Homily: June 13 2016 - St. Anthony of Padua - Man of Beatitude

For the past week, we’ve been reading from Jesus’ sermon on the mount.  It is clear from the very beginning of the Sermon, that Jesus’ disciples are to live differently from others in the world—by a different set of standards than the good pagans who love those who love them and are good to those who are good to them—with a righteousness surpassing that of the Jewish scribe and Pharisees. He calls us in short to be like him, to be like his Father, to be holy.

St. Anthony desired the radical holiness preached by Jesus.  He entered the Augustinian Order as a young man as a way of turning away from the temptations of the world in order to seek the perfection of his soul.  One could say that he followed the call to religious life as a way of pursuing that purity of heart, Jesus calls us to in the beatitudes.  The pure of heart are those who love God with undivided allegiance.  They pursue God’s Holy Will single-heartedly, without mixed motives.  This is what Anthony desired.

Though he had dedicated his life to study, prayer, learning, and immersing himself in Sacred Scripture, it was a rather strange event which caused St. Anthony to become a Franciscan.  It was when he heard news that Franciscans had been put to death for preaching the Gospel in Morocco, that he felt called to join the order.  Where most of us run away from suffering, St. Anthony ran toward the opportunity to practice the final two beatitudes: blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, and blessed are those who are persecuted for Christ’s sake. 

St. Anthony, through his practice of the beatitudes, through his desire to totally belong to Christ through the vows of his religious profession, became a radiant beacon of the light of Christ, to whom we look to imitate 800 years later.

In the face of the many problems in the world—violence, materialism, poverty, moral relativism, Jesus calls us each of us to radiate the holiness of God by putting on His mind and heart—seeking to be holy as He is holy—suffering for the Gospel, as he suffered.  Christians are called to beatitude—and the world will be impacted for better or for worse by the Christians live our lives.  Through the example and heavenly intercession of St. Anthony of Padua, may we be faithful to this call of holiness today and all days—for the glory of God and salvation of souls.