Yesterday my friend asked in a group chat: “do you have anything that you have lost? I’m going for St Anthony’s feast day Mass tomorrow.”
To that I cheekily replied: “Please pray that I find my soul! I lost it to my employer.”
Lo and behold, today’s reflection by Archbishop William Goh said exactly what I needed to hear.
I’ll reproduce some part of it here:
“Saint Anthony is seen to be the patron for lost items only because he, like Jesus, came for the lost souls. He was consumed with the desire to save souls. So more than just turning to him in prayer when we lose our things, we should first and foremost turn to him to save our souls and those souls who are lost.
Finding lost souls is far more important to finding our lost things. If we are to have a true devotion to St Anthony, we must also seek to find the lost souls and not just our lost things. What can we learn from this great saint in finding lost souls?
1. If we are to find lost souls, we must first lose ourselves in Him.
2. We need people to inspire us to offer our lives for the salvation of others.
3. He must have heard the Lord saying to His disciples, “The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to his harvest.”
How, then, can we bring in lost souls for Christ?
A) Our lives must be one of praise to God. We must sing praises to God not only with our lips but with our lives.
B) He was a man who was clear about the gospel of what is right and wrong. He was firmly established in the gospel.
C) He was a man who was sincere in reaching out to sinners and heretics.
D) He preached in the power of the Spirit.
E) He surrendered his life and mission into the hands of God, believing that God knows what is best. He did not impose his plans on God.
Truly, God was faithful to Saint Anthony and the Church made him a patron for lost things because he lost himself in God.”
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Originally posted at Catholic Rambles.
Image: Saint Anthony Basilica
2 thoughts on “Saint Anthony, patron of lost souls”
Just yesterday I prayed to St Anthony for a family members passport while we were at the airport going through customs. I prayed to him as I always do when I need to find something – with faith and trust that he will make it turn up. Not surprisingly as soon as I finished the heartfelt prayer he guided me straight to it within seconds it was found thank you St Anthony thank You Lord God. But something in me feels almost guilty whenever I do prayer to him because I only ever do so when I need to find something or if I’m in a desperate situation I have habit of calling St Anthony without realising it. I don’t pray to him much at all otherwise or Evan think of him. It is a coincidence that I stumbled upon this blog today. I was actually searching about lost souls and this blog came up. I did not realise that St Anthony is Patron of lost souls, hence why he is called upon for lost things. Thank you for the information and I will try to think of praying for St Anthony’s intercession whenever I do pray for holy souls . God bless x
For some time now he has been my faithful friend and guide, but i didn’t realize that he is the person of lost souls! (Not sure how i could have missed this).
As an example for us, he is truly an all purpose Saint: contemplative, patient in adversity, studious, versed in the Scripture, eloquent, humble, desirous of souls, lover of simplicity, powerful in intercession.
St. Anthony, pray for us