]
Stir up in thy Church, O Lord, the spirit in which the blessed Levite Lawrence served Thee, that we being filled therewith, may be ever fain to love what he loved, and to do what he taught.
$Per Dominum eiusdem

[Lectio4]
From one of the Tracts upon John, written by St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!(21th.)
Brethren, we know that all we who are in the body of the Lord, and abide in Him that He also may abide in us, must needs in this world live even unto the end among the wicked; by the wicked I mean not such as blaspheme Christ, for it is now but few who are found who blaspheme Him with their tongue, but many there be who do it by their lives. Among such we must needs live, even unto the end. But what is it that He said, He that abideth in Me and I in him? (John xv. 5.) Is it not that whereunto the Martyrs gave ear, He that endureth to the end shall be saved? (Matth. x. 22.)

[Lectio5]
In what wise abode in Him the holy Lawrence whose Feast-day we keep to-day? He abode in Him until trial came; he abode in Him until He was browbeaten by the tyrant; he abode in Him until his fearful sentence came; he abode in Him even unto death. That is saying but a little of him; he abode in Him even in savage torture. He was not slain quickly, but tortured in the fire. He was allowed to remain long alive, and yet not allowed to remain long alive, but slowly put to death. During that long death, in all that agony, since he had well eaten and well drunk, filled with that Food, and drunken with that Cup, he felt not the torture.

[Lectio6]
Nor the holy Martyr Xystus, whose day we kept five days ago, had said unto him: Be not sorrowful, my son (for he was the Bishop and Lawrence the Deacon,) be not sorrowful, said he, yet three days and thou shalt follow me. These three days of which he spake were the three clear days which elapse between the day of the passion of holy Xystus, and this day, the day of the passion of holy Lawrence. The three days are those between. O what a strange comfort! He saith not: Be not sorrowful, my son; the persecution will come to an end, and thou wilt be safe, but Be not sorrowful, whither I go, thither shalt thou follow me, and the time will not be long. Three clear days shall pass, and then thou shalt be with me. Lawrence received the prophecy, conquered the devil, and entered into his triumph.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 12:24-28
At that time: Jesus said unto His disciples: Amen, Amen, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. And so on.
_
Homily by St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch (of Constantinople.)
!66th on John.
This present life is sweet, and full of many pleasures, not indeed for all, but for those who love it. But if one should have cast his looks heavenward, and studied the excellent things that are there, he will forthwith despise this present life and hold it of no moment. So is bodily comeliness esteemed, only as long as we see none fairer, but as soon as a comelier appeareth, the first is held cheap. And thus if we will look at the beauty above, and study the loveliness of the kingdom in heaven, we shall forthwith loose the ties that bind us to this world.

[Lectio8]
The ties that bind us to this world are the love of earthly things. Listen to what Christ saith, to draw us to loosen these ties. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. This hath the sound of a puzzle, and yet it is full of the most excellent wisdom. How shall he that loveth his life lose it? He shall lose it by yielding to its senseless lusts, by indulging any of its lusts more than he ought. Whereas he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal, by not obeying it when it demandeth things hurtful.

[Lectio9]
Christ saith not, He that obeyeth it not, but, He that hateth it. For even as we cannot bear to hear the voice or see the face of them whom we hate, so doth it behove us to turn angrily away from our own life, if it demand from us anything contrary to the will of God. He was about to speak to them touching death, even His Own death, and He foresaw their grief and faintness, and spake in strong expressions, as though He said: What shall I say, if ye take not My death bravely? Unless ye also die, ye shall gain no profit.