At the Last Supper, Jesus taught us that there is no greater love than to lay down our life for a friend. He affirmed that we are His friends, and thus we see His death was motivated by love. We apply these words of Jesus to the death of the martyrs: like Jesus, they died for love, love of God, love of Jesus, love of the Church and the true faith. Yet the words of Jesus cannot belong to only one class of people in the Church. All of us who follow Jesus have the capability of living out this "greatest love" even if we do not shed our blood in martyrdom. Reflection on the lives of the saints lets us see how loving service marked their lives. Before they were called to lay down their lives in martyrdom, they spent themselves each day, laying down their lives in loving service, especially the service of the poor. This is the story of St Lawrence. Before he was a martyr, he was an ardent lover of Christ, especially in the poor. As the Opening Prayer reminds us, he was called to serve the Lord by love. Such love expressed in service entails an endless sacrifice, another kind of martyrdom.