One beautiful spring evening in the mountains of Western PA…
a few of us seminarians were sitting on the porch of the seminary building…
having a nice chat with our rector.
He was describing to us a problem with bugs in the chapel.
It seemed that countless numbers of ants
were constantly crawling back and forth through the sanctuary.
In his uniquely witty style…
Father Kurt lamented that…worse than just having ants in church…
“They keep passing the Tabernacle without genuflecting!”
Recalling the ancient custom of the faithful of the Church
of “double genuflecting” when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed…
I wondered if bending all 6 legs is required of ants!
Silliness aside…
our beloved Saint Anthony
is famous for having commanded a member of the animal kingdom
to bend his knees in adoration of the Eucharist.
As the story goes…a Jewish merchant challenged Saint Anthony
to prove the reality of the Holy Eucharist…
which he considered to be a mere “fable.”
He devised a contest…
in which the merchant would starve a donkey for three days…
and Anthony would enter into fasting and prayer for three days in the forest.
At the end of the three days…
the merchant would place a bale of hay before the hungry donkey…
and Saint Anthony would expose the Blessed Sacrament.
After the three days had passed…
the merchant placed the bale of hay 20 feet from the hungry donkey…
and Saint Anthony went to the church
and brought out the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance.
As the hungry donkey naturally walked toward the food…
Saint Anthony called out to it:
“I command you to come here and adore your Creator!”
The donkey stopped on his path toward the hay…
turned as if being led by a bridle…
and walked toward Saint Anthony.
He bent his forelegs…
and bowed his head to the ground in adoration.
Needless to say…the sight of a hungry animal
stopping to adore the Eucharist before taking food
brought the Jewish man to beg forgiveness converted him to Christ.
The life of Saint Anthony…”The Miracle Worker”…
is filled with miraculous stories…
stories that show forth God’s grace at work in his life
for the salvation of the world.
Saint Anthony…
born in Lisbon, Portugal in the 12th Century
and first an Augustinian Canon…
later answered the call to become a Franciscan Friar
and served as a missionary preacher to France and throughout Italy.
Though his miracles are well known nine centuries later…
and though he was also a professor in the Franciscan Order…
as one spiritual writer describes…
“It was as an orator…that Anthony reaped his richest harvest.”
During a festive dinner
following the ordination of Dominican and Franciscan priests
the superior asked for a volunteer to give a brief sermon.
No one responded…
and so young Anthony was chosen.
He was expected to be an awful speaker…
since he had little formal education.
He stunned every one in the room
by speaking with eloquence and learning and beauty…
beyond anything the priests could have imagined.
His magnificent gifts were instantly recognized…
and he was sent to preach the Gospel in places far and near.
and so converted countless men and women to the Christian faith.
He spoke with power, and conviction,
and had a spirit about him that resonated in the hearts of all who heard him.
He strove every time he spoke to present “the grandeur of Christianity”…
that others might come to know the untold beauty of the Christian life.
In one of his sermons. Saint Anthony proclaimed:
“Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak!”
In a time when preachers of the Gospel message lived in luxury…
Saint Anthony insisted on a radical simplicity for clergy and missionaries.
He insisted that those who speak the words of Christ strive to live like Him…
that their actions speak as loudly as their words.
This is the message of Jesus to the chosen disciples in today’s Gospel…
Go forth and preach that “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”
As you go to preach…live simply…
take none of the trappings of this world which will weigh you down…
present yourselves as peaceful, gracious, and caring servants.
Saint Anthony’s life…itself a living image of Christ…speaks to our hearts today…
and challenges us to make of our lives living witnesses to the Gospel.
Our words and our actions are to be one with each other…
and in harmony with the truth.
How scandalous are our “Catholic” politicians!
“Personally I am opposed to abortion…
but in my public, political life…I support the so-called ‘right to choose.’”
Their words mean nothing because their actions promote evil.
How scandalous it is for us to stand here and profess faith with our words…
if in an hour from now our actions betray Christ.
As we celebrate the glorious…miraculous…and eloquent life of Saint Anthony…
we beg his powerful intercession…
that we may find the courage and strength to live as Christ call us…
to be people of integrity
whose words and actions proclaim the grandeur of the Christian life!
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