Homily: Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua

Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua (Mt. 5:13-16) “Tony, Tony, help me find…”

St. Anthony is one of my favorite saints. My parents gave me the name Anthony as a middle name. He was one of my mother’s favorite saints. I think it was because we had a St. Anthony statue in my home parish. He was depicted holding the Bible in one hand and the child Jesus in the other.

We had Franciscans in another parish in our town. In their church there was a box where money for the poor could be donated. This is a feature of a lot of Franciscan parishes. St. Anthony had a special affinity for the poor.

We might ask why St. Anthony holds a Bible and a child in his hands when he is depicted in religious art. He holds a Bible because he is considered one of the best preachers in the history of the church. In the 12th century, he traveled from place to place as a wandering evangelist. He would preach to thousands of people at a time outdoors and to churches full of people.

Legend has it, that he was preaching next to a lake one day in the open air one day. No one would listen to him, but people just walked by. He said, “If you won’t listen to me, I will preach to the fish.” He turned toward the lake and began to preach. The fish came to the surface to listen to his words.

He holds the Christ child, because he had a great devotion to the Christ child. He would have mystical experiences in which the boy Jesus would talk to him. Legend has it that Anthony was staying at a certain man’s house one night. He was given a room away from the rest. His host walked by his room and a strange light shone around the door. The man peeked through the door, and he saw St. Anthony and the Christ child in conversation. All of this spoke of the saint’s simplicity and love for the powerless.

When Anthony died children ran around in the streets crying, “The saint is dead.” Anthony died when he was only 36. Just a few years after his death he was canonized.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Why was St. Anthony canonized so quickly? How did he accomplish so much in 36 years?

2.   Other Saints are depicted holding the Child Jesus. Can I name two?

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 Dear Parishioners,

           I would like to thank all those who participated in the Eucharistic procession on Sunday. This is the first time we have had such a procession in many years. We had about a hundred people walk around our grounds. It was wonderful to see such devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

          As I said in my homily Sunday. Eucharistic processions are a sign that we are to carry Christ out into the world. We cannot leave our faith at the church door. Let the procession inspire us to do just that.

          May St. Anthony pray for us today,

          Fr. Mark