St. Anthony: Amazing Miracles! - Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar

well thank you everybody for joining us here at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy on Father Chris it's an honor to have all of you with us now uh before we begin our prayer I know that Saint Anthony's Feast Day has just passed it's June 13th but this is such a huge Saint and we're going to tell you why uh these stories are absolutely amazing and then there's something called a miraculous prayer unlike any of the other Saints this one is incredible and it's a miraculous prayer that we're going to lead you through uh during this talk as well also it's the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and so Saint uh Anthony's the perfect Saint because he had such a devotion um so this is a beautiful day and we're glad you're with us one of the beautiful things of our faith is the Saints they're that we don't worship them we do not they are examples for us to follow and to learn from because they're human just like us and they show us that we can do it so let's begin with a prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Heavenly Father we ask you send the Holy Spirit down upon us to open our minds and hearts to receive the grace you wish to give us and through the intercession of Saint Anthony May Our Lives be filled with grace and mercy and dedication and Devotion to you through a life of virtue and we ask all this through Christ Our Lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen so this is one of the top five Saints in the history of the church and funny because the other one that's in the top five is Saint Francis and they were together they lived at the same time they knew each other so what an incredible time um Saints now Saints as I said are great examples we don't worship them um there's such a misconception in in amongst the non-catholics of the role of the Saints and I have a good talk uh up here on the YouTube channel called the rule of the Saints and explain all of that we do not worship they are intercessory and that is what the Bible tells us to do but then some people say Well they're dead father well yeah so was Moses on the Mount of Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration but he was very alive the Bible tells us that those Abraham Isaac and Jacob are very much alive and this was way after they had died and so the Saints are not dead they are alive in Christ and so they give us the example of how to get to heaven they show us we can do it and so Saint Anthony is one of the greatest one of the most popular of all the saints now we know him as Saint Anthony of Padua but he was not born in the Italian city of Padua and neither was his birth name Anthony okay he was born a Fernando in Lisbon Portugal actually in 1195 he was this the son of a well-to-do family his army officer was his dad now he was educated by priests and later we're going to tell you about all his amazing Miracles which I find fascinating but a little bit about him uh he made his own decision to enter religious life at 15 years old so he knew early and we kind of know him who do we pray to if we lose something Saint Anthony he's the patron saint of lost or stolen articles but he was more he was a Franciscan uh priest uh great preacher and teacher but he's also known as the saint of the poor people don't know that Sailors and fishermen if you're ever out in the water and you're in trouble he's the guy he's also the Patriots saying people don't know this of priests and travelers we think of Saint John Vianney for priests and Saint Christopher for travelers but Saint Anthony's right up there he's also the guardian of the male so if your mail never arrives or it's late or you really need a package to get there overnight he's the one to pray to now let's take a look at the next slide Saint Anthony is typically seen holding the Child Jesus how many times have you walked into a church or seen a Catholic statue of a saint holding a child most often that is Saint Anthony and we have Saint Anthony on our property we have a beautiful Saint Anthony statue go go over there and see it holding the Child Jesus but as you see on the slide he also would hold a Lily and a book or all three and we'll talk about that so as with any saint as I said he shows us how to live he had much courage during life's ups and downs we don't we take that for granted that when our life gets difficult we're not we don't turn to the Saints enough and so um he's responsible very responsive to all people for all needs so here's the thing everybody the church has said that his intercessory power before God is the most awesome now of course we know our Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph they're kind of in a different league but amongst the the Saints um this is it this is It's powerful so let's what do we know about them okay at 15 we said he entered but he didn't under as a Franciscan he went to this the Augustine uh the augustinians Saint Augustine the Order of Saint Augustine now he didn't really like Monastery life because it wasn't peaceful um for and again he was known as Fernando and he couldn't really pray and study because his friends kept coming to visit and um he would get into Political discussions and he just he didn't get focused so after two years he was sent to coimbra and there he began nine years of study learning augustinian theology not a Franciscan yet but later he would combine that with his Franciscan experience so he took life you know trying to serve God now here's where his life changed you know have you ever had a life-changing moment right here's how his life changed when they saw the bodies of five Franciscan Martyrs that were returned from Morocco now what happened was they continued to preach Jesus despite being warned that by the Muslims to stop these five continue to teach about Jesus they were tortured and beheaded now what happened was this happened right before the queen or the procession of these bodies happened before the queen and a crowd as They Carried the remains in A procession to the local Monastery that was a Franciscan Monastery so that's where he got it so he made a decision a huge decision and he went to this little Franciscan friary and said Brothers I would gladly put on the habit of your order meaning the franciscans if he would promise to send me as soon as possible to Islamic lands that I may gain the crown of Holy Martyrs now I laughed because I did the same thing with Father Kaz I was convinced a few years ago that I was called to Iraq because of the persecuted Christians please pray for the persecuted Christians they are the most in need of help especially in the Middle East our Christians are being beheaded they're being slaughtered and there's no attention paid to it by the U.S government we're more focused on redefining gender and and and people um offending each other than we are in the lives of the Christians being killed and so pray for them well anyway I went to Father Kaz and I asked him to go to Iraq and he said no no absolutely not and that's exactly what happened um you know to some of us in religious life we have our own plans but God has other plans so listen to what happened to Saint Anthony let's go to our next slide he was allowed to leave and he received the Franciscan habit that's a beautiful little picture there isn't it I mean how momentous to be able to receive that so he receives the Franciscan habit he took the name Anthony that was not his name his name is Fernando