Finding Saint Anthony

One of the most beloved and most prodigious miracle workers ever, Saint Anthony of Padua matches the popularity of St. Francis of Assisi among Catholics and Christians of all denominations, because of his amazing gift of helping us find lost items. We all have astounding stories of "praying to St. Anthony", and finding whatever was lost. Recently I lost a very important set of keys, prayed to St. Anthony, and on the fourth day, in desparation, bargained with him that if he found them, I'd give a donation to the poor. That very day, the inspiration came to look in a place I had not thought of, and lo, there were the keys. One of the brothers thought it was so obviously St. Anthony's intercession, that he urged me to double my offering, and I did.
Yesterday, my friend, Anthony, a Marine and a saint, not yet canonized, told me that a major security instrument fell out of a helicopter over the desert in Afghanistan, and was not noticed being lost until the next day. Anthony prayed to his patron saint, and the officer who lost the piece of equipment went back to the desert to search for it, a seemingly impossible and futile task, but on the fourth day, found it. Talk about locating a needