On the Feast of St. Anthony

 
We are very fond of good St. Anthony.

Yes, he is the patron saint of lost objects and for that reason is our go-to guy on Sunday mornings. (Please, St. Anthony, I know you’re busy…but can you just help me find that blasted shoe?) It is also why we just finished up a novena yesterday: “St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come ‘round. My husband’s lost his job and it can’t be found.”

What else?

Well, there’s his tremendous love for the infant Jesus. If you see a statue in church of a guy holding a child, it is probably St. Anthony. (Either that or it’s a memorial to all the dads who hang out in the vestibule with fussy infants and wailing toddlers.) Do you not just love the above image? Should we not all of us love our children so tenderly?

I’m getting gushy. Sorry. I tend to do that on my favorite feasts.

And so…and so…because it is one of Our Favorite Feasts, we will be celebrating today. You’d better bet your boots that we’ll be celebrating! (Or, in St. Anthony’s case, you had better bet your sandals.) Due to a fit of pregnancy insomnia yesterday, I spent considerable time looking around for ideas. This is what I came up with:

• Make Paper Plate Tropical Fish, in honor of all those legendary little fishies who lifted their heads out of the water to hear St. Anthony preach;

• Go on a St. Anthony scavenger hunt and hopefully find that lost shoe in the process;

• Bake a tonsure cake (i.e. a Bundt cake);

• Best of all, go to Mass! (Easy for me to say—I’m up at 5:00 on account of that pregnancy insomnia. Good thing for the kids there’s a 12:00 noon edition.)

You may or may not have time for these activities. Here’s a very easy solution: run to the store and buy a multitude of goldfish. Serve it to your children on a blanket outside and tell them the story of the little fish.

Hug them lots and love them tenderly.

Thank God for the gift of His angels and His saints.

• Related: A Big, Big Day for (St.) Anthony