but he took the name Anthony after the desert monk Saint Anthony of Egypt back from the 4th Century so now the franciscans did allow Anthony to go to Morocco unlike father Kaz with me in Iraq to be a witness for Christ and even a martyr but the difference was God didn't allow it that's kind of where God spoke to Father cows with me you're not going but um the gift that he wanted to give has martyrdom was not the gift God asked of him um he became ill and he couldn't go so after several months he realized he had to go back home problem was he never arrived what happened his ship ran into a huge storm and the winds they blew him all the way across the Mediterranean and he arrived at Sicily um okay Sicily and the Friars there in Messina though they didn't really know him welcomed him nurtured him back to Faith and this was what he wanted a quiet life of prayer contemplation living in a Hermitage as a Hermit if that would have happened you never heard of him but sometimes that's a better life well anyway after a dinner one night the provincial Superior said that we wanted a friar two give a short sermon and he was called on nobody knew him they didn't even know he had any education or not and he was asked to give something simple but he was just just a dishwasher don't ever think God can't use you because you're nobody I mean this is who God uses he was just a dishwasher and they thought he had no education even though he did and he began to speak very simple but then he got this fire and in this fire and all of a sudden his knowledge came out and his Holiness came out everybody was really impressed and basically he was exposed I mean they found out that this guy has got a gift and so his quiet life of prayer and Penance at the Hermitage was now over so he became a public preacher and um it's funny because when I came to the Marions I did not I wanted to just be in the background being in a quiet prayer just like Saint Anthony and I had no desire to teach or preach I just wanted to pray I just wanted to be quiet and people say father you cannot be quiet and I was helping father Dan at a mission and father Dan Cambra was in the confessional and he had a long line of people and he was scheduled to speak and I had no desire no intention of ever speaking or teaching at all I just wanted to be a brother behind the scenes praying a quiet life and this is how God works so father Dan's in the confessional and it's getting closer to seven o'clock when the time begins and I'm getting nervous because I was organizing everything for father Dan selling his books and arranging his talks and he's scheduled to speak at seven he got a church full of people and so I'm outside the confessional door a little nervous and it's seven o'clock and the next penitent comes out so I go rushing into the confession I said father Dan you got to speak they're waiting for you and he said well there's too many people waiting for confession you go talk I had never spoken I said father Dan I haven't prepared anything he says it doesn't matter you just follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I said what he said yeah you know a lot about Saint faustina just talk about Saint faustina I about panicked I had nothing I had no notes I had nothing written down I had no idea what I was going to say and so he says I need to stay here in the confessional I'm being called and so I'm like you got to be kidding so I went up there and there were words coming out of my mouth I had no idea where they were coming from I had no idea and it just came out and afterwards uh father Dan came out of the confessional just as a little bit before I was finishing and ever since then I've been doing these talks going around speaking started with Father Dan and that's how it began for me that I felt okay Lord gives different people different missions and what a blessing to be able to talk about divine mercy and this is what happened to Saint Anthony he didn't plan this he was called upon how funny by another priest to give a short talk it was the same thing and so I find this very interesting now what happened was uh um it was thought you know as I said he was thought to be uneducated but now it's becoming evident that he was gifted and he became the great preacher Theologian um Saint Francis now we're talking about Saint Anthony but Saint Francis the other top five Saint in the church heard about him and they got to know each other so he assigned Saint Anthony to preach in Northern Italy now he's from Portugal so the problem was his and this was the same problem with many preachers their lifestyle was different they were living a pretty good life and he's like something's wrong here I'm a priest but I'm not living the poor like the poor to whom we preach and so Anthony saw that words were not enough that's why us Catholics are not just about words well you just got to profess Jesus Christ as your lord and savior you don't have to do anything Jesus did it all you don't have to worry about anything Jesus does all the worrying it's just what you say I profess Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior no the Bible says not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but those who do the will of the father that's why we must do works of Love Not The Works of the law and Anthony saw this he had to show the life of the Gospel poverty gospel poverty now people wanted more than just some preacher they wanted somebody living the gospel and this is who Saint Anthony was and in him they found it they were moved by who he was not just what he said and um so he made 400 visits around the area choosing to go into cities um were mainly the Heretics were were strongest and he took on the Heretics he was nice sometimes I take on the Heretics but I need to be a little nicer in 1226 okay he lived in the 13th century he became provincial Superior again he was shocked when I became provincial Superior I was shocked I made all these trips to go out and preach never expecting that I would be made provincial Superior now I have to cancel a whole bunch of them so please pray for us because I hate to do that but I have to and he went around um and and he but he still held to prayer now he became sick because this began to be very tough on him and he um and he be got very sick but he was still provincial and he went to the general chapter in Rome I just finished our general chapter in Rome in so I'm just reading Saint Anthony going oh my gosh this is amazing um and he asked to be relieved of his duties when I was in Rome I asked not to be elected because they're actually the general asked me not to be elected so that I could stay here in the United States and um so anyway he asked that well anyway it was denied in a very funny way um and he was sent finally now to Padua this is why we call him Saint Anthony of Padua even though he had not been from Padua and so this was a town in Italy not far from Venice just west of there and it was one of the most important cities in Italy now is where he preached his last and most famous sermons crowds thirty thousand thirty thousand people that's amazing they have a lot less people then than we do now uh in terms of the population but they had a lot more at the sermons now the churches could not hold them so he would go to the piazzas and the Open Fields just like Jesus and he would preach and people waited all night long to hear him in fact he needed a bodyguard because people would come up with scissors and would cut pieces off his habit because they wanted relics well