Saints: St. Anthony of the Desert

St. Anthony of the Desert is my confirmation saint. I am a bit ashamed to say that I picked him because my grandfather (who died before I was born) and my uncle were both named Anthony and I liked being named after people. I don't think I did any real research on his life when I picked him and only really knew that he lived alone in the desert and I thought that was kind of cool. I didn't understand fasting and the temptations he had and his battles with demons and the devil!

I had to write a report on his life and I think I got a C on it, mostly because I didn't include his feast day. I am pretty sure that was the worst grade I ever got in religion.

If I were going to do it again, I don't think I would have picked him. Besides the really cool bread and not cutting his nails (he also refused to bathe) we don't have that much in common.

However a few years ago I read his biography by St. Athanasius and St. Anthony started to share his wisdom with me.

He taught me that I need to be able to give up my positions. St. Anthony gave up everything after reading Matthew 19:21 "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

St. Anthony gave me an example to rid worry from my life. After reading Matthew 6:34, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today" he put total trust in God give up the rest of what he had and lived in the desert. He even sold his sister to the convent!

Lastly his life has shown me the importance to withdrawal from the world and spend time alone with God. I love to be with others but I often forget I need to have time to be alone with God. I need to be quite so that he can speak and I can hear his voice .

St. Anthony is the patron God wanted me to have because he challenges me to find balance in my life. It is good for us to have saints that we love because they are like us, but we must also have saints who push us out of our comfort zones. If we are not being challenged we are not growing.

I encourage you to find a saint who challenges you. Maybe find your own desert and pray to God for guidance in choosing one. Feel free to share a saint who challenges you below.

Also if you don't know much about your confirmation saint I encourage you to read everything you can about them. Become an expert in your saint or at least remember his or her feast day.

Festivals

Note to reader: Just to make it clear this post is in no way a knock on parish festivals. I love parish festivals, and pour my time and money into them. And I really hope I win the $10,000 major raffle.  

This weekend was my parishes festival and for the past few weeks we heard urgent cries about the need for volunteers. In fact this tends to happen every year. However, I feel like in the past few years we have become more and more desperate for help.

The desperateness of their plea and clear need for aid hit me hard. It caused me to ask myself if I was willing to make a desperate plea to save souls. We put so much time and effort into making the festival a success because it keeps the parish and school running but are we willing to put that same time and effort into bringing others to Christ.

The Archdioceses of Detroit has called for a year of Evangelization, what are we doing about it? If we could really see the need to save the souls of others from hell and immerse them in God's mercy, I doubt we would be able to take time for rest. The Body of Christ needs to be mended and built up. The time to act is now. We must share with our brothers and sisters that God became man to set us free from sin, shower us with mercy and forgiveness, and give us a new life in Jesus Christ. I firmly believe if the amount of people it takes to put on a festival put their hands to the plow and showed others the desperate need to share the gospel we could really make a change in the world.

Our festivals would not be seen as something we need to do to keep us in the black but a way to celebrate together. Our goal should be to make heaven reign on earth. We have the power to do awesome things. Jesus tells us in today's gospel, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these." We are called to do greater works than Christ himself! As St. Catherine of Siena said, "If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire." What are we doing?

My prayer tonight is that we will set the world on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit. That I will commit myself more deeply to proclaiming the name of Christ, our salvation, to everyone I encounter. And that all those who read this might join me in this commitment.

Check out St. Paul Street Evangelization for more information on Evangelization. 

Saints: St. John Paul II

I am going to try something a little out of the box and start a blog series on Saints! I might think of a better tag for these: like BSF (Best Saints Forever), or G's Saints or maybe you might have a better title (< this is me asking you to comment).  Anyway what I plan to write about is a few saints but this is going to be a different from your typical saint bio. I am going to share with you who these saints are to me. How they have changed my life, and how I have developed a relationship with these champions of faith. And I can not think of a better way to start than with a man I met (if meeting means I came within 15 feet of Him while he was driving past): St. John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II and I have a lot in common, we are both Polish and Catholic. I am half Italian and he lived in Rome with Italians for a large chunk of his life. There is a giant statue of him in front of the church where I received my Baptism, First Eucharist, and Conformation, and I hear they are considering putting a smaller statue or bust of me next to it one day.

I met Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day, Toronto, during the end of the Freshmen year of high school with my youth group, BRICK. I traveled with many of my best friends, whom I was just getting to know. Two of them being my future wife and my future best man. It was a key moment in my life, my chance to meet the Pope!

I remember losing my friends in a crowd of thousands just to capture the picture above. His presence filled those around me with excitement and zeal! The night before the pope celebrated mass, we marched miles and slept in a field with over 850,000 people. And it rained and was very windy... When the Pope started Mass he said jokingly "This is a Baptism in a natural manner!"   By the time the homily began the sun was shining and we were dry. 

St. John Paul II was the only Pope I had for most of my life, and I believe His life has directly effected my life. Maybe his greatest work, The Theology of the Body, influenced and inspired many Catholic's to speak and write on this subject. These men and women took this deep and profound work and made it digestible for a teenager. He gave me one of the best gifts I have ever received; a desire to live a life of chastity and the drive to save sex for my marriage. I know his intercession, as well as many of the saints, the prayers of loved ones, and my wife gave me the courage and strength to save sex for marriage. John Paul II has truly blessed my marriage and his writings continue to bless my family.

His example of frequent confession, love of Eucharistic adoration and devotion to Our Lady, have shown my the path to Christ. John Paul II lived an astounding life and has blessed the Church in countless ways, but I believe his greatest acts are just about to start.

I left for Toronto just to meet the pope. John Paul II gave me something much more amazing than a photo; a life with Christ

  St. John Paul II pray for us.