Embodied Paradox

Wednesday of the 2^nd Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Antony, Abbott (251-356)

St Antony Shunning the Mass of Gold, Fra Angelico 1435-1440

Saint Antony shouts this morning!

How is it that someone who sought with gusto (and succeeded) to build a life of solitude ends up revered throughout the ages!  His life is a parable of ‘the last shall be first and the first shall be last’!

We know a lot about him because of St. Anthanasius’ biography, Life of Antony…the primary source of which were his many visits to the desert monk.

I met a young man once who was a singer…and he mentioned, off-handedly, that to succeed in the business one had to become ‘ruthlessly self-promoting.’  I can still hear his voice.  I remember where the conversation took place.  I remember thinking, what an awful way to live.

The odd truth is that it is those who are ‘ruthlessly self-promoting’ that are almost guaranteed to end up in the dustbin of history!  And Antony…well, he prompts reflection by this 50-something, midwestern American woman, sitting at her laptop on a snowy morning, 1661 years after his death!  Go figure.  

Of course, I am not totally inexperienced in the art of self-promotion; it is an element in the air we breathe. But when I have confessed honestly from time to time that I (not so) secretly want to be famous…for some reason the confession usually invites laughter! I thank God for such friends!

He who sits alone

and is quiet

has escaped from three wars

hearing, speaking, seeing

but there is one thing 

against which he must continually fight:

that is, his own heart

     

-St. Antony the Great 

Sayings of the Desert Fathers 

St. Antony, The Embodied Paradox

Pray for me