anyway he lived in the confessional many confessions lasting all day sometimes he fasted sometimes all day um he was a great man of penance Zeal but he was primarily a saint for the people always with the people um amazing and so anyway he had this great energy but the problem was he wore himself out so in 1231 he was sick he was exhausted and he was getting close to death and he wanted to return back to Padua because he had kind of gone around the local area and so in a wagon they brought him back but he was so weak he didn't make it and he had to stop at a town away called arcella and there he blessed Padua from a distance just like Saint Francis blessed Assisi from a distance and there in our Cella he received the last sacraments he sang and prayed with the Friars there and one of them asked him as they saw him he was kind of just steering away and he said I see my Lord he's coming for me I mean can you imagine seeing Jesus coming for you that's what our faith is waiting for that's our hope and anyway he died shortly after that he was only 36. this is just like the great Saints Therese Saint faustina I mean amazing and um he'd only been a Franciscan 10 years now let's go to our next slide because the following year he was declared a saint because of all the Miracles and his feast day we just celebrated June 13th um and that's the day he died uh June 13 12 31 and so many miracles this is why he was canonized now let's talk about this because Devotion to Saint Anthony started happening right away after he died now I'm going to explain to you why we have Devotion to Saint Anthony thousands came to view his body uh and to attend his burial and it is grave all these Miracles started happening so all of a sudden all these Miracles so Saint Anthony is also depicted with a Child Jesus with a book in his hand and a lily now this has to do with his miracles so let's talk about this now he also has been painted preaching to fish holding a monstrance in front of a mule we're going to explain these are all his miracles they are fascinating all right why do the we live though I'm going to start with why we do we pray to Saint Anthony for lost things anybody know why all right let's start there why do we pray to Saint Anthony when you lose something and I am famous for that it's starting to be clear to me after doing this talk on Saint Anthony that I think the Lord might be putting me under Saint Anthony you know that's how you get your patron saints your patron saints you can get one of three ways one is the day you're born okay so you're born I'm born July 26th that's the feast day of Joachim and Anne the parents of Mary angelicum is known as a father and they go wow my patron saint is Saint Joachim because I'm a father and um your patron saint can come the day you're born so my sister's born on January 31st she's her Patron says Saint John Bosco so your patron saint is the day you are born whose feast day that is okay but it also can be uh based on your name so my Patriot's saying is Saint Christopher who happens just to be the day before his feast day is July 25th and I was born one minute after midnight on July 26th so I'm right between Saint Christopher and Saint Joe come in and Saint Christopher's the patron my patron saint by my name you can also get a patron saint by your vocation your your your um what you do your um your vocation or your occupation all right if you're a Doctor Who's your patrons saying okay Cosmos and Damien they were surgeons right um if you um if if you have a certain vocation it could be based on what your um who your patrons saying is but also the big way is who God assigns to you and God will reveal your Saint to you as people start giving you like prayer cards of him if you keep seeing statues of him or her God will give you sometimes a patron saint and so why he may have given me Saint Anthony I lose everything I always am losing things now how did Saint Anthony become the patron saint of lost things Okay the reason that we invoke him and I think this is a great story because uh when we lose something so we need to find a lost or stolen item is traced back to when he had a book of Psalms he had the book of Psalms and in it he had notes and comments that he had collected he had written over the years now there was a novice in the franciscans that decided to leave and he took Saint Anthony's book with him this devastated Saint Anthony years of notes in that book and it was a special book to him so he prayed and prayed that it would be found or returned to him and after his prayer this novice who had taken it miraculously was moved and returned this book to Saint Anthony and he returned to the order of franciscans and they accepted him back which they never did back then and now the legend has it that this novice was stopped by a devil one of the Devils within ax and threatened to trample him if he did not return the book but this is kind of odd because the devil would hardly command you to do something good so I'm not sure about that part but anyway the stolen book is now preserved in The Franciscan friary in bologna if you ever make it there and shortly after his death People Prayed and started finding lost things and so he this is how he happened now I want to show you my favorite Miracle it's called the baby Jesus now Saint Anthony as we just said is often shown holding the baby Jesus now why why was Saint Anthony shown holding the baby Jesus let's watch a two-minute video and it's going to tell you the story have you ever heard the story of why we always find Saint Anthony of Padua depicted holding the baby Jesus what follows will explain the Friars Miner had no Monastery within the walls of Padua the nearest one at arcella outside the city being about three-quarters of an hour's walk it often happened that owing to the gates being closed early in the evening it was impossible for Saint Anthony on account of his missionary work to return home but he easily found a knight's shelter among his friends who were only too happy to have him for their guest Tito Borghese count of Campo San Pietro one of the Saints dearest friends was among the few whom he honored the most with his presence this noble man had so great a veneration for him that he carefully noted down all that took place during his visits even rising up at night to watch his guest Through the Keyhole once when thus visiting him he noticed an extraordinary light piercing through the chinks of the Saints rooms anxious to discover the cause of this he drew near and to his great surprise saw through the cracks of the door saint Anthony holding a beautiful child in his arms whom he was lovingly caressing his host was first at a loss to understand how this lovely infant had entered the apartment of his guest but soon discovered through his Majestic bearing and the Rapture of Saint Anthony that the child was no other than our divine Lord who under this form had come to console encourage and strengthen his faithful servant The Apparition lasted some time then suddenly disappeared leaving the room in total darkness at once the Saint Rose from his prayers and on going to his bedroom knocked against his host in the dark as if guilty of a crime he entreated his friend not to betray his secret during the lifetime of Saint Anthony the count Faithfully kept his word but after his death with tears streaming down his face he gave a minute account of everything that had taken place okay what a fascinating story um now this guy when when Saint Francis was startled and this man walked