Let us live by faith

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, there is only one faith that unites us, just as there is only one God who directs his Word to us. After these days celebrating the preparatory thirteen days,1 we arrive at the day when we celebrate our patron, Saint Anthony of Lisbon. And we can say: we arrive more spiritually prepared. We were able, in these days, to draw even closer to the God who speaks to us, with our hearts now more attentive to listen to his voice. Precisely here is a central element of faith: faith as a supernatural gift granted to us by God so that we may hear, welcome, and live his Word. We were immensely enriched in these days of festivity, even feeling the weight of fatigue because of the various activities.

Having meditated and prayed the theme of the festivity — Let us live by faith!2 —, we can formulate the question: “What does faith give us?”. Which demands another question: “What is the Christian faith and what does it consist of?”. There is a generic understanding of faith as solely believing in the existence of a God, often with a face that contradicts the God that Our Lord Jesus Christ presents to us. That is, such a belief is not Christian! Is this type of belief rare in our days? Actually, no! On the contrary, it is very widespread. Therein lies the idolatry of those who do not want to bow down to God, but only to manufacture their own god according to their personal taste and style. Biblically, idolatry is not in the use of images, but rather in conceiving a god for oneself. To hear and to conceive constitute two completely different actions from each other. When I conceive a god, it is I who am expressing myself. When I hear God, it is He who speaks, and it is up to me to listen. “Hear, O Israel!”3 Faith is the gift that allows me to welcome the Word of God and live in his holy will.

The God of Jesus Christ is the one who speaks; he is not mute. His Word reaches the human heart, illuminates it and purifies it, demanding growth and, therefore, dislodging us from where we are. Thus, this Word unsettles us, making us realize that we do not live only for this life, but to conform ourselves to the realities of heaven. The Christian life, as a pilgrimage to heaven, is constantly marked by restlessness and by feeling dislodged. Returning to the question — “What does faith give us?” —, and in consonance with what the catechumens answer when questioned before Baptism, we answer: “Eternal life”.4 Great, therefore, is the gift that comes to us through the Christian faith. By living by faith, we welcome the gift of salvation and of new life and we orient our life toward the heights, where God is.5 We have here a wonderful encounter: God who comes to us, and we who are elevated by his grace to his heights.

Thus, as we turn our gaze to Anthony, we find in him the sanctifying presence of God, because he lived his life by faith. Anthony, inspired by the witness of the Franciscans, wanted to go to Africa to announce the Gospel and die martyred there.6 Even though these were his plans, and however praiseworthy they were, a saint who lives by faith needs, first of all, to hear from God what the divine plans are for his life. Upon arriving in Africa, Anthony falls ill and cannot do what he had planned. Not for that does he lose himself in the frustration of not being able to do what he wanted. Turning his heart to God, he makes the discernment that what he wanted was not the will of God. He wanted him in another place. So, he decides to return to Portugal. But he ends up in Italy.7 Saint Anthony, because he is a man of true faith, places himself in the service of the Kingdom with a heart attentive to the will of God. Since he does not remain passive before the harvest, he throws himself into the mission. Like a servant, he does not want to dictate how the vineyard of the Lord should be cultivated, but places himself in service with the obedience of faith.8 For this reason, he ends up where God wants him.

The witness of our patron is strong and even to our days possesses great vitality. Being a devotee does not consist in asking for miracles, but in following the example of the Saint — as he is known in Padua9 — and in entrusting oneself to his intercession. We find ourselves today in this position of devotees of Saint Anthony of Lisbon and, as such, we are provoked to let this living faith, which guided Anthony, guide us. Our days are different, and neither do we find ourselves in the same place as he did. However, the God of Anthony was the true God, for whom there are no limits of either space or time. And it is He who is essential. In another time and in another place, we too today are workers in the same vineyard of the Lord.

