Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (12: 24-26) in which Jesus tells his disciples unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain. After reading the Gospel, Fr Paul shares a little about St Lawrence (Deacon and Martyr) whose memorial we celebrate today.Fr Paul says Laurence was one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome and was executed on 10 August in 258AD, which was four days after Sixtus II and his companions. We know very little about the life of Lawrence, but it is thought he was probably a Spaniard from Toledo.  A basilica was built over Lawrence’s tomb fifty years after his death, by then Emperor Constantine, and the anniversary of his martyrdom was kept as a solemn feast. By the sixth century, it was one of the most important feasts throughout much of western Christendom. Laurence’s name occurs in the Roman Canon of the Mass, that is, in the first Eucharistic Prayer.So today Fr Paul invites us to pray ‘St Laurence……Pray for us!’