in how many times do we fear people walk in and we're doing something we shouldn't be doing and he walks in in Saint Francis uh Saint Anthony's holding the baby Jesus and this guy recognized what was happening and Saint Francis I keep saying Saint Francis Saint Anthony made him swear that he wouldn't tell anybody and he's holding the Child Jesus can you imagine and so this man did until the day Anthony died and then after the day he died this man told everybody and they found out later that it was confirmed through some other sources and some comments that were made by Saint Anthony's so we know this to be true what an amazing story but I'm going to give you a couple more miracles uh that are fascinating uh because it can be a shorter talk today um there is a miracle called where is your treasure now listen to this Anthony once preached at a funeral of a guy who was a money lender and you know how we go to funerals and we always canonize the person no matter who they were that's not good they need prayers and so Anthony's preaching at this guy's funeral and he told the listeners that they should not bury his body in consecrated ground for his soul was in Hell could you imagine saying that at somebody's funeral and he said that the man's heart was no longer in his body now the body's laying there right in front this is during the funeral and the family members got irate and he says trust me the heart is not in his body and they said you're lying and they screamed at him and called him a liar but Anthony said the gospel has been fulfilled for where your treasure is there will be your heart so guess what happened they opened up the man's side they didn't believe Anthony and they found his heart was missing now later they found his treasure chest and they opened the treasure chest and there was the man's heart whoa all that money that that man stored cheated from people the Bible says for where your treasure is there your heart will be Anthony's teaching this at his funeral saying this man's heart's not in his body the family gets irate they open his side right there his heart's missing and then later they find his treasure chest of money they open it up and there's his heart oh my where will they find your heart now they'll probably find mine in the river fishing we can't make anything else our God now speaking of fishing my favorite Miracles the miracle of the fish have you heard this miracle once once Anthony traveled to the city of ramini because he heard it was a hotbed of heresy and so the city leaders there ordered everyone to ignore him so no one turned up when he went to speak you know I heard that they did this to Cardinal Burke in New Zealand I was shocked by this shocked I went to New Zealand and there's some great priests great Bishops don't get me wrong but there's a few that are very not faithful to the teaching of the church and one of the liberal Bishops there her Cardinal Burke was coming God bless Cardinal Burke a man of the truth and he ordered everybody not to go he didn't even have a ride at the airport nobody even came to pick him up finally one priest got the courage went and picked them up and Colonel Burke came and all of a sudden everybody came to his talks you can't crush the truth and so what happened the leaders of the city told nobody to show up so Anthony walked along praying and reflect upon for reflecting upon what just happened there's nobody here and he walked outside of the town and came to the mouth of a river there he began to address not crowds but fish let's look at the next slide all of a sudden fish started popping their heads out of the water and he started to preach to the fish all of a sudden he cried out you fish of the river and the Sea listen to the word of God because the Heretics in this town do not wish to hear it suddenly there were thousands of fish that came and neatly arranged themselves in rows and they all pushed their heads up through the water through the surface of the water and they were listening to every word now all of a sudden word got out and all the people of the town who neglected Anthony and were told not to listen to him the people of ramini started coming out they saw this miracle they saw all the fish listening to Anthony and it converted the entire town see what happens when you try to crush the truth and the same thing's gonna happen you may have the politicians trying to crush the truth let me tell you as soon as we have the illumination of conscience and God enlightens us there ain't going to be nothing they can do to crush the truth right now the truth is being looks like crushed but it won't be now the truth is in the miracle or the Eucharist the other great miracle called The Miracle of the mule have you heard this one is one of my favorites Saint Anthony worked hard to convert people non-believers in Heretics because he felt sorry for them so he saw that they were deprived they deprived themselves of the most precious gift of all the Eucharist and he believed that no one could survive spiritually you might be able to survive physically but not spiritually you've got to have it your body has to have food how many people here who have not eaten in the last week have you eaten in the last seven days I doubt there's anyone here or listening that's not eaten in the last seven days have you received holy communion in the last seven days because we all need food for the body you've got to have food for the soul and so anyway one day a heretect told Anthony that he would believe that Christ was truly present in the Eucharist only if his mule bowed down to it and so the heretic so they had a little challenge kind of like in the in the Old Testament um we've seen this before and this heretic starved his mule for three days they arranged in three days they'd have seen Anthony bring the Eucharist so he starved his mule for three days now after that they brought the mule and Saint Anthony stood on one side with a consecrated host in his hands he was a priest while the heretook stood on the other side of the mule holding food for the mule to eat now the mule ignoring being extremely hungry hadn't eaten in three days went straight over to Saint Anthony and there are hundreds of people around nobody's making this up this is documented hundreds of people were there and he knelt down and genuflected before the Eucharist to adore it now let's go to our next slide because they have a statue of this in Maryland this is a beautiful statue look at that statue this is an um Elliott City or something like that in Maryland that is a gorgeous statue I want to get a little mini version of that and there's the mule genuflecting before look at the flowing Robes of Saint Anthony and he's got the Blessed Sacrament this is another documented Miracle now another great one is the miracle of the reattached foot this one was a young man in Padua named Leonardo went to Saint Anthony for confession and he confessed that he once kicked his mother so hard that she it really harmed her and she suffered a nasty fall and Saint Anthony muttered under his breath during the confession the foot that strikes father or mother deserves to be cut off now he didn't intend for this young man to hear that but he did and he took it literally because the man not understanding the meaning because doesn't Jesus say for sin your hand causes you to sin cut it off so he didn't understood it and he returned home and he took a hatchet and he cut off his foot he took him literally now do we read the Bible literally yes well then that