Sunday, January 8 : Saint Anthony of Padua

“He was subject to them.” With these words let all pride dissolve, all rigidness crumble, all disobedience submit. “He was subject to them.” Who? In brief, he who created all things from nothing; he who, as Isaiah says, “has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea and marked off the heavens with a span; who has held in a measure the dust of the earth, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance” (40,12). He who, as Job says, “shakes the earth and the pillars beneath it tremble. He commands the sun and seals up the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea; he who made the constellations; he does marvellous things beyond reckoning” (9,6-10)… This is he who, great and powerful though he be, was subject. And subject to whom? To a workman and a poor young maid. O “First and Last”! (Rv 1,17). O leader of angels, subject to men! The Creator of heaven subject to a workman; God of eternal glory subject to a poor young maid! Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Has anyone heard such a thing before? So no longer hesitate to obey or be submissive… Come down, come to Nazareth, be subject, obey perfectly: all wisdom lies in this… This is what it means to be soberly wise. Simplicity that is pure is “like the waters of Shiloah that flow silently” (Is 8,6). There are people of wisdom within religious orders but it is by means of simple men that God brought them there. God chose the foolish and weak, the lowly and ignorant to bring together those who were wise, powerful and of noble birth through them, “so that no human being might boast in itself” (cf. 1Cor 1,26-29) but in him who came down, who came to Nazareth, and who was subject.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team