June 18, 2023, Feast of St. Anthony

Solemnity of St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony’s Way—Our Way

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

How many times have you prayed: “St. Anthony, St. Anthony, come around. Something is lost and can’t be found?” If you are on familiar terms with him, you might say, “Tony, Tony, come around!” St. Anthony of Padua is arguably one of the Church’s most popular saints…it is even said that there is not a Catholic church in the world that does not display his image.

As we celebrate his feast, let’s consider him as more than just the director of heaven’s “lost and found department.” The Italians jealously claim him as their own—even though he was Portuguese, a native of Lisbon and lived in Padua only three years. He began as an Augustinian monk and became a biblical scholar. However, impressed by the witness of five Franciscan martyrs whose bodies were brought to Lisbon, he became a Franciscan. Like them he wanted to be a missionary in Morocco, but God had other plans. He was destined for Italy.

But there he was not known. His exceptional spiritual and intellectual gifts were at first hidden away. The Friars assigned him to kitchen duty among the pots and pans! His gifts were revealed only by chance when he was a substitute preacher for a Friar’s First Mass when the expected preacher did not appear. Afterward the friars realized they had miscast this humble friar! His kitchen apron was quickly set aside to undertake a ministry of teaching and preaching. He would be an extraordinary evangelizer.

Anthony did not preach only those aspects of the Gospel that are agreeable but also those that are difficult. He spoke of those that challenge people to change. Anthony did not want his hearers to be cheated. He wanted them to hear the entirety of the Gospel—its challenges as well as its comforts—and that meant preaching not only what people wanted to hear but what they needed to hear.

Centuries later this remains a formidable task. A homilist who ventures into the teachings of the Gospel that run against the grain, that run contrary to popular culture, can expect to be ridiculed or rejected. This is why it has been said, “Speak the truth and run.”

But somehow Anthony’s preaching had the opposite reaction. People were drawn to him. Churches could not contain the crowds who came to listen to him. Services had to be held in the piazza and the fields where Anthony would have to climb a tree, preaching seated on a tree limb so that people could see and hear him. That could be rather dangerous since Anthony was not as his images portray him. He was short and (how shall we say) fat? Another reason for me to love St. Anthony!

‘Not only did crowds hang on to his every word, heretics repented, and the indifferent were roused to a zealous practice of the Faith. Why didn’t the people turn away from his challenges? It is because Anthony heeded the counsel of St. Paul—“caritas in veritate”—the truth must be taught in love. Anthony understood that truth and love go hand in hand. He realized that people are more receptive to hard truths when they are presented with love.

A lesson for us! We should not proclaim a hard truth with “a club in hand.” Truth cannot be severed from charity. When truth is conveyed without love, a person can feel attacked or wounded and as a result their hearts harden. In conveying a difficult truth to another we should do so respectfully, careful to avoid appearing arrogant. We should choose the right time, place, and tone that would engender a greater receptivity to what is being said.

This was the approach of our patron saint and it should be ours. We need this approach in our families. We need it in our nation, where there is a lack of civility in our public discourse, a lack of openness, an unwillingness to listen and to listen and to dialog! So often we have the idea that to be loving and compassionate means avoiding the hard stuff. How often we avoid speaking about our faith for fear that we are imposing our views on another.

St. Anthony did not impose his views upon others but proclaimed the truth with love and the Holy Spirit did the rest! He kept truth and love united and so should we. May the saintly director of heaven’s “lost and found” aid us so that others may find the truth through the love we show them.