Laurence was a 12th-century priest-to-bishop-to-archbishop, who lived and worked in Dublin. Laurence was a very good, very kind man, and Butler states that Laurence “was most indefatigable in the sacred functions of his charge, especially in announcing assiduously to his flock the word of life.”
Yes–indefatigable…assiduous…hard-working…well-intentioned….And time after time, location after location, the people simply were not moved by the words or ministries of Laurence. He was, when considering him from an “institution-builder” perspective, an utter wash-out. But that’s not how our Church historians like to describe our saints. Instead, here are some of the phrases Butler employs to explain the apparent failure of Laurence’s efforts:
“St. Laurence found the greatest part of his flock so blind with the love of the world, and enslaved to their passions, that the zealous pains he took seemed lost upon them.”
And again: “The saintly deportment, the zeal, the prayers, and the miracles of St. Laurence were not able to awake many of those hardened sinners whom he laboured to convert.”
The point here, however, is not how much of the failure to “win souls” lay with Laurence or with those that Butler so blithely blames. Rather it is this: Laurence, sincerely believing in the value of his calling, continued to pursue it. Laurence did not negate the value of his work nor flag in his own understanding of faithfulness, despite the agony he must have undergone in finding such consistent AND persistent resistance to all of his best efforts.
Laurence, we are told, learned patience (no surprise there). And, truly, it is so often impossible to know the long-term results that can come from committing oneself to those people who are not at first, at second, or even at third attempt receptive. The message of “I care now, even though you don’t” can often soften hearts in ways we could never guess, and with people who have themselves been previously abandoned by others as “hopeless.”
Laurence did not give into the un-logical assumption that he “just wasn’t cut out” for work that fulfilled him because of how others responded.
Wow.