Celebrating Saint Anthony of Padua

Here is the text of the homily I prepared for the celebration of the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua.  The liturgical calendar appoints the day as June 13, but we have advanced the celebration by one day in order to allow as many people as possible to be present.

For this celebration, we have used the texts provided for the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time.  If Saint Anthony was alive today, I wonder if his reflection would be anything like mine.

The joy of the gospel proclaimed

Every one of us has a family, and every one of our families has a history.  We have the technology in today’s world to be able to trace our families’ lineages, and with a bit of digging, we can all discover at least a bit of the treasure that is offered to us through the struggles and triumphs of those who have come before us.  Our family patrimonies all contain certain aspects of which we are proud and perhaps some others that we would prefer to keep hidden, but the one common thread that binds us together is our faith in Jesus Christ.  Today, we come to worship Him, to sing his praises and to thank him for the gift of his mercy.

Siamo giunti a meta del Giubileo dell'Anno della Misericordia e oggi siamo venuti ringraziare il Signore per il tesoro spirituale dei santi, in particolare, per la vita e la testimonianza di Sant'Antonio di Padova.  Nato a Lisbona in Portogallo, ha imparato in età precoce ad ascoltare la voce di Dio. Questa voce l’ha spinto a rinunciare al tesoro terreno della sua famiglia e a cercare invece un diverso tipo di fortuna.
We are in the midst of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and we have come today to thank God for the spiritual treasure of the saints, in particular, the life and witness of Saint Anthony of Padua.  Born in Lisbon, he learned at an early age to listen for the voice of God.  This voice prompted him to denounce his family’s earthly treasure and to seek instead a different kind of fortune.

Possiamo solo immaginare la lotta che avrà subito prima di arrivare a questa decisione: le attese dei suoi genitori e le assunzioni di tutti i suoi compagni l’avrebbero collocato in un mondo di potere e di prestigio, un mondo che l’avrebbe allontanato dalla morsa della maggioranza del popolo. Invece, Fernando Martins (il suo nome di nascita) ha risposto alla chiamata del Signore; ha sperimentato la gioia suprema della misericordia di Dio, e per questo, ha imparato ad annunciare la misericordia agli altri.

We can only imagine the struggle that he must have endured before he came to that decision: his parents’ expectations and the assumptions of all of his peers would have placed him in a world of power and prestige, but a world that would have been very much removed from the grasp of the majority of the people.  Instead, Fernando Martins responded to the call of the Lord; he himself experienced the exceeding joy of God’s mercy, and because of that, he learned to proclaim mercy to others.

Mercy is the greatest gift that God has to offer to his people.  Mercy is the secret weapon with which God brings the truth of every situation to light, and mercy is the means by which He invites us to renounce everything that will not lead to our ultimate happiness so that we can discover the joy of knowing Him.

When the great King David chose to follow the temptations of his heart, God sent Nathan the prophet to point out the error of his ways (cf 2 Sam 12:7-10).  Sin is the part of our history that we would all like to keep hidden, but God brings our sin into the light of faith in order to show us his mercy and to help us to learn from our mistakes.  Thanks to Nathan’s courage, King David was able to find the courage to admit his fault: I have sinned against the Lord (2 Sam 12:13) and his reward was instantly granted.

Sant'Antonio ha viaggiato da Lisbona alla Sicilia e poi in altre parti d’Italia. In ogni luogo dove si è fermato, ha parlato agli altri della potenza della misericordia del Signore. Non c'è dubbio che ha raccontato le storie della Bibbia, proprio come facciamo oggi, per incoraggiare gli altri a credere che la misericordia di Dio sta ancora al lavoro nella nostra vita e che anche noi possiamo trovare il coraggio di allontanarci dalle tentazioni del peccato.

Saint Anthony traveled from Lisbon to Sicily and then on to other parts of modern-day Italy.  In every place where he stopped, he spoke to others about the power of God’s mercy.  No doubt he used the stories of the bible, just as we do today, to encourage others to believe that God’s mercy is still at work in our lives and that we too can find the courage to turn away from the temptations of sin.

How many times did he recount the story that we have heard in the gospel today?  How many times did he use the example of Jesus’ encounter with the woman who bathed his feet with her tears … and anointed them with ointment (Lk 7:38).  Like King David, this woman had a past, a history that she would have preferred to keep hidden.  Perhaps she had worked hard at keeping it a secret, but such secrets keep us all from our full potential.  God’s mercy gently prompts each of us to face our fears, to admit our weaknesses.  Sometimes, when we do, we are unable to speak, but our gestures portray the hope that is deep within our hearts: a hope that God will hear our prayer and welcome it joyfully.

Rendiamo grazie oggi per il dono della misericordia di Dio, e per il dono di grandi predicatori come Sant'Antonio di Padova; ci aiutano a scoprire la misericordia sempre all'opera nella nostra vita. E  grazie a lui, e per molti come lui, che noi siamo qui radunati. Siamo venuti a rendere grazie a Dio per averci rivelato la verità che quando ci accorgiamo del modo in cui la misericordia di Dio opera in noi, veniamo anche a credere che viviamo la nostra vita nella fede del Figlio di Dio che ci ha amato e ha dato se stesso per noi (Gal 2,20); questo è il motivo della nostra insuperabile gioia.
Let us give thanks today for the gift of God’s mercy, and for the gift of great preachers like Saint Anthony of Padua, who have helped us to discover mercy at work in our lives.  It is thanks to him, and to many others like him that we are gathered here today.   We come to give thanks to God for having revealed to us the truth that when we realize the way that God’s mercy works within us, we also come to believe that the life we live, we live by faith in the Son of God who has loved us and has given himself for us (Gal 2:20), and this is the reason for our great joy.