"All About St. Anthony of Padua" Speaking Presentation, 6/3/2018: St. Anthony of Padua Church, Kailua

The makeshift display altar for
the presentation

For sure, St. Anthony of Padua is one of the more popular Saints we have in the Church. Familiar statues of him with the Christ-Child in his arms are enshrined in many Catholic churches around the world... and, of course, when Catholics lose stuff, he's the likely go-to-Saint to help remedy the situation. But despite St. Anthony's enduring popularity, not many people know the details of his illustrious life - his zeal and passion for our Faith; his exceeding virtues and good works; his remarkable miracles; or even the reason why he's the designated Patron Saint of Finding Lost Objects. I think my priest and our parish council are aware of this, which is why they invited me to give today's presentation about St. Anthony to our parishioners.

Also, with St. Anthony's June 13th Feast Day just right around the corner, our parish is preparing for the Feast with a novena to our Patron Saint, beginning tomorrow that will be prayed for 9 consecutive days after every early-morning Mass. On the actual Feast Day, itself, there will be a special evening Mass, followed by our annual potluck celebration. So to make these festivities a bit more meaningful for our community members, our priest felt the need to somehow educate our parishioners about the life of our Patron Saint.

With my host's goal in mind, during my presentation I recounted the life of St. Anthony of Padua to the attendees; spoke about some of the big and small miracles he performed; and invited a close friend/fellow parishioner to testify about a favor she received through the intercession of St. Anthony. Furthermore, I also took the opportunity to speak about the relevance of Saints and Relics in our Catholic faith-life and, because we had the parish's 1st Class [bone] Relic of St. Anthony present with us, we concluded the presentation with a rare veneration service to invoke the intercession of our Saint for our personal intentions. I felt the spiritual presence of the Saint as people prayed silently for their needs before coming forward to kiss the relic as a mark of respect.

   

Fr. Marlon (one of our parish's Parochial

Vicars) venerating the relic of St. Anthony

of Padua seen in closer view to the right.

And now let the festivities begin!  It's a time of celebration in our Kailua parish and rightfully so.  Our Patron Saint is a holy man whose accomplishments for God are astounding and who's intercession has proven to be continuously potent up to the present time.  If you're a fan of St. Anthony and live on Oahu, or happen to be visiting our island, below is the schedule of my parish's Feast Day events for your consideration...

All are welcome to honor St. Anthony of Padua with us and to venerate our precious relic!  If any questions, please contact the parish office of St. Anthony of Padua Church by calling (808) 266-2222.