Today our liturgy speaks to us of listening to God and believing that He can carry out
the promises He makes, that He can do what is necessary for our salvation.
And we need only respond to His call, we need only follow Him, follow exactly what He says.
In the first reading we see the lack of faith in the Israelites, it was God who was ruling
them and whenever they were following Him and carrying out the commandments He'd given
them, He was with them, He was fighting their battles and they were at peace.
They were protected, they were at peace.
But whenever they turned away, they were besieged by their enemies.
Now they come to Samuel, appoint us a king, anoint us a king, just like everyone else,
through the seeking to turn away from God.
They don't want to follow, they want to be like everyone else.
And Samuel warns them, but if you do, you've got a king ruling over you, now he's going
to tithe, he's going to do this, he's going to do that.
He's going to do that.
He's going to do that.
You should be following the Lord, no, appoint us a king.
And finally God tells the prophet, Samuel, give them what they want, appoint them a king.
And we will, as I was about to say, we follow, we go on following what happens in the Old
Testament and we will be as we go along, we're going to see what happens when we don't have
that complete faith in God.
Then we see here the lack of faith of the scribes in the Gospel passage.
When our Lord first tells the Pharaoh that your sins are forgiven, they have yet to understand
that the one who was saying those words was in fact God, therefore he was not blaspheming.
That is why he said those words.
And he says it with all authority, because he is God.
But as it was with the people of that day, they always wanted signs, they wanted to see
tangibly, what is it, where is that authority, where do you get that authority?
So the Lord works the miracle and cures the paralytic to show them he has that authority.
He is God.
Therefore he can do miracles.
He can do what he tells us he will.
He can carry out his promise and fulfill the promises he makes.
He can carry us through any trial.
But again, we must be willing to follow his call.
And the day we celebrate the memorial of Saint Anthony Abbott, who was, he's also known as
the father of the Holy Spirit.
He was the father of the Holy Spirit.
He was the father of monasticism, as it were.
Actually, Saint Benedict is the father of monasticism.
He is the father of the religious life, as it were.
He's the very first one, one of the very first ones, Saint Anthony, who began to live what
we would come to call the anchoritic life, lived as a hermit, as it were, by himself.
He grew up in Egypt.
And his parents died young, leaving him a younger sister.
And on one occasion, he heard the call of God.
I believe he went into church, and the gospel was read, and he heard a, I forget the exact
passage.
I can't repeat it.
I don't remember exactly.
But it was something of the effect of, go and give what you have, and come follow me.
It was sort of a, it was a call to follow him.
And Saint Anthony wavered a little bit.
He started about halfway, but he didn't go all the way.
He didn't go all the way.
And he heard another passage that told him, give up everything, come and follow me, as
it were.
And so without hesitation, he took, he saw to the carrying of his sister, I think he
placed her in a convent.
And then, not too far away from his home, just picked up a place, sold everything, and
took a little, a cave somewhere, isolated, not too far from the family home, but still,
in Alexandria, there in Egypt.
And lived.
He lived alone, as it were, in solitude, simply to pray, to take care of himself, of course.
He has a little garden, et cetera, and pray, and just unite himself with God.
And soon there were followers.
And each one, they built their own little huts around his, and he would instruct them.
And so it was, for the better part, perhaps, of about 90 years, he lived to be 106.
We are in the, he was born around 250 in Egypt, sort of the very beginnings of Christianity.
But so it was, thus he lived, alone, as a hermit, but he had to place his faith in God, that
God would carry through everything he, all of his plans, that God could do it.
And he needed only to respond, simply to give his yes.
And carry out what God was commanding.
Amen.
And thus he was able to live, as I said, for the better part, over 80 years, more than
80 years.
Something like 85 years.
As I said, he lived to be 106, but simply, daily, responding to God's call, giving his
yes every day.
We need only to do the same, simply give our yes every day, give ourselves back, little
by little, back to God.
He will carry us through, above all, to union with him, ultimately, in paradise.
Raised be Jesus in heaven.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.