The Sixth Sign

THE POOR have the Gospel preached to them. Anthony quotes this remark of our Lord in his Commentary on the Gospel for the second Sunday in Advent. In a way, it sums up the whole mission of Francis and his followers, and therefore of Anthony himself – to preach the Gospel to the poor. Literally, Matthew’s words are, ‘poor men are evangelized’. Our Lord sent a message to the imprisoned Baptist, pointing out the signs of the Reign of God, the presence of the Messiah. After giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, cleansing lepers, restoring hearing to the deaf and raising the dead, the sixth sign was ‘poor men are evangelized’.

You might say that this sign was verified most completely in Francis himself: he, the quintessential Poor Man, received the Gospel, the Good News. Only because he had received the Gospel – had been evangelized – was he in a position to preach the Gospel, to pass on the Good News to others. Because he had visibly received good news, and bubbled over with joy because of it, was he able to be an effective herald of the same good news.

 

Sharing the Good News

 

Meditating on the Gospel words, Anthony turned to the prophet Isaiah, who also spoke of the joy of the poor in the Lord: “Poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” “Only the poor,” Anthony says, “have the Gospel preached to them, because what is hollow can receive what is poured in, while what is swollen repels what is poured.” The poor and the simple and the uneducated thirst for the water of life, whereas the worldly and the wealthy imagine they have no need of it.

Early in his religious life, Francis felt a need for solitude and contemplation; but he was wise enough to ask to friends, Brother Sylvester and Sister Clare, for advice. Quite separately, they sent messages to the effect that God was not calling him for himself alone, but for the salvation of many others. No-one should be a miser of good news, keeping it to himself or herself. Good news is to be shared.

Anthony’s experience was similar. His first attempt at mission, to the Muslims of Morocco, was frustrated by illness, and he was then glad to retire to Montepaolo and devote himself to prayer. But God had other plans, and showed him that his vocation was to preach the Gospel, and to guide his brothers to do the same.

Isaiah also spoke of God saying to Zion: “I am here,” and to Jerusalem, “I will give an evangelist.” Anthony comments, “A herald of good news to preach the Gospel to the poor, so that the nations may be saved by the Gospel, and the Lord shall make the glory of his praise to be heard in the joy of your hearts.”

 

The first missionary

 

Advent is pre-eminently the time of “those who preach glad tidings to Zion.” The Lord is coming, He is very near, He is coming to save, to heal, to put things right. At this time of year we remember how the Angel of the Lord came to Mary, bringing God’s Word so that she might first perceive it with her ears, then receive it in her heart, and so conceive it in her womb. We should also notice how her first action afterwards was to go ‘with haste’ to share the news with Elizabeth. A little while back, preaching at Lourdes, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, reflected on how Mary, visiting Elizabeth, carried Jesus within her; and how Elizabeth, though not yet knowing of Mary’s pregnancy, felt a current of joy in her own unborn child at the approach of the Saviour. “Mary appears to us here as the first missionary,” he said, “the first human being to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to another; and she does it simply by carrying Christ within her.”

 

Importance of humility

 

To receive the Gospel, as Anthony saw, we have to be ‘hollow’ and receptive. It is those who know they have nothing of themselves, the spiritually poor and humble, who are open to receive what God is offering them. Those who are swollen with pride, who think they know it all and have it all, allow the Divine message to simply run off them, ‘like water off a duck’s back’, as we say. Mary is our model. Francis and Anthony too are our models.

The Word of God, rightly received, is transforming. It fills us with joy, deep down in our hearts. It is this joy itself which impels us to become missionaries, evangelists, in our turn. We should not be nervous or diffident about this (although of course we must be sensitive to the situations in which we find ourselves). Our primary evangelising is done simply by ‘carrying Christ within us’, by living Christ-like lives. Archbishop Williams went on, “So there is good news for all of us who seek to follow Jesus’ summons to mission in his name; and good news too for all who find their efforts slow and apparently futile, and for all who still can’t find their way to the ‘right’ words and the open commitment. Our first and overarching task is to carry Jesus, gratefully and faithfully, with us in all our doings.”

 

Obstacle Christians

 

The great Indian leader, Gandhi, although a Hindu, said that he found Jesus Christ enormously attractive. What put him off Christianity was Christians. It is the failure of Christians to allow our Lord to fully transform them that is the biggest hindrance to mission. In his preaching, Saint Anthony was scathing about those in responsible positions – in Church or State – who by their un-Christian lives became a scandal and stumbling block to others. Far be it from us to be such an obstacle! Like Mary, we must not only hear the Word of God, but keep it in our hearts and proclaim it in our lives. “And if we are faithful in thus carrying Christ with us,” Archbishop Williams concluded, “something will happen, some current will stir and those we are with will feel, perhaps well below the conscious surface, a movement of life and joy which they may not understand at all. And we may never see it or know about it; people may not even connect it with us, yet it will be there – because Jesus speaks always to what is buried in the heart of men and women, the destiny they were made for.”

Christ is coming. The Church keeps Advent every year, because she believes in a Christ who is always coming into the world, always Good News. In God’s sight, we are all poor, all in need. He comes to enrich us with His own life, to fill the emptiness within us with the only thing that can satisfy us: the knowledge and love of Himself.

“Let us ask the Lord Jesus Christ,” says Saint Anthony, “to send us the word of his inspiration, and to wash us in the baptism of penitence: that we may prepare his way and make straight his paths.”