Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest & Doctor.
St Anthony of Padua, Priest, and Doctor- Memoria
Today we celebrate the memoria of St Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church. He was an Augustinian monk. Having been impressed by the life of the five Franciscans who were martyred in Morocco for witnessing to the Gospel, St Anthony decided to become a Franciscan friar. It became obvious to him that the people of Morocco at the time were lost and needed the good news of salvation. As the seventy-two in today’s gospel were sent to witness to the Kingdom of God, Saint Anthony went to Morocco to witness to the Gospel. Sadly, due to illness his mission in Morocco was cut short. So he decided to return to Padua. Providentially, on his way back, the storm drove his ship to Italy where he met Saint Francis of Assisi. Even, then he continued his preaching until he finally returned to Padua where he was an outstanding theologian and the first Franciscan theologian. Although he was gentle in his preaching, he nonetheless, with boldness reproved the wicked and encouraged the backsliders to be re-awakened to the light of faith. He is the patron saint of the lost and found.
As a child, I would call on Saint Anthony to help me find my lost items. Then I would imagine him searching everywhere to find what I had lost. As I grew up, and now as a priest I could see how, he merited the title, the patron saint of the lost and found by the way he witnessed and brought back many lost souls to God. As you would know, the conversion of souls is the greatest of all miracles. That’s why Luke 15:7 says that the heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents. Saint Paul in Col 1:13 calls and celebrates this miracle as a transfer from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, Jesus.
Saint Anthony was convinced that the Gospel we preach has the power to save and bring back the lost. Hence, he preached until his death. He said in one of his preaching, “let your words teach and your actions speak. Saint Anthony shows us that our words and deeds come into play if we are to witness to the message of the Gospel. Certainly, the two may not be needed all the times. But we are to be open to the Holy Spirit who uses them as he wills.
However, Saint Anthony says, and I quote, “actions speak louder than words, but happy is the one whose words issue from the Holy Spirit. Ask for the Holy Spirit, that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfilment. We should pray to be given the fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward will be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and behold God’s face’.
From these text, Saint Anthony clearly comes across as a man filled with the God’s spirit of love. And in response to that love he reaches out to the lost souls that they might be found. With his words of preaching he cured those who were sick and in need of God’s healing from the ignorance of the truth that sets us free.
Saint Anthony knew that the spirit we have received as Christians is not a spirit of Timidity, but the spirit of sons and daughters of God, the spirit of freedom. So he clearly saw that our mission can’t be anything apart from the mission of Christ himself in the prophecy of Isaiah 61: 1-3 in today’s first reading which says, the spirit of god is upon me because the lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the broken hearts, to proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to those in prison, to comfort those who mourn and for mourning the oil of gladness. In taking upon himself this Christian vocation, he became as it were another Christ to the people, restoring and bringing back the lost to the Freedom of God’s children.
Perhaps, we could ask Saint Anthony, through his intercession to help us find the lost. Let’s pray for the salvation of those who have not come to know Christ, those who may have lost their faith or about losing their faith, for relationship and marriages that have lost the warmth of love, for those who have lost their self-worth due to their life experiences, for those who may have lost the meaning and purpose of their lives. Please, feel free to add your intentions, …. through the powerful intercession of Saint Anthony may all we have lost, may according to God’s will be found.
Let us Pray
Eternal Father into your hands we commend our lives, for we know that nothing in your hands can ever be lost. We make our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Lord be with you
May the Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Go in peace and Happy Sunday.