Homily Feast of St. Anthony of Padua (2020) “Where’s Cleopatra”
Homily Feast of St. Anthony of Padua (2020) “Where’s Cleopatra”
My mother had a sense of humor. She named me Mark Anthony. Quite often she was asked if I was named for that Roman General who fell in love with Cleopatra. “No”, she would say, “He was named for Mark the Evangelist and St. Anthony of Padua.” Because I am named after Anthony, Anthony of Padua is one of my favorite saints.
When Anthony was young, he was not highly thought of. He was perceived to be kind of quiet and bookish, but he had the desire to be a missionary. He started off in the Augustinian order, but he ended up joining the Franciscans shortly after St. Francis started the order. Unfortunately, he was sickly and could not go to the missions.
One day he was at a large meeting the Franciscans were having with some Dominicans. It came time for liturgy and for some reason no one was designated to preach. Friar Anthony was picked to speak, and he gave such a fine extemporaneous homily that he eventually was chosen by St. Francis to study Theology and teach the other Friars. He is considered the Franciscans first great Theologian. He is not only thought of as a saint today, but he is also known as a Doctor of the Church.
St. Anthony is known as the patron of finding lost things. This designation comes from the fact that St. Anthony was the victim of a theft. He had a book of psalms which was very special to him. One of the novices of the order stole the book when he decided to leave the Franciscans. Anthony prayed that the book might be returned. The novice had a change of heart, repented, and returned the book.
There is a humorous little prayer that you can try the next time you lose something. It says:
“Tony, Tony come around. Something is lost and can’t be found.”
Many people attest to the fact that St. Anthony has assisted them when they have lost something precious to them.
Reflection Questions:
1. Anthony had several unfortunate events in his life that kept him from what he perceived to be his true calling. Have I ever had plans upended by unforeseen circumstances? How did I handle the disappointment?
2. St. Anthony ended up accomplishing a lot even though he had to move in a different direction. Can I cooperate with God today and take on a task that I do not want to?
Dear Parishioners,
Remember our Mass schedule this weekend. We have a livestream Mass today at 4 p.m. and we have a 7 a.m. Mass tomorrow in the church, a 9 a.m. Mass outside and a 11 a.m. Mass in the church. Various instructions are on our website and Facebook page. Let’s all try to pray safely together this wekend.
As we start to move back in the church, I feel like it is important that we still have live stream some Masses. We have been able to reach shut ins and others that we have not had a lot of contact with before. We need some new equipment to be able to livestream from church. We have spent about $1700 to put internet reception in our church and we need about $4000 for equipment to have the capability to broadcast over the internet at any time. It would be nice to livestream at least one Mass a weekend and other Masses on special occasions like weddings and funerals.
If you feel this is important and would like to help offset the cost please feel free to drop a donation in a white envelope marked “Livestream” in our collection or contact me and we can talk further.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over you today.
Fr. Mark