You Are A Priest Forever, In The Line Of Melchizedek

Memorial of Saint Anthony, abbot
Reading I
Hebrews 5:1-10
Brothers and sisters:
Every high priest is taken from among men
and made their representative before God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal patiently
with the ignorant and erring,
for he himself is beset by weakness
and so, for this reason,
must make sin offerings for himself
as well as for the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself
but only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.
In the same way,
it was not Christ who glorified himself
in becoming high priest,
but rather the one who said to him:
You are my Son:
this day I have begotten you;
just as he says in another place,
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
In the days when he was in the flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications
with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able
to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was,
he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him.
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Responsorial
Psalm 110
R. You are a priest for ever,
in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
R. You are a priest for ever,
in the line of Melchizedek.
The scepter of your power
the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
R. You are a priest for ever,
in the line of Melchizedek.
Yours is princely power
in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew,
I have begotten you.”
R. You are a priest for ever,
in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
R. You are a priest for ever,
in the line of Melchizedek.
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Gospel
Mark 2:18-22
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees
were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,
“Why do the disciples of John
and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them,
“Can the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them
they cannot fast.
But the days will come
when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth
on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine
into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
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St. Anthony of Egypt
(251-356)

The life of Anthony will remind many people of St. Francis of Assisi. At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel message, “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21b), that he actually did just that with his large inheritance. He is different from Francis in that most of Anthony’s life was spent in solitude. He saw the world completely covered with snares, and gave the Church and the world the witness of solitary asceticism, great personal mortification and prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew many people to himself for spiritual healing and guidance.

At 54, he responded to many requests and founded a sort of monastery of scattered cells. Again like Francis, he had great fear of “stately buildings and well-laden tables.”

At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of 311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving moral and material support to those in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church centuries to recover. “The mule kicking over the altar” denied the divinity of Christ.

Anthony is associated in art with a T-shaped cross, a pig and a book. The pig and the cross are symbols of his valiant warfare with the devil — the cross his constant means of power over evil spirits, the pig a symbol of the devil himself. The book recalls his preference for “the book of nature” over the printed word. Anthony died in solitude at 105.

Comment:
In an age that smiles at the notion of devils and angels, a person known for having power over evil spirits must at least make us pause. And in a day when people speak of life as a “rat race,” one who devotes a whole life to solitude and prayer points to an essential of the Christian life in all ages. Anthony’s hermit life reminds us of the absoluteness of our break with sin and the totality of our commitment to Christ. Even in God’s good world, there is another world whose false values constantly tempt us.

Saint of the Day
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