would mean father cut off your hand because the Bible says if your hand causes it is sin cut it off so does that mean all of you should go home tonight take a hatchet and cut off your hand like this man did his foot no we read the Bible literally true that means that the message in the Bible is literally true what's the message that if your hand calls you sin cut it off the literal message is if there's anything in your life causing you to sin get rid of it if it is a computer get rid of it or a boyfriend or girlfriend get rid of them that is the literal meaning if there's something in your life get rid of it but we don't read the Bible as literal lists that means as a literalist you actually take a saw and cut off your hand Jesus did not mean that but this is how this guy took Saint Anthony now the word got out to Saint Anthony so Saint Anthony found this youth found his house and went into the young man's bedroom now let's take a look at our next slide this is a famous painting now if you saw this painting at an art museum or religious Church you probably wouldn't know what it is you know you ever see this you're going to churches you see pains you have no clue what it is I saw this before in a church in Europe I had no idea what this was I didn't know who it was now all of a sudden I'm doing this talk on Saint Anthony I'm like oh my gosh this is Saint Anthony praying holding the severed foot close to the leg of the man he made the sign of the cross and instantly the foot became attached to the leg now brother Mark tells us these stories he used to be involved in exorcisms and he said there was a story and I think it was one of the things I don't remember if it was Saint brige that he was talking about that or somebody else I forget I've asked him later but they watched the man's toe grow during the middle because it was it was a healing and this is what happened to this man this amputated foot literally was attached it grew back so to speak and so the young man jumped up praised God gave thanks to Saint Anthony for healing him but you know what sin Anthony took out of this not that he's some great healer Saint Anthony took a lesson that priests need to be careful what they say in confession and so pray for your priest before you go to confession sing and um uh faustina tells us all the time pray for your priest before you go to confession so that he'll know the right words to say all right what about this other amazing Miracle these are incredible Miracles these are I mean next to Saint charbell these are the most incredible Miracles I've ever seen in the saint there's one called the drowned child now in Lisbon Portugal there was a boy named parisio again this is all documented and he decided to go out on the boat with some friends but he didn't tell his parents suddenly there was a violent storm and the boat capsized the other boys were older they knew how to swim and they were able to save themselves but parisio drowned now after hearing that about this tragedy the boy's mother ran to the beach and she pleaded with the sailors to find the body so they lowered their Nets and they actually drug up the lifeless body and they gave it to this desperate mother so she's got this body of her son now the next day the family wanted to take the body to the church for the funeral and the burial but the mother would not allow it right she continued to pray to Saint Anthony now remember all of this is because of the faith of those who are praying if if you say well gee I pray all the time father nothing happens how's your faith do you really believe this mother did she prayed to Saint Anthony promising that if her child would be brought back to life she would consecrate him to the franciscans now let's look at our next slide this is a picture of it on the third day on the third day he rose again in front of his parents and relatives the boy suddenly awakened as though he was like in a deep sleep the mother's prayers to the Lord through the intercession of Saint Anthony were answered now when this boy parisio became older he entered the franciscans and he always told the story it's documented this shows the power of the faith of the mother my favorite gospel passage is the four men in the paralytic the man who was injured he was paralyzed he was lowered through the roof Jesus healed him but he did he say to that man on the mat your faith healed you no he looked up at the four men and said your faith has healed this man so when you have somebody that has fallen away from the church and you come up to me all the time you say father I'm distraught my child is not in church he doesn't believe you have to have faith you have to have faith and then you don't always know if it'll be converted in this lifetime many times Jesus told Saint faustine and the diary Saint faustina most conversions happen after it looks like they're dead did you know this this is unbelievable in fact let me show you I'm just thinking of this on the spur of the moment uh paragraph 1698. listen to this this is one of my favorite passages in the gospel you got to do like Saint Anthony you got to intercede for those loved ones of yours who have fallen away from the church or living a bad lifestyle who have insane-sex marriages or or not going to church even though that you may not see their conversion God does listen to this paragraph 1698 Diary of Saint faustina God's mercy sometimes touches the sinner at the last moment in a wondrous and mysterious way outwardly it seems as if everything were lost looks like they've died haven't converted but it is not so the soul illuminated by a ray of God's powerful final Grace turns to God in the last moment with such a power of love that in an instant it receives from God forgiveness is sin and Punishment well outwardly it seems to show no sign either of repentance or of Contrition this takes faith you pray for them even though it looks like they don't convert at the moment of their death you won't even see it but they do because Souls at that stage no longer react to external things oh how Beyond Comprehension is God's mercy although a person is at the point of death the merciful God gives that Soul the interior Vivid moment so that if the soul is willing it has the possibility of returning to God and most of that is going to have to be from your prayer because they don't have the faith just like that paralytic when the men lowered them down Jesus didn't say your faith healed you he pointed to the four men and said your faith healed this man you have a lost son or daughter your faith can help save that person you gotta have trust and faith though so this is what this woman did so anyway this shows the power of the mother's faith in intercession do you know in our Catholic faith we know of 400 cases where Saints raised the Dead do you know who one of them Rose the dead and it's documented our founder Saint Stanislaus papchinsky the founder of the Marian fathers he rose someone from the dead in the church history you know of 400 cases now what's the difference then how come father we don't honor them like Jesus Jesus rose from the dead because they will die again like Lazarus in the Bible Jesus Rosen from the dead but he still died but a resurrection of Christ he will never die again and that is the resurrection we are seeking now there's another incredible Miracle a dead man speaking I love this one in Lisbon the city where Saint Anthony was from there were two people who hated each other now the son of one of them met the son of the other Now isn't that