Daily gospel

Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel Wednesday 17 January 2018 Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot

In Egypt a jolly elderly monk said the following to the one female member of our entourage : We have a great deal to thank the ladies for , even though it is not on account of female gender that we were expelled from paradise , but we can thank the women that the abbot Saint Anthony , and following in his footsteps we also again discovered Eden. The cheerful Coptic monk with a twinkle in his eyes, made me curious. So upon our request he continued on with his train of thought :The Great Saint Anthony after his conversion , established the hermitage, solitude at the outskirts of the town on the banks of a river , and one day the laughter of bathing girls interrupted the quietness of his small homestead. The young hermit (Anthony was 20 years old when he started in the track of the rich young man ) angrily chided the girls , why did they disturb him in the prayer he was absorbed in ?  The girls answered him laughing , if he desires to meet God , he should move further away, not here in the world but outside the infinite wilderness should he look for th Infinite. Saint Anthony the Great set out and a long way from the edges, borders of Cairo , in the desert he found his own wilderness and in it the infinite God ! At present here in the seclusion (300 hectares ) 120 monks live and worship God. The example of Saint Anthony the Great inspired Saint Augustine , an the whole monastic movement , Saint Benedict as well whom we honour as, the patron saint of Europe. 

The elderly monk’s teasing talk that was meant as a cheerful tale, actually puts a finger on the essence of the matter. Perhaps the original sin is nothing else but the turning outside , that went hand in hand with the turning away from God . Adam was not driven out of paradise  but with his turning towards the creations he himself broke away from his Creator, from Eden . Simply the gift became more important than the Giver.

Saint Anthony the Great found Eden , because following the advice of the gospel of Jesus he let go of everything so that he could be with his Creator . A daring , brave death leap ! Saint Anthony was capable to put down all the shining , sparkling gifts under the Christmas tree, and threw himself into the arms of the Giver. Upon the word of Jesus saint Anthony stretched out his hand, but not after the many shining, sparkling valuables : for money , for power , for the pleasures offered by life but after the hand of his worshipped Master .

It is a great mystery !I don't believe that in God’s gifts would be poisonous ! I don’t believe that we have cannot rejoice in each other , to taste the fruits of the Earth ! Simply the order of priorities is important ! Jesus Christ’s first and most important commandment He puts this in order : worship the Lord your God , be with Him because He is the Garden of Eden for you. The creations are God’s precious gifts ! Your wife, your children the whole world is yours, rejoice and love them as yourself. Saint Anthony the Great and his trustworthy disciples learnt this, and teach us also to worship God, an to love the creations correctly! Out of this healthy , correct love towards the creations was Europe born with her cathedrals reaching towards the sky , wit her codexes guarding and carrying knowledge, the hospitals investigating illnesses , taking care of the injured and all that, that makes our world to be our home , liveable.

In the physical sense we do not have to embark on the way of Saint Anthony the Great , we do not have to depart the world , but in a spiritual sense if we don’t follow in his footsteps and we are not capable of honouring the Creator more than the creations , and the sparkling , shining gifts will continue to be more important 

than the Giver Himself , then we can wander far away from Eden and become victims of our greedy, selfish sinful desires and we will also perish ourselves .

For us - who have experienced something out of God’s blessed presence -the greatest task is to encourage people to get going towards our Creator ! God lives , in Jesus Christ and does not only call the rich young man, Saint Anthony and the monks but speaks to everybody :” Come to me all of you “!

Our churches are shelters in the battlefield lead by the generals of our insatiable desires  , there are our sake havens Christ present in the Holy Eucharist heals the wounds of our churches, hospitals received from the bustle of our world .Our churches are like  an oasis with pure water , the water of eternal life meaning to be born anew stems from here,  is plentiful for all man.

Our churches are the planning offices for people searching for the tomorrow , as the Spirit of wisdom can be called upon in the quietness !

Lets not leave our churches ,the wilderness of the XXI century empty, lets not allow them to be disgraced , demolished ! In the quiet solitude of our churches our Lord Jesus Christ awaits  the XXI. century rich young man to make them joyful! In our churches we not only find the lost Eden , but also  the wisdom for the renewal of our world ! 

Saint Anthony the Great , lead us on the way offered to the rich young man, but feasible path for all mankind , the beautiful way of the gospel towards your Master, Jesus Christ !

With living faith,

Father Csaba

translated by dr k.e.

Jesus entered the synagogue.

There was a man there who had a withered hand.

They watched Jesus closely

to see if he would cure him on the sabbath

so that they might accuse him.

He said to the man with the withered hand,

"Come up here before us."

Then he said to the Pharisees,

"Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,

to save life rather than to destroy it?"

But they remained silent.

Looking around at them with anger

and grieved at their hardness of heart,

Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."

He stretched it out and his hand was restored.

The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel

with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

Mark 3, 1-6