+(Intro) St Paul speaks to us this morning, on this memorial St Anthony of Padua, of how “we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifest in our mortal flesh.” So let us reflect for a moment on how we may resist entering fully into this mystery.
(After the gospel) Jesus was ever concerned about what goes on in our hearts as our gospel reminds us. There was the commandment not to commit adultery but Jesus says to us “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
One sees here the wisdom of the desert where the monks trained themselves to be ever attentive to all that rose up from within the depths of the heart. To truly know oneself and to help others know themselves is to get in touch with where we are continually living in the presence of the living God, at the very core of our being.
Whether it is our monastic commitment or the union between husband and wife, we are always in danger of adultery, the failure to love with the whole of our being. So let us ask God to fill our hearts with His own Holy Spirit as He filled the heart of St Anthony of Padua, so that we may live to the full our Christian calling.
2 Cor 4:7-15; Matt 5:27-32