something because when I was a kid if my dad didn't like somebody I didn't like the Sun or the the son of of that man and this is what happened they live near Saint Anthony's parents now filled with hatred and seeing that no one else was around the one man stabbed and killed the other and you know what he did he buried the corpse in the garden of Saint Anthony's father Martin now Martin tried to prove his innocence but when they found the murdered body buried in his garden he was blamed now God revealed all of this to Saint Anthony who was in Padua all right about what was happening with his father now immediately the Saint Saint Anthony got permission to go away for one night now the problem the distance between Padawan Lisbon is 1 200 miles so what happened Anthony only had one day to be away but he got there immediately he bi-located he bi-located and in the courtroom they were trying to convict his father the Saints showed up and he asked that the body of the murdered man be brought in so they bring in the body of this murdered man he's dead so Saint Anthony goes up to the corpse in a firm voice says to the man tell us who killed you could you imagine if you're a juror and shocking to everyone they have hundreds of testimonies to this the corpse sat up and announce the name and pointed at the murder could you imagine if you were that murderer and he pointed and announced the name of the murder and attested to the innocence of Saint Anthony's father the court was in shock they freed his dad at once and then the revived man who had been murdered turned to Saint Anthony and ask for absolution from his sins and Saint Anthony gave him absolution and then he turned right around and died again oh my God that's unbelievable and so miraculously the next day he was back in Padua they didn't have no planes he by located he only asked to be away for one night I mean these are amazing now there's another great one about the speaking baby now all of these are documented at the Basilica of Saint Anthony Padua in Padua Italy all of these were documented so this miracle there was a noble men who was very jealous of his wife so when his wife got pregnant and had their first child he refused to believe it was his own he was sure that she was unfaithful and this was somebody else's baby no matter how much the woman tried to tell him that she had not been with another man he rejected the new baby the baby was just born so in her desperation she went to Saint Anthony for help the Saint Anthony talked to this man for hours and it seemed like he was finally beginning to see that this is absurd and begin to believe that I'm just jealous and just then the nurse brought in the newborn infant this is a brand new born baby and all of a sudden the man got mad again and he saw this child and he started to get all mad again at this point Saint Anthony turned to the newborn infant and said in the name of Jesus Christ speak and tell us who your father is [Laughter] baby looked up and said this man is my father this is a newborn baby and in the voice of a child years older points says the man's name and says this man is my father the man totally broke down went into tears who took the child in his arms and praised God now this is why God sometimes allows miracles and this is why we see in the Saints examples Saint Anthony's saved a marriage and so you know we see the miracle of we just watched a video of the miracle with the Child Jesus is why you see statues of Saint Anthony holding the Child Jesus These Are Beautiful Stories only the Catholic church has this richness in history if you leave the Catholic church and go to another Faith you've got to erase all this stuff that happened in the 1500 years before Martin Luther back to Jesus are we just going to erase all that are we just going to just forget all that because all of that is based on the Catholic Church These are Miracles are example now he's the patron saint of sailors and fishermen why all right according to his biographers the statue of Saint Anthony is sometimes put up in the ship's mast and sailors are sometimes even scold him if he doesn't respond quickly enough when they pray that comes from another miracle in 1647 a priest named father villani and Padua was returning by ship to Italy from Amsterdam and the ship was caught in a violent storm now the priest encouraged everyone to pray to Saint Anthony now then the storm got violent they're gonna die the ship's being torn apart I tell you there's nothing nothing more I to me a fearful than when you're about to have death at sea a story I've never told before when I was in um out just after graduating college I went with my girlfriend to Lake Erie out a few miles off the Lake Erie Coast is an island called Putin Bay in Ohio and we went by my boat by just a little 18-foot open bow boat and we went to the island to spend the day and we're getting ready to leave because I had to go to work the next day and we're getting ready to leave and everybody's telling us to stay on the island well I didn't want to stay on the island we're not married I just didn't want to do that and also the weather's getting bad and we see the purple rolling in now this island is several miles from Catawba point the mainland and I just got this little open bow 18 foot boat with seats in the front and also there's this big giant boat that's leaving to go back to Catawba point and I said well I'm going to follow him and you know when you follow a big boat the Wake behind it's kind of smooth and all of a sudden we go and we're over halfway there and I was so worried about getting back to work the next day now how my times have changed you know nobody cares about emergency trying to get back to work the next day this was Sunday night and so all of a sudden the rain started coming and the wind was blowing the waves were like waves I've never seen I mean they were as high as those chandeliers and and the and once a wave you can handle the swell but when waves start breaking they're going to swamp your boat well this other boat turned back well we're already closer to Catawba Point than going back and I thought I'm not going to try to go back I'm going to try to make it to competent point and I'm the only boat on the lake and Julie's in the front I ordered her to the floor and I said get on your life preserver and I ordered her to the floor I can't even see the compass I have my electronics everything the water the the rain it's blinding I can't see two feet in front of the boat I have no idea where I am in the water and we're basically blind all I got is the compass and so I I remember the bearing of Catawba point and so I'm ordering Julie onto the floor she's got her life vest on and I'm standing above the wheel where the windshield is so I could try to kind of see in the blinding wind and the rain and in these waves like I've never seen in the boats just being tossed and all of a sudden I'm we're being swamped in the boat the keys you have to turn into the wave if you get turned sideways to a wave your dad and I'm trying to keep the boat and the boat's cavitating and all of a sudden we slammed down and the next wave breaks and that hits the boat going up and I completely flew where I was standing and I completely flew to the back of the boat I just happened to put a ski post on the back of the boat that like that week before and as I flew to the back of the it knocked me all the way to the back I happened to catch that pole that pole got caught on my life preserver which basically see but the problem