for June 3
Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

My father began his professional career working at a large bank in the New York City financial district. He went on to spend many years in banking as an executive in large banks in the New England area. Growing up I remember how my Dad used to speak to us (to my brothers, sister, and I) about his work experiences especially around the family dinner table. The stories he told were part of his ongoing effort to have a voice in the education of his children. Many of his informal lessons were about integrity, working hard, staying true to your word, and doing everything possible to protect your personal and professional reputation. He offered wise lessons about work, organizations, but more importantly, about life and about living honestly. One basic theme for my father that came up often was, “Let your words mean something”. I think underlying his thinking was the view that how we speak and how we live are connected and important. I recall my Dad’s lessons in light of today’s passage in Matthew’s Gospel.

This section of Matthew (from the Sermon on the Mount) presents six “antitheses” (“You have heard…but I say to you”) that intend to show Jesus as the fulfillment of the Jewish Law and the Prophets. That is, the Gospel is trying to make clear that Jesus and his followers are not opposed to the Jewish Law in the Torah. Rather, the teachings and actions of Jesus bring to life in real human situations “the living out” of the Jewish law. For us, in this passage we are told that our words (what we say) and our vows (our life promises) form who we become and are therefore important in our lives. Yet, here Jesus suggests that we should always avoid speaking falsely and even entirely avoid taking oaths. What might this mean? While there is room for much debate here, perhaps the point for us is that what is crucial is how we love and live morally with each other daily. On today’s feast of St. Anthony of Padua (a famous Franciscan preacher, d. 1231), I remember the famous statement that in tradition is attributed to the great St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order. St. Francis is at least reported to have once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words”. But, of course, our words and promises do matter. Life experience teaches us this is so. Today’s Gospel may be urging us to live in ways where our words and actions are in deeper union. In our own time of “24/7 news overload” and with the airways and internet full of untruths, aggressive, and even hate-filled speech, this scriptural message today may take on for us a prophetic and even urgent tone.

In today’s reading from First Kings we meet Elisha the prophet of the Northern Kingdom of Israel as he is called to serve the great leader Elijah. Elisha renounces his old way of life and in the biblical stories is shown to be a man of wisdom and a great miracle worker. He eventually goes on to carry out and complete the works and mission of the prophet Elijah. The Bible tells us that Elisha was a man of his word and God’s power came forth from him. Jesus, who for Christians is the greatest Prophet of all, does the same for us as he teaches us how to live in more real and honest ways with each other. One central lesson of the scriptures today may be that our own inner and outer lives need to be more in union. During the years when I was living and working in China I learned how Eastern religions (various forms of Buddhism and also Daoism) place great emphasis on the union of mind, body, and spirit in relation to the ethical life. This wisdom sounds similar to what Jesus may be teaching in the Gospel today. Union in word and in living brings us peace and deep fulfillment.  

Matthew’s Gospel makes clear that Jesus offers us “a new ethic” and invites us into new ways of living. Our “yes” to him each day of our lives (even when our “yes” is imperfect) opens for us new possibilities of graced existence in a world of much disunity and social fragmentation and suffering. But this is the world that we are in and it is a world that needs us and our witness. My father lived his early professional career in an age when words and actions were generally more in sync with each other. Today, I believe, we face different and unique challenges in relation to our speech, our actions, and our own efforts to live morally. In a way, when we do as Jesus teaches and when our “yes” to the Lord is firm and from deep within ourselves, we can show a prophetic witness (like Elisha) to a world where fundamental integrity and basic trust are challenged in new and to my mind in disturbing ways. The Lord is faithful and guides us in ways forward into new life.
—Francis T. Hannafey SJ