I was standing in the Sacristy the other day in front of the air conditioner, staring out at that marvelous tree that is just outside the door there. Watching the squirrels run up and down the trunk, and the leaves which were beginning to turn falling once in a while to the ground. I couldn’t help but think about that line from this morning’s first reading: “that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Rooted and grounded in love.
That brought me to thinking about those hurricanes that went through recently. My mom and dad lived north of where all that devastation was in North Carolina. They weren’t affected in that way, but for a few days I couldn’t get in touch with them because the phone lines were down, and the power was out. So, like all worry warts, I began to watch the news and was astonished at the devastation. A lot of trees were down. Their roots pulled up and simply washed away in the flooding. Occasionally I’d see a tree that made it though, that’s pretty impressive. But what I think even more astonishing were the trees, that even though their massive trunks were ripped in half and the trees were gone… the trunk remained. The roots never pulled up, even though that tree was no longer with us, it’s roots stretched far below ground to the source of their nutrients, to the source of their life, and would remain for years to come.
The early church fathers said that “love is the foundation of all virtue.” Our Saint today, Saint Anthony Claret, left such a mark on us. He founded the “the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” That’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it? Probably why we call them the “Claretians.” They were an active order. Saint Anthony reminded us that love isn’t just a feeling or emotion, it’s a verb. It requires action. It is moving, the love of Jesus flowing through us, into the world around us. But we need roots. We need to be attached to the source of life. The place where we receive our spiritual nourishment, replenish our stores. Most of us have limited energy, and to be honest, especially if I’m honest with myself, we sometimes waste it on things that don’t spread that love.
That’s why Saint Anthony had a huge devotion to the Eucharist and to our Blessed Mother. He knew that in order to have roots that would outlast any storm we needed to be connected to Christ. That one of the ways we can do that is to ask Mary, the only person to ever have God reside in her physically, to help us have the Eucharist in our hearts at all times. He believed that in receiving Christ; in being devoted to His Mother, we could become temples of the Eucharist carrying it with us in our hearts at all times. That’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?
Just a few days ago Father began to have an hour of Eucharistic Adoration during his regular confession times on Tuesday night. Theres something special about that. Having access to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and access to Christ’s grace and mercy in the confessional at the same time. There is peace we find that in silence, the peace that surpasses all understanding. It gives us even more time with Jesus, more time to spend with Him. I find that over the years the more time I spend with my wife, the more alike we begin to think, the more we say the same things, even the same sentences at the exact same time. That’s how we want to be with Jesus. Every sacrament is an encounter with Him, and Adoration is a moment to simply get away from the world and all its worries and sit with Him and listen for Him to speak to us.
With that in mind, the Claretians are still active today. Saint Anthony has gone on to be in Heaven with our Father, but the roots of His faith, grounded in the love, grace and mercy of Christ are still with us today. I think that question for us today is: what kind of roots are we forming? Will they outlast us? Will others feel the effects of our lives and the love of Christ in our legacy?
Saint Anthony Claret, pray for us.
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 476