was the boat turned sideways and the boat turned sideways and all of a sudden Julie who was on the floor had the Instinct I never taught her this or told her this she wasn't a boater instead of rushing to me thank goodness I mean you would think that that would be her natural reaction because I was thrown off the back of the boat I'm basically hanging on the back of the boat her natural reaction should have been to run to me if she would have we'd be dead there's no way I would be here instead she jumped to the wheel and turned the boat back around because what happened is the boat turned sideways just as this giant swell was come over and I'm watching this swell just coming over and I'm like that's it and she turned the wheel just at the perfect moment to turn the boat just enough to catch the swell and we went back over the thing and did not capsize well anyway by only a miracle I knew nothing of Saint Anthony back then I knew nothing of Saint Anthony back then and just then as we turned and we got by the grace of God we were able to find Catawba point I never kissed the ground ever in my life before we got to a point where Catawba point and I remember vividly a man being at the boat dock and he couldn't believe that I got in I couldn't believe it he says where did you come from I said Put in Bay he said oh my gosh you must have been praying to Saint Anthony [Music] I'm like who's Saint Anthony and so how amazing that a Saint's looking out for you and you don't even know what to think if you actually pray to him and I'll never forget the guy at the boat dock seeing you must have been praying to Saint Anthony because he's the patron of fishermen and and and sailors I didn't know that what an amazing faith we have that God gives us this body of Christ like this and so anyway here's what happened so in the storm they're all praying to Saint Anthony and at once he threw some pieces of cloth that had touched the relic of Saint Anthony earlier and he threw it into the ocean each time a piece of the cloth hit the waves they die down then at once the storm completely ended and the wind stopped and the Sea became calm so the moral to that story if you are ever caught out and and I think there was a tragedy recently wasn't there of 50 people that just died in a in a migrant boat that capsized I think I I might be wrong but please pray this is this is part of our faith so if you ever caught out on the water this is who you pray to now final one final Miracle Saint Anthony is also known as the guardian of the male if you need a package delivered don't call FedEx call Saint Anthony in 1792 there was a heartbroken wife seeking to know if her husband was okay he had traveled from Spain to Peru but she didn't hear anything from him so she was writing many letters but not getting any answers so in desperation she went to the chapel and wrote a letter and put it in the hands of Saint Saint Anthony now she wrote a letter to her husband now she went to the chapel and she put that letter in the hands of Saint Anthony and prayed that he would somehow intercede for her and deliver the letter yeah so she put this letter in his hand now the next day she returned to the chapel and she was disappointed because in his hands was the letter well somehow she didn't get discouraged she went up to the letter she opened it it wasn't her letter it was a letter back from her husband can you imagine so she realized her letter had been replaced by a letter from her husband he wrote that her last letter had been delivered by a Franciscan priest and so he wrote over joy to receive her letter because he thought she was dead not hearing from her for so long and she thought he was dead for not hearing from him for so long so they put the letter in the hands of Saint Anthony so if you ever need a package miraculously delivered I forgot my medicine and uh I'm on heart medicine and blood clot medicine that I could die if I'm without it for a few days and I sure enough went on a mission and couldn't get my heart medicine and my blood clot medicine I had forgotten it and of course I couldn't get it I was in um where was I was I in Europe and it was it's just as a nightmare trying to get prescription medicine when you're out of the country and it's just it's an absolute nightmare so I had them overnight it or two day it and um they said it'll never get there because you know overseas even overnight or two days it's not going to happen it's going to take a week minimum take a week minimum I had heard this about Saint Anthony this was just last year pray to Saint Anthony and I got that package of medicine in two days and so my body can survive for two days but always trust and so Saint Anthony if you got a package that you need to have delivered do it now another miracle involved kind of like Saint Benedict they tried to poison him and they couldn't kill him well Anthony they gave him a poison meal now why you would try to kill Saint Anthony I have no idea but anyway Anthony uh ate it with not being harmed after making the sign of the cross over it and the people who tried to kill him were shocked because they had poisoned it and they watched him eat the food he never died as soon as he made the cross over it there was no poison so all these things are why Pope Gregory IX who actually knew Anthony personally canonized him one year after his death now Saint Anthony was canonized in the shortest time in the history of the Catholic Church did you know that no other Saint 11 months no other saying in the history of the Catholic church was was canonized faster he's known as The Hammer of Heretics I love it but he's also was very peaceful he was very calm gentle in 1946 Pius XII declared him a doctor of the church this means he's one of the big dogs he's one of the ones now we have a bunch of today's Filipino day here at the National Shrine and you all know my love for the Filipino people you know my love for the Philippines I can't wait I'm going back there last week of uh July I'll begin be giving a retreat to the many many hundreds of priests and Bishops of the northern part of the Philippines then in August first week or 10 days of August I'll be traveling down to El Salvador city at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy there that's our Shrine and um Cayenne De Oro Kian dioro and that's where I'll be we're gonna publish a schedule of this so please share this because I'm going to be there and I'm going to be speaking I would love to meet your family and your friends um if you live in the United States tell your family friends in the Philippines but there is a National Shrine of Saint Anthony do you know this of Padua in Laguna in Laguna Philippines let's take a slide look at this here's the picture of it let's look at your slide this is the shrine the National Shrine of Saint Anthony of Padua in Laguna Philippines and the Laguna National Shrine was built in 1578. this is amazing so it's an important pilgrimage site and I'm wrapping up everybody so hang with me I only got two minutes left so one of the reasons that we follow this saint is likely that his life was what every Christian Life is meant to be all right a very steady courage to face the ups and downs of life the call to love the call to forgive to be concerned for the needs of others to deal with things with gentleness both trial and tribulation to have our feet solidly on the ground trusting in the law of Independence on God the Miracles this guy I mean next to Saint charbell these Miracles are incredible and so anyway