"Saint Anthony, Please Come Down"

Today, the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Anthony of Padua. The story goes that St. Anthony, an excellent preacher and teacher—now honored as a Doctor of the Church—prayed for the return of a special book that was stolen from him by a novice at the Franciscan hermitage where Anthony taught. The book was returned, and Anthony eventually became the patron saint of lost articles.
 
I am sure many of us have prayed to St. Anthony when we have lost something important or necessary to us. Often, we subsequently find the lost item. How do we understand that? When we pray to the saints, what are we really doing?
 
I am reminded of a few experiences I had when I was employed as a salesperson at a Christian bookstore. Occasionally a customer would come in looking for a little statue of St. Joseph to bury in their yard to assure success in selling a house. My wide-eyed non-Catholic Christian would wonder how we Catholics could be so superstitious! I would try to explain what the customer might have thought, but I wondered how many times any of us have given the wrong impression. Statues are not lucky charms or idols. They are reminders of holy people who will come to our aid, who can help us as we pray, whose examples we can follow.
 
When we pray and ask St. Anthony, St. Joseph, our Blessed Mother, or any other saint to help us, we are not looking to those saints as gods or goddesses. We are asking them to intercede for us with God, to pray for us and for our intentions. We are requesting their special prayerful help.
 
In the reading from Isaiah today (61:1-3d), we are reminded that there are many people who are suffering: the lowly, the broken-hearted, the captives, prisoners, and those who mourn. Especially now, with the coronavirus weighing so heavily, we can pray extra prayers and teach others about intercessory prayer. St. Anthony, pray for all of us who feel lost in some way!
 
And in the gospel today (Luke 10:1-9), as we read of Jesus sending out the seventy-two ahead of him, we rejoice that God’s kingdom is at hand. That is the wonderful news that enlivens our weary spirits with the desire to be less concerned about earthly things and more inspired to teach by correct example about the gift of the many kinds of prayer available to us.
 
Image courtesy of Pat Wiley Folk Art: Tales Told in Paint.
 
Sharon Krause is a RENEW volunteer whose writing has appeared in several resources for small-group faith sharing. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother residing in Manchester, CT. Over the years, she has served in many parish ministries.