Today, the Church celebrates the liturgical Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua. Born in Lisbon, Portugal on 15 August 1195, Fernando Martins eventually joined the Friars Minor and went with them to Italy. There he gained a reputation for being a particularly gifted preacher. He was particularly gifted at helping people to understand the Word of God and at helping them to apply it to their own lives.
Jesus too was a gifted preacher. In today's gospel passage, he reminds his disciples: ... unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:20). Only someone with a keen ability to explain such truths can challenge his hearers to aim high. In this case, it was a matter of not falling into the trap of false righteousness, but rather setting their sights higher, believing that they had enough integrity to remain faithful to the teachings they had learned.
We too must constantly strive to live up to a higher expectation: the expectation that we will do our very best to believe that we can do better than second best, that it is possible for us to follow Jesus even if he should ask us to believe in ourselves and not to settle for anything less than the dream of eternity in heaven.
Have a great day.
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