My dearest friends, there is so much we can say on the biography of Saint Anthony, however we will let today’s readings for his Feast (Franciscan’s celebrate this day as a feast, whereas the rest of the non-Franciscan Church throughout the world will celebrate it as a memorial) give us our main food for thought and reflection. (I have posted the readings on the website in today’s homily if you would like to read them for yourselves.)
In the second reading, we hear Saint Paul describe the gifts or special graces which have been given to each one of the community. “Each one of us has been given his own share of grace.” ‘Grace’ is charis (from which comes ‘charism’, and ‘charismatic’). It is a totally gratuitous gift from God which we have in no way earned by our own efforts.
The gifts, then, are not to be, as sometimes happened, bones of contention and division (“I am for Paul… I am for Apollos…”). By their diversity and complementarity they are to be agents of greater unity. God does not divide, he unites.
Saint Anthony and Saint Francis were two men with various gifts. They were unique in their own ways. Both were extraordinary individuals who dedicated their lives to serving God and spreading His message. While they shared many similarities in their devotion to God and commitment to service, they differed in their personalities and spiritualities. Saint Francis was known for his bold, charismatic, and energetic personality, while Saint Anthony was more reserved and contemplative.
We recall the story of how he stunned the Bishop and the crowd with a spontaneous sermon, even though he was known as the simple friar who worked the kitchen and did menial chores around the friary. One thing we know for sure, is that both men were solid in their faith, and took their vocations seriously which is in and of itself a reminder to us about the special gift that has been given to us.
And that brings us to the second half of today’s reading. Paul begs the members of the early Church not to be immature, not to be like impressionable children who get carried away or tossed about like debris on the waves of the sea, by the latest religious fad thrown at them by hacks and charlatans. The nautical image suggests the instability of those Christians who are not firm in their faith.
Such people are so easily carried away by “every wind of teaching arising from human trickery”. Then, as now, there were many distorted teachings that would easily throw the immature off course. While some of these false teachers may be convinced of what they say, others may be deliberately misleading and even evil. It is clear that Paul, by speaking in this way, was referring to situations that had actually arisen. And indeed the Christians of the day (as in our own) were constantly being led astray by the religious practices of their pagan neighbours and the eccentricities of some of those within the Church itself. We must remember to be orthodox in our doctrine and grounded in our faith.
Instead, by always “speaking the truth in love”, Paul says we shall grow in all ways into Christ. It is a wonderful phrase but not always easy to carry out. Francis and Antony were able to do it, because as we heard in the first reading, they chose wisdom. “I preferred her before sceptres and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.” Anthony, as an authentic Franciscan shunned the honours of this world, in imitation of our Lord himself, and chose wisdom instead. But he chose wisdom not for himself. Not so that he can feel proud of himself and pat himself on the shoulder and say, “Good job, you’re so smart Anthony” but for others. We hear this in the reading: “I learned diligently, and do communicate her liberally: I do not hide her riches.” If we keep wisdom too much for ourselves, brothers and sisters, it turns into conceit. Things
spoil when we keep them for ourselves. Hence the greatness of saints like Anthony and Francis who gave everything away for the sake of the Kingdom of God, including the holy knowledge that had been given to them by God so as to instruct the masses. As Jesus commands in the Gospel, they too were missionaries of his life-saving message to the world.
May the shining example of Saint Anthony, he who would later be able to work prodigies in the name of the Lord, continue to inspire us so that we too may be effective workers who build up the Body of Christ and strengthen and treasure it for His glory. Amen.
Wisdom 7:7-14
Wherefore I prayed, and understanding was given me: I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
I preferred her before sceptres and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.
Neither compared I unto her any precious stone, because all gold in respect of her is as a little sand, and silver shall be counted as clay before her.
I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light: for the light that cometh from her never goeth out.
All good things together came to me with her, and innumerable riches in her hands.
And I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom goeth before them: and I knew not that she was the mother of them.
I learned diligently, and do communicate her liberally: I do not hide her riches.
For she is a treasure unto men that never faileth: which they that use become the friends of God, being commended for the gifts that come from learning.
Ephesians 4:7, 11-15
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
Mark 16:15-20
And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’
The Ascension of Jesus
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Add comment
Comments