Happy Feast of St. Anthony
Happy Feast of St. Anthony!
First, I wish you all a happy Feast of St. Anthony! I don't know if you paid attention to the statue of St. Anthony. The statue of St. Anthony in Park Falls has lilies, a Child Jesus, and a book. The lily is meant to remind us of St. Anthony’s purity and our need to pray for the grace of purity in times of temptation. There is a book in his hand. According to the story, he had a hand-printed book of Psalms which was very important to him. He had notes and components to teach the students. He lost this book and St. Anthony prayed and the person who stole the book brought it back. That is where the tradition of praying to St. Anthony for the stolen items began. There are many versions of St. Anthony cradling the Christ child. The popular one is St. Anthony had traveled to a local hermitage to spend time in prayer. One night, while deep in prayer, Jesus appeared to him as a child. Then the room filled with light and laughter as St. Anthony held the Christ child in his arms. The owner of the hermitage was curious about seeing the light, and came to investigate, but was surprised to see St. Anthony and the Christ child. When the vision ended, St. Anthony found the owner of the house on his knees at the door. St. Anthony begged him not to share the story until after Anthony’s death. Let us ask the intercession of St. Anthony for each one of us, our families, and the cluster Community.
Even though we start the Ordinary Season after the Pentecost, the last two Sundays were celebrated Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi Sunday. This Sunday we are on the 10th Sunday of Ordinary time and focus on Jesus' public ministry.
We have first reading from the book of Genesis (3:9-15). In Genesis chapter three everything is turned upside down. We see in chapters one and two divinely established order, Adam and Eve to obey the will of God, and they are to rule over the animals. But we see in chapter 3, that the serpent rules over Eve and she shares with Adam, and both of them disobey God. In the passage for today, God is searching for Adam and Eve – “Where are you?” Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. Here there is an indication that there will be a constant struggle between the powers of evil and the human race, but God promises a redeemer. “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel" (3:15). This verse is called protoevangelium-“First Gospel ''-promising the victory over the serpent by the seed of the woman – the important prophecy of the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We see this promise is fulfilled in Mary and her Son, Jesus Christ, whose death on the Cross and Resurrection conquered sin and death. So Jesus and Mary are referred to as New Adam and New Eve.
In the Gospel (Mark 3:20-35), Jesus was misunderstood by his own relatives and friends, and was criticized and rejected by the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes claimed that Christ could cast out demons because he was possessed himself. During his time there was a belief that a more powerful demon could cast out a less powerful one. Beelzebul was the name of the pagan God whose name the Jews applied to Satan. Jesus told them about the sin against the Holy Spirit. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1864 says, "Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven." There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.
Christ destroyed the power of sin and death through his passion, death, and resurrection. We celebrate this mystery at every Mass and receive His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. He shares with us his mercy and love abundantly. We need to open ourselves to receive the gift.
As we are having the Corpus Christi procession – it is a way to adore and proclaim the greatest gift he has given to us in the Eucharist.