CULTIVATING MYSTICAL VIRTUES


ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA, PRIEST, DOCTOR

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, Op

1 Kings 18:41-46; Ps 65:10-13; Mt 5:20-26

Cultivating God oriented Spiritual Virtues

A friend once asked me, ‘Do you want me to prove to you that there is no God?’ I paused a while to think of what he proposed to do. After a while, I replied, “In secondary school, we were shown that some quadratic equations have no solutions; but as we advanced in mathematics, we discovered that they have solutions, just that their solutions exist outside the number system we were familiar with.” I think this is the meaning of the scriptural passage: ‘The fool says in his heart there is no God.’ When we have not developed the spiritual faculty to grasp God, it would seem to us that he does not exist. My simple definition of a mystic is someone who sees God in everything. Our vocation as Christians is to journey into the mystery of God through the humanity of Jesus Christ. That journey is through his sacred humanity because he is the Way to God. The journey into the mystery of Jesus Christ requires our total commitment to the Good News we have received. It is a spiritual journey and not a physical one. Thus, we must never deceive ourselves in the physical realms with religious activities that are not spiritually rooted. These religious activities are beneficial only when initiated by the Spirit of God working in communion with our spirits. Thus, a sincere and personal commitment to God is the starting point of spiritual life and journey.

Our encounter with God must be personal before flowing into the community life. As we read yesterday, God used the prophet Elijah to bring his people to encounter him on Mount Carmel. On that mountain, God revealed himself to his people when he consumed their sacrifice with heavenly fire. God is the One to whom we must offer everything in sacrifice. All the people fell on their faces crying: “The Lord is God, the Lord is God.’ They had a personal encounter in a communal setting, for each person seeing what took place was convinced of the Lordship of God. This cry from each person was an indication of a change of heart and a personal commitment to God. Based on their conversion and renewed personal commitment to God that Elijah prayed for rain to fall again.  God answered his prayer because the prayer was inspired by God for the people. Elijah’s prayer brought rain because their sincere repentance reconnected them to God. Hence, prayer starts with our repentance and recommitment to God. This is what Jesus announced in the gospel. “If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” If prayer is not sincere, it cannot enter heaven. Following this statement, he explained how Christian spirituality flows from the true spirit of the Commandments.

The Commandments are not the end but necessary means to God. They are obeyed to please God and not self. Thus, when we focus on God, we do not see the Commandments but are carried by our desire to please God. Anyone whose desire is to carry out the physical activities of religion to pass before men as a religious person has missed the mark. Religion is a spiritual search for God and communion with him. This was what religion was for Anthony of Padua. He was born around 1195 into a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal. He entered the Augustinian Order at the age of 15. He was a simple monk and studied and was ordained a priest. This simplicity played out when he saw the bodies of five Franciscan friars martyred in Morocco. The solemn celebration that followed their remains at the monastery made Anthony go to the Franciscan friary to request to be given the Franciscan habit and a promise to send him to Morocco to earn the crown of martyrdom. This was an expression of the simplicity with which Anthony loved God. God accepted his sacrifice but had another plan for him, which he used his illness that forced him to leave Morocco to accomplish. After some years of preaching in northern Italy and southern France, he finally came to Padua, where his fame as an outstanding preacher spread everywhere. His simplicity and sincere love of God characterised his spirituality and preaching. He was simply a mystic who saw God in everything and related to everything as such. He worked many miracles during his lifetime and more after his death.  

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, through the prayers of St. Anthony of Padua, the grace to seek you in simplicity of heart and with genuine love for your word, that contemplating your mysteries in Jesus Christ our Lord, we may come to the fullness of glory in heaven. 

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