Saint Anthony Claret

We celebrate the memorial of Saint Anthony Mary Claret. Saint Anthony was born in Spain in 1807. After being ordained a priest he traveled many years through Catalonia preaching to the people. He founded a society of missionaries and, after being named a bishop in Cuba, he won renown for his pastoral zeal. He died in 1870 (Magnificat, 329). The prayer at Mass says this about Saint Anthony, "Father, you endowed Anthony Claret with the strength of love and patience to preach the Gospel to many nations" (330). Here we have the example of an evangelizing saint. Saint Anthony, as we heard, traveled many years preaching the gospel. Even in scripture, Jesus says the same thing, that he came to preach the Good News and that Good News is that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The mission is still the same in our present day. Each one of us is called to be evangelizers, to proclaim the Good News, not just with words, but by our very example. People do watch to see how we live our lives, how we live our faith and we need to be a model. May the prayer that is used for Saint Anthony Claret be ours as well. Pray that God gives us the grace, strength, love, and patience that we need to preach the gospel to our brothers and sisters! God Bless You!!!