St. Anthony of the Desert
The Church has St. Anthony of the Desert to thank for the
gift of religious life to the Church. At the end of his life at the age of 105,
St. Anthony had 30,000 followers in several monasteries and hermitages in
various parts of Egypt .
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| Saint Anthony Visiting St. Paul in the Desert by Matthias Grünewald, 1510 |
Anthony’s parents died when he was 18 to 20 years old,
leaving him with a younger sister to care for. Prior to this time he had been
experiencing a great desire to follow God, and this increased upon the death of
his parents. He began to think about the apostles who gave all to follow Jesus.
About six months after his parents died, Anthony, while going to daily Mass,
heard the story of the rich young man who came to Jesus to ask him what he had
to do to gain eternal life. Jesus told him to go and sell what he had, give it
to the poor, and come and follow Jesus for then the young man would have
treasure in heaven.
Anthony heard this Gospel and understood what it meant. He
understood that Jesus was telling the rich young man how he could become
perfect. There was a great hope in heaven for those who gave all for Christ.
The apostles left all to follow Jesus because they trusted that all who
followed him would have greater rewards in eternity. The idea was to abandon
the world to go to heaven.
Anthony consider that these words had been addressed to
himself so he went home and gave to his neighbors his best land, sold the rest
of his estate and gave the price of the poor and kept only what he needed to
take care of himself and his sister. Soon after this, he heard, at daily Mass,
the Gospel reading in which Jesus tells his followers to not worry about
tomorrow but rather to trust in God. Thereupon, Anthony distributed the rest of
his wealth to the poor, brought his little sister to a house of nuns to live,
and retired into solitude in imitation of certain old man who led the life of a
hermit in his neighborhood.
This shows that Anthony had a desire to be generous with all
that he had, and he wanted to contemplate the One who led him to freedom to be
able to give all for Christ. For Anthony, the Gospel was real and was speaking
to him, the rich young man.
Here we have the first steps in conversion.
1. Attendance at daily mass
2. Readiness to respond
3. Desire to be like the apostles
4. Listening to God in Scripture
5. Learning from Scripture how to respond in trust
The second Gospel passage, about not worrying about tomorrow
but trusting in God to take care of you, enabled Anthony to grow in trust, to
be free of anxiety, nervousness, and the what if’s that keep us from doing the
will of God. God says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow,” and Anthony replies, “OK,
I won’t.” Anxiety is a lack of trust in us. We fail to contemplate the hope
that we have in God. God has us in his grasp, so we trust him.
Anthony gave up his anxiety and kept moving forward. He was
a good man. He took care of his sister by making sure that she would be raised
well. Note that the attachment to his sister does not stop him from moving
forward. He finds a way to take care of her and still follow his vocation. Once
she is housed with the good nuns, he runs into the spiritual battle, into the
desert, to battle within himself his self-centeredness and his sins.
This shows the next step in spiritual growth. The
willingness to be changed. One needs to be open to change that will come
because about one’s vocation. Marriage is a vocation. When people are married,
they will change. Religious life is a vocation. Those who enter religious life
will be changed according to the vocation. Is Anthony going to be perfect right
away? No. He had to struggle. He suffered r spiritual attack by demons. He came
back to town for a while but then went back into the desert.
Inspired by his example, other people began to live lives of
solitude and prayer. At the age of 54, Anthony came down from his mountain and founded
his first monastery at the request of people who wanted to live a monastic
life. Others followed. Anthony would write them letters and pay them occasional
visits. Nevertheless, he worked hard to retain his solitude, his sparse diet, and
his penitential life of prayer and work.
Anthony set the pattern of religious life. St. Athanasius
visited St. Anthony of the desert and wrote his brief biography. We can sum it
up in these steps to embracing conversion as a vocation.
1. The willingness to do God’s will
2. The generosity to give all to the Lord
3. The hope that free is one from attacks of anxiety and
what if’s
4. Attendance at daily Mass
5. Attention to God speaking to us through the Scriptures
6. A readiness to act, to respond to God’s initiative and
call
7. To trust in God’s love
8. The freedom to be formed according to the vocation that
God has called us to
May St. Anthony intercede for us.
Transcribed in main part from a homily by Father David Engo,
FFM
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