Mark 10:45

Tag: Anthony

  • Increase Our Faith: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10

    People sometimes speak as though there are saints and then there is everybody else. I know; I’ve done it. Somebody says, “You know, you’re a good person,” and I reply, “Well, thanks, but I’m no saint.” We might begin to think that saints are people of superhuman faith who go around rebuilding the Church, baptizing thousands, levitating, going into ecstasy, healing the sick, and finally converting thousands through their own martyrdom.

    And although many people have done exactly those things, the readings today remind us that saints are ordinary people who know what it means to have their faith tested; to get frustrated, to need encouragement, and even to ask God for an increase in faith. We just heard the prophet Habakkuk cry out to God, clearly frustrated and bewildered because God had not put an end to the violence and misery all around. We should be able to sympathize with him; we pray week after week, year after year for an end to violence in the world, yet it continues. Why doesn’t God stop it? Next, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to stir into flame the grace of his ordination, for he’s going to face his share of hardship. Don’t we too know how it feels to face hardship yet still be asked to keep on giving? Then in the gospel the apostles ask our Lord to increase their faith and little wonder, for Jesus had just told them that if your brother wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him (Luke 17:4). I don’t know about you but on a bad day forgiving the same offense even twice can be a struggle; seven times is going to take some real moral fiber.

    But the readings don’t stop there; they also show God’s responses. Habakkuk is told that fulfillment will come and it won’t disappoint; have faith and wait. In other words, be patient and don’t lose hope. As hardship looms, Paul says to Timothy: Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 1:13). That is, hold on to what you’ve been taught; Christ gave us the plan and he is our strength. Finally, Jesus talks about strength in two ways. First, he speaks of faith as powerful enough to uproot a mulberry tree. As the Apostles knew, that’s a lot of power. Mulberry trees are hard to pull; their roots are thick, wide and dense. Second, he talks about a servant who labors outside all day but still must serve when he comes inside. He’s talking about the power of fidelity to our call. Jesus reminds us that servants don’t stop being servants depending on where they are or what time it is. When I was ordained, Christ didn’t tell me that I’m a servant only when I’m wearing my vestments; I am called to serve God’s people, period. Similarly for you; all of us who are baptized in Christ receive a new garment; we put on Christ and we can’t just take him off. We are servants of God and each other; our attitudes and our behavior are to reflect that every hour of the day, every day of the week.

    This story of the servant is only found in the gospel of Luke and I think there is a good reason for that. Luke sees Jesus as that servant. Consider: The servant worked in the field, plowing or tending sheep. Jesus did both; he spent his entire ministry planting the seed of the gospel until the harvest was abundant (Luke 10:2) and called himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). Then when Jesus “went in” for dinner for the last time with his disciples, he remained a servant, washing the apostles’ feet (John 13:5). As the servant provided the dinner for his master, so at the Last Supper Jesus instituted the Eucharist, feeding his apostles the bread of life (Luke 22:19). Finally, as the servant said that he had done what he was obliged to do, so the Good Thief looked at the dying Jesus and said, this man has done nothing wrong (Luke 23:41, RSV). Then after his resurrection he walked with two disciples, opening the Scriptures until they felt their hearts burn within them. Finally, the flame of the Spirit was poured upon the apostles (Acts 2:3), strengthening them to proclaim the gospel in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

    cropped-awake-o-sleeper-graphicThis is the strength that has inspired the saints throughout the centuries. Every saint knows what it means to wonder as Habakkuk wondered how and when God will fulfill his promises, but they also know what it means to offer themselves as the instruments through which that promise is fulfilled. Every saint knows what it means to face hardship or to be with others as they face them, but like Timothy and Paul they also know what it means to possess the grace to endure and to support others who need to endure. Finally, every saint knows what it means to feel as if their own faith is inadequate to uproot their mulberry tree full of weaknesses. But they also know what it means to surrender themselves totally to the power of the One who nailed those weaknesses to his own tree and cast them once and for all into the ocean of his infinite mercy.