How much service was necessary for this festivity to happen! How many people involved! And what motivated us was our faith. Moved by it, each person set out to serve not seeking a useful and immediate end, but the glory of God. It was not a disordered work, in which each one made his own will prevail, but a coordinated work. Beyond the figures who took on the coordination of teams, what allowed us to act in a coordinated way was turning our hearts to God and hearing his voice. In this gesture we grow spiritually, realizing that, beyond ourselves and our will, there is a greater will that supports us, leads us, and saves us. So, everyone who lives by faith has the experience of being sustained and elevated by the hand of God, even when encountering fatigue in the mission.

I invite each one who is here to imagine what a community of disciples of Jesus who let themselves be guided by the Holy Spirit would be like. How many fruits this community would produce! How revolutionary, in the positive and proactive sense, it would be! There is our vocation! Nothing less than that. We are called to something greater than doing this or that event: to witness to our faith. And this is already happening among us. Because our hearts opened to the gift of God and wanted to walk by faith, God is doing his work today in our midst and in our own hearts; precisely because our hearts are worked on by God is that his work happens in our midst. The vineyard is the Lord's, and we are his humble workers.

God's working in our hearts is not a denial of our capacity to will. What does this mean? God acts in our hearts by dialoguing with us. And in this dialogue we can know his holy will and adhere to it. So, our will is neither passive nor annulled: it is fortified by divine grace, so that we may will what God himself wills. Therefore, when God works in our hearts, we too are called to work with Him. If the effects of God's action arise in our lives, it is because the will of each heart committed itself to willing and assuming the will of the good God.

Great is our joy in realizing that we do not work in vain when we live by faith.10 In our fragile capacities the eternal power of God acts, and his love generates life in us and among us. Let us remember now, with a humble heart, to present to the Lord of the harvest the fruits of our work, grateful because He calls us to his service and to produce fruit.11 When we make the offering of the fruits of our labors to God, we are not left empty-handed. Quite the contrary! The gift of God has enriched us, and, making of our own life a gift, we remain in this wealth, for we possess God himself and are inhabited by Him.

May our patron, a great example of a life lived by faith, inspire us to hear the voice of God and walk in his holy will! Amen!

Praised be Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Notes

The readings of this celebration are not identified in the preached text; therefore they are not recorded here. The notes indicate only the passages that the homily cites or alludes to, and the historical data about Saint Anthony.

The thirteen days of preparation. The thirteen days of preparation that precede the feast of Saint Anthony, celebrated on June 13 — the day of his death, in Padua, in the year 1231. ↩

“Let us live by faith.” Theme of the festivity. The expression echoes Habakkuk 2:4, taken up in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 — “the righteous shall live by faith” —, and 2 Corinthians 5:7: “we walk by faith and not by sight”. ↩

Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It is the Shema, the profession of faith of Israel. ↩

Opening dialogue of the Rite of Baptism: “What do you ask of God's Church?” — “Faith.” — “What does faith offer you?” — “Eternal life.” ↩

Colossians 3:1-2: “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” ↩

Anthony was a regular canon of Saint Augustine when, in 1220, the relics of the five Franciscans martyred in Morocco arrived in Coimbra. It was this witness that led him to ask for the Franciscan habit and to leave for Africa. ↩

Ill, he had to leave Morocco. The ship in which he was returning to Portugal was blown off course by a storm to Sicily — and that was how he arrived in Italy, where he would live the rest of his life and where he would die. ↩

“Obedience of faith”: Romans 1:5 and 16:26. The image of the vineyard and the harvest: Matthew 20:1-16; and Matthew 9:37-38 (cf. Luke 10:2): “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest.” ↩

In Padua, where he died and is buried, Anthony is called simply il Santo — “the Saint” —, and the basilica that guards his body, la Basilica del Santo. ↩

1 Corinthians 15:58: “your labor is not in vain in the Lord”. ↩

John 15:16: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.” ↩

Text revised for publication. The revision corrected agreement, government, punctuation, and repetitions, without altering the content of the preaching. The notes were added in this edition and were not part of the preached text: they indicate the passages cited or alluded to in the homily and, when the liturgy of the day is fixed, the proper readings of the celebration.