anthony of the desert

1 Samuel 16:1-13; Ps 89 I have found David my servant; Mark 2:23-28

Today is the memorial of Anthony, at the age of 18, after his parents untimely deaths, he heard these words of the gospel, "If you wish to be perfect, then go sell all you have give to the poor and come follow me." He did just that. He spent the remainder of his life in the desert, fasting, sleeping on the ground, praying. At the age of 105, he died.


Here are a few words from St. Anthony of the Desert.


"Let it be your supreme and common purpose not to grow weary in the work you have begun, and in time of trial and affliction not to lose courage and say: Oh, how long already have we been mortifying ourselves! Rather, we should daily begin anew and constantly increase our fervor. For man's whole life is short when measured against the time to come, so short, in fact, that it is as nothing in comparison with eternity. . . . Therefore, my children, let us persevere in our acts of asceticism. And that we may not become weary and disheartened, it is good to meditate on the words of the apostle: 'I die daily.' If we live with the picture of death always before our eyes, we will not sin. The apostle's words tell us that we should so awaken in the morning as though we would not live to evening, and so fall asleep as if there were to be no awakening. For our life is by nature uncertain and is daily meted out to us by Providence. If we are convinced of this and live each day as the apostle suggests, then we will not fall into sin; no desire will enslave us, no anger move us, no treasure bind us to earth; we will await death with unfettered hearts."


Now I direct your attention to the first reading of today. We continue to follow Samuel. The opening lines of the reading are striking, "The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel?"


"How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I rejected as king of ISrael."

We like to think of God as a happy go lucky being. Where he never loses his cool and he is always forgiving and doesn't really get bothered by anything we do. We like to imagine God as a warm cuddly metaphysical bear.

Yet, today's reading helps keep God real.

God rejected Saul. God decided that it was going to be far worse to keep Saul as king than to kick him to the curb. He wasn't working out. He had failed in his task to be obedient and faithful.

God had no problem letting him go. God needed to make a change.

Something for us to consider often.
None of us are beyond reproach.

This is why we should go back and reread what St. Anthony recommends.

We should awake each morning as if we would not live until evening and fall asleep as if there would be no waking, only then can we truly live with no love left behind.