Saint Anthony – More Than the Finder of Lost Things

Praying and preparing to write today, I am astounded by what I learned. Some of you have heard me say that I am not much of a “saint” person. Some people have spent an enormous amount of time learning and praying about the saints. But that was never me. Today is the Feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua. Learning about him has inspired a new appreciation for a Saint, which I honestly treated frivolously.

Growing up, my mother always told us to pray to Saint Anthony when we lost anything. So that’s how I knew him. Saint Anthony supposedly helped me find my glasses that were always lost when I was a kid. I actually thought it was kind of silly.

When I lived in the Bronx, I often invoked his name but never had any sincerity. It was more humor for me. As you might imagine, parking in the Bronx was often difficult. I had a little thing (I dare not call it a prayer) I would say, “Saint Anthony of the lost and found a parking space is lost and can’t be found.” That is somewhat of an embarrassment, now that I have taken the time to learn a little about Saint Anthony, a holy and humble man of God.

Saint Anthony was a true believer in the call of Jesus to leave everything and follow Him. He lived that call throughout His life. He responded when in prayer, he heard the call of God to go and follow him not once but over and over again in his life. Saint Anthony would pick up and embrace whatever the new challenge was with passion, commitment, and a sincere faith.

Anthony first joined the Augustinians, giving up his life of wealth and power. Then after learning of the Franciscans who were martyred, Anthony began to pray to be a martyr. He entered the Franciscan order and set out to preach to the Moors. But Anthony never achieved that goal because he contracted a severe illness. He was never really well again.

Anthony moved to Italy and lived in a small hermitage where he spent his time reading the scriptures, praying, and doing menial tasks. He humbly accepted this life as the way the Lord was asking him to follow.

The next call of God came at an ordination where no one was prepared to preach. The task fell to Anthony. While no one expected much from an unprepared preacher. Anthony was eloquent and inspiring. His years of prayer and devotion to the scriptures had rooted a great gift of preaching in him. Everyone was astounded by the power of the preaching of the humble Franciscan who lived simply with no vital task to accomplish. Anthony acknowledged that the words were not his but the voice of the Spirit working in him.

Once again, Anthony followed the call of Jesus to pick up the life he knew and to move to teach theology and preaching to the other friars. Another call followed soon after to go to France and preach to the Albigensian. He preached and converted many who had denied the divinity of Jesus and brought them to the sacraments.

He lived his last years in a “treehouse hermitage” devoting himself to prayer. Anthony asked to be brought to Padua on June 13th after he became very ill. He received the Last Sacraments and died that day. He was canonized less than a year later and was named a Doctor of the Church.

Saint Anthony can be an inspiration for all those who find themselves with their lives turned upside down. When life takes us in new and unexpected directions, Saint Anthony can be a guide of one who traveled that road before us. He never lost his zeal for the Gospel, whether he was doing menial tasks, teaching theology to the Friars, or preaching. In all things, Saint Anthony followed the call of Jesus, He followed Jesus no matter where that led. Saint Anthony was a perfect example of turning one’s life over to God and trusting God’s lead.

While Saint Anthony is still known as the finder of lost things. We can more rightly call on him to help us when our lives change drastically. He can help us to not regret the losses associated with change, but to embrace with zeal the new call of God in our life. Saint Anthony is an inspiration for all of us to follow the call of Jesus. Whether our call is to a place of honor or to menial tasks. All we do is for the Glory of God.

In God’s unending love,
Gwen