    This is the consolation that speaks in the silence of God’s replies to every prayer. What makes a saint is not that they understand the mind or the providence of God but that they never allow their incomprehension, frustration, or anger overwhelm the great promise of the cross; that faith overcomes and will always triumph over fear. Thus could Augustine rightly say that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

  • The Teachable Spirit: St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

    1 Kings 21:1-16; Matthew 5:38-42

    The readings today remind me of Winston Churchill’s observation that “we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” In the reading from 1 Kings, we see how hardness of heart leads Ahab and Jezebel to become possessed by possessions. The more they desire them, the more they are owned by them. In the gospel, Jesus teaches the opposite; the docile or teachable heart has learned that faith is the only valuable possession. The more that faith is given away in a spirit of Christ-like charity, the more we enrich others and the more it abounds.

    Few people better exemplify the wealth of docility, charity, and faith than the man known to us as St. Anthony of Padua. He was born Fernando Martins de Bulhões on August 15, 1195 into a wealthy family living near Lisbon. When he was 15, he entered the nearby Augustinian monastery of St. Vincent. Although he loved the monastic life, friends and family proved too much of a distraction. He moved to the Abbey of the Holy Cross in Coimbra, where he immersed himself in theology and Latin, fell in love with Scripture, and was ordained a priest.

    Several years later, Father Fernando met 5 missionaries from a new order called the Franciscans. They were traveling to Morocco to preach the gospel. Father was moved by their simplicity, poverty, and zeal. Just a few months after meeting them, he watched as their martyred remains were carried past the abbey toward Assisi. Perhaps he contemplated Christ’s words, When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well, for he resolved then and there to become a missionary to Africa and literally become the other cheek. He received permission to enter the Franciscans, took the name Anthony after the great hermit Anthony of the Desert, and set out as a missionary to Morocco.

    But it was not to be. Upon his arrival in Africa, Father became so ill that he was forced to return home. Yet Portugal was not to be, either; while en route, a violent storm blew their ship so far off course that they reached shore in Sicily. Upon his recovery, Father was sent to a small town north of Assisi where he worked and lived quietly in the background at the local Franciscan friary.

    Yet again the hand of God intervened. During a celebration at which a group of Dominicans had joined the Franciscans, each order assumed that the other would provide a speaker. When no one stepped forward, Anthony was ordered to say a few words. His eloquence, charisma, and depth of Scriptural knowledge stunned everyone in the room. Not surprisingly, he was ordered to preach throughout the area. Father Anthony was so personable, eloquent, and effective that St. Francis himself asked him to be the first theology instructor to the Franciscans.

    Father soon became Provincial Superior of the Franciscans in northern Italy, but also made time to preach and to organize his sermons into volumes that are of great value to this day. Upon finishing his term as Provincial, Anthony went to live near Padua. About a year later, he died at the city gates on June 13, 1231. He was 36 years old. The reigning pope, Gregory IX, had heard Father preach and nicknamed him the “Ark of the Testament.” Miracles attributed to Anthony’s intercession led to his canonization the next year, one of the fastest in history.

    In the gospel, Jesus told his disciples: Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. St. Anthony’s life echoes with the lesson that such great charity does not require understanding, it requires a teachable spirit. God knows the plan he has in mind for us; we simply have to listen and learn. This can be hard, especially when we think that we’re already doing exactly what God wants. Again, consider St. Anthony: Serving in the monastery was good, but he was sent away to study. Serving as an Augustinian was good, but he was called to the Franciscans. Serving as a missionary willing to die for love of the gospel was good, but he was kept alive and sent to Italy instead. Serving quietly and in the background at the friary was good, but he was sent to preach to the people and to teach and lead his brothers. In every case, what Anthony was already doing was good; yet in every case, he faithfully responded to the call and gave it all he had.

    statue-2695581_640No one can give what they do not possess. Father Anthony possessed great faith and great charity, but what transformed him from service in an Augustinian monastery to service as one of the greatest preachers and teachers of the faith was his love of Christ, shown in his constant willingness to discern and pursue the call of Christ in his life as well as his desire to keep Christ at the center of his life. As he once so eloquently said, “If you preach Jesus, he will melt hardened hearts; if you invoke him he will soften harsh temptations; if you think of him he will enlighten your mind; if you read of him he will satisfy your intellect.”

    St. Anthony of Padua, pray for us.