I want to finish I've been all over the world I have been to every continent except Antarctica I just was now in Australia which is a continent and I have heard about all the beautiful churches of the world you know the most beautiful church I've ever seen right here in Massachusetts the most beautiful church I have ever seen anywhere in the world if you are ever in New Bedford Massachusetts Saint Anthony's let's take a look at the slide this picture does not do it justice that's a picture of Saint Anthony's Catholic Church in New Bedford Massachusetts that church that picture can't do it justice I have been to hundreds if not thousands of churches in Europe in America in Australia New Zealand in in you know Africa if you have ever seen a beautiful Church it does something to you this Saint Anthony's in New Bedford Massachusetts the most beautiful I have personally seen so if you're ever in the area please stop by and in fact as we said I'm going to finish now we have a statue of Saint Anthony on our property for all the great Filipinos here go visit Saint Anthony on our property before you leave and today is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary we cannot stop without mentioning Saint Anthony's great love for the Blessed Virgin Mary he had a tremendous love for her and so let us on this day the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary do what Saint Anthony did and ask him to intercede for us because the hand or the Heart of Mary is what we want to follow and it leads us to Christ we're not going to marry instead of Jesus we're going to Jesus Through Mary and this is what we have so I want to finish with what was the title of this talk the miraculous prayer of Saint Anthony so let's go to our next slide this is the unfailing prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua so we are going to finish with this prayer now what I I've understood in the tradition of the church yes there's other miraculous prayers but my understanding and what I've learned is this miraculous prayer to Saint Anthony is regarded as the most miraculous in the church to any saint now prayers directly to God obviously but asking for this intercession of Saint Anthony we're going to pray it together or no I'm sorry if you don't if you can't see it just open your heart I'll recite it let the word sink into your heart but we're going to put it on the screen you can see this video after you leave here you can read the prayer again but just let the words I'm going to read sink into your heart and it's the same as praying this prayer but I ask you to do it in faith because nothing is answered if we don't believe if we don't have faith and remember every prayer is answered but maybe not the way we want God answers what's best for us but this prayer is miraculous let's go to our next slide the miraculous prayer to Saint Anthony in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen oh holy Saint Anthony gentlest of saints your love for God and charity for his creatures made you Worthy when on Earth to possess miraculous powers encouraged by this thought I implore you to obtain for me and now let's take a brief moment to offer your intention okay we'll go to our next slide of this prayer oh gentle and loving Saint Anthony whose heart was ever full of human sympathy whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus who loved to be folded in your arms the Gratitude of my heart will ever be yours amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen God bless everybody we're going to be wrapping up thank you thank you thank you and before we finish with the final blessing I just want to invite all of you to be part of our Marian family if brother Mark and put on the screen there is a way you could become a member of our Marian family it doesn't cost a dollar you do not have to pay anything you don't have to donate anything now if you do and God puts on your heart beautiful we're trying to build a new Monastery to house all our vocations but if not that's fine you still get the grace go please to m i c prayers.org and there it takes 20 seconds and it doesn't cost anything become a Marian helper and when you become a Marian helper you receive by decree of the Holy See not by us the Holy See has designated us a spiritual benefit Society so that you receive All The Graces of our rosaries prayers pundances just like you were a Marian priest of the Immaculate Conception now what a great deal because you get the same Grace I do without having to be a Marian priest and so we invite you to be part of our Marian family all you have to do in return is try to pray for us when you can because we're all praying for you when you become a Marian helper I pray for you every day our congregation prays for you every day you don't want to miss that Grace and in return you just try when you can to pray for other Marian helpers remember Jesus said there's more power when people pray together right now there's a million and a half Marion helpers now not all of them are active I'm trying to reactivate all of them only about a quarter million are active so try to join us and be active and this is beautiful all right next um if you'd like to get my DVD of some of my earlier talks um you can visit is this called my explain in the face series on DVD shopmercy.org or call us at 800-462-7426 and finally I got a couple books out there that might help you one is one very important understanding Divine Mercy this book has everything you need to know about Divine Mercy easy to read you can get that also on shopmercy.org or call us 800-462-7426 and lastly our book with Jason Deacon Jason the suic after suicide basically this book helps anybody who's had any kind of suffering or loss not just suicide it's about the suicide of my grandmother so I call that after suicide There's Hope but it really could be called after any tragedy There's Hope you lost a loved one or you have a strange relationships and you're struggling get this book you can get it at suicideandhope.com or also at shopmercy.org and 800-462-7426 and I tell you what if you can't afford it but you really wanted to read it my assistant Peter's in today you can call him if you truly can't afford it you truly will read it I'll send you a free copy and you can call Peter at 413-298-1302 or email him at peterjames marion.org and I'll send you a free copy that's how much I want to get this message of Mercy out to the world so God bless all of you and please join us next week because next week Saturday at 11 o'clock be live streaming in person is the big talk on wokism and what this whole movement is and what does the church teach about it it's not hack on anybody what it is is a teaching of the truth so we hope that you'll join us the Lord be with you May almighty God bless you the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit go in peace the talk has ended thanks be to God thank you everybody God bless you thank you member of the association of Marion helpers you can receive all The Graces of our masses and prayers and penances just like you were a Marian priest or brother by decree of the Holy see it doesn't cost anything and it takes but a few seconds to sign up please visit micprayers.org or call us at 800-462-7426 God bless you

Channel: Divine Mercy

Views: 271,851

Keywords: St. Anthony of Padua, St. Anthony, Saint Anthony, Fr. Chris Alar, Marian Fathers, National Shrine of Divine Mercy, miracles

Id: Tv50Re1-7hk

Length: 79min 25sec (4765 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023