We celebrated one of the Desert Fathers a couple of days ago on January 15: Paul of Thebes, also known as Paul the Hermit. Today we celebrate the most well-known of the Desert Fathers: Anthony of Egypt, who was born in the middle of the 3rd century. St Athanasius, Doctor of the Church and Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, wrote a biography about St Anthony of Egypt, making him very popular in the Early Church. Anthony sold off his large inheritance at the age of 20 and moved to the solitude of the desert. The movement of the Desert Fathers exemplified the way these early Christians felt called to live out the simplicity and silence of their faith. Even back in this era, they felt that the true message of the Gospel had been distorted and that they needed to renew their faith in the solitude of the desert. The way of life of these Desert Fathers and Mothers reminds all of us how important our prayer life is to our faith, how we are to search out those quiet moments where we are to find God’s presence.
The Desert Fathers and Mothers felt called to go back to the simple, bare-boned roots of the Christian faith. I find a lot of encouragement in their story. I also find a lot of encouragement in the readings from the letter from the Hebrews we’ve been hearing in Daily Mass. Some Scripture scholars believe that this letter was written to Jewish converts to the way of Jesus who had left Jerusalem. According to the tone of the letter, they are tempted to abandon their Christian faith, perhaps because they are not yet well grounded. Also, they are weary of the persecution of Christians, another reason for them to abandon their faith.
Our reading today gives the Hebrews encouragement in the midst of their struggles, as they are reassured that God is mindful of all the good they’ve done and the love they’ve shown their fellow Christians, perhaps referring to support they've given to Christians who have remained in Jerusalem. They are urged to stay true to the earnestness that characterized their early days of faith, to not be complacent or disheartened. Whether it be in our job or our school work or family life, our day-to-day journey can be frustrating, difficult, and complicated. Our daily reality can wear us down. Yet, those are often the majority of our days, when we are called to fidelity and hard work, to put one foot in front of the other. We are to be imitators of those who are good examples of the faith, not only of those saints we honor in our Church, but those faithful Christians we see around us who are good examples of the faith.
May we pray today that we feel encouragement and motivation to make it through those difficult days that we face on our journey of faith. May we not give up in the midst of our challenges.
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