This post by Jack Wintz, OFM from Franciscan Media summarizes Anthony's impact on us all.
"It’s a good time for us to acquaint ourselves with this great preacher. In this blog, I would like to share with you short passages from the sermons of Saint Anthony. These “sermon passages,” in actuality, are from sermon material or notes that Anthony compiled (in book form) for all the Sundays of the year and for certain feast days, too. Of course, these passages cannot totally reveal what Anthony was like as a preacher with all his charisma. I hope, however, they can give us a little flavor or inkling of Anthony’s spiritual wisdom and profound love of God.
Give yourself wholly!
“You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart.…Yes, Christ says: with your whole heart. He doesn’t say: Leave a corner of your heart for yourself. Christ bought the whole of you by giving his whole self for you.…Do not try to hold back any part of yourself.…If you really wish to have the whole, then give it all to him, and he will give you all of himself.”
Serve Christ in the poor
“Today Christ stands at the door and knocks in the person of his poor. It is to him that we open the door when we give aid, when we give ourselves to those in need. For he tells us plainly, ‘When you did this to one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it to me’” (Matthew 25:40).
Seek God before all else
“Nothing apart from God can satisfy the human heart, for the heart is truly in search of God.”
Regarding this brief, yet meaningful, quote, it is interesting to remember that Anthony was an Augustinian monk for many years before he joined the Franciscans. Anthony, therefore, would have undoubtedly been familiar with one of Saint Augustine’s most famous quotations, found near the beginning of his Confessions: “You have created us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Anthony’s words strike the same chord.
We also know, from Anthony’s life, that he had an inner thirst for God that caused him often to step aside from his busy activities and to find a cave or solitary place where he could pray to God in silence, seeking God before all else.
May the great preacher—and great finder of lost valuables—help each of us find our heart’s true treasure, namely, union with our loving God!"