Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua
We probably know Saint Anthony of Padua best as the patron saint of lost things. He's probably the first saint I encountered as a non-Catholic, when I was working in a biology lab and my (Catholic) lab partner and I had misplaced a set of important petri dishes. After turning over the lab several times, my lab partner finally said, "Well, we have to pray to Saint Anthony." I was verrry skeptical, but thought, "Hey, we have nothing to lose." The next day, the missing petri dishes were sitting on the top shelf with the rest of the dishes, right where they belonged - a place that we had, of course, looked at numerous times.
It's one thing (and maybe the easiest thing) to find lost physical objects , but lost spiritual things are also in St. Anthony's purview, and part of today's scriptures in a couple of surprising ways.
In 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-16, the prophet Elijah is looking for God, for he knows God will pass by. Part of the point of the scripture is that God does not appear where Elijah (and us) will necessarily expect: God is not in the strong wind or the fire, but in the smallest, most insignificant and quietest thing that passes by Elijah. Neither Elijah nor God are "lost" but in order to see God, we have to lose our sense that God must always be in the powerful things we see and feel, and instead learn to find God in places we will not expect.
In today's Gospel reading (Matthew 5:27-32), we see still another sense of losing things and being found. Here, Jesus addresses the sins that seem obvious, like adultery, and bumps that up a notch. Rather than feeling self-righteous if we're not committing physical adultery, Jesus points out that looks and thoughts can be just as sinful and cause just as much of a rift between us, God, and our neighbors. We have to lose our sense of self-righteousness and our sense that sins are only the really big bad things we do, and instead find that because we sin as much as the next person, God calls us to be humble and have love and care for each other.
On today's memorial of St. Anthony, let us seek to lose the things that hold us back spiritually, and let us seek to find those things that help us grow closer to God's ways.
- Jana M. Bennett