Today’s Gospel proclamation tells that “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” This means that dying or denying ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom of God can produce much fruit. But the question is: Am I ready to die internally? Am I ready to surrender myself completely to God? At the same time dying to self is a painful process; we need to sacrifice our reputation, ego, self-centered position, to produce more fruits. We need to ask God to fill us with the power of the Holy spirit to overcome our selfishness and to die for the kingdom to produce more fruits. If we do not surrender and die to our ego, our discipleship becomes meaningless. Today we celebrate the feast of St Lawrence, a person who sacrificed everything for the sake of the Kingdom of God. St Lawrence was not bitter, but was joyful in Christ, even when he was tortured and eventually killed. Let us pray that we too may be courageous like St Lawrence in sacrificing ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom.

Prayer: Abba Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit to overcome challenges and to become true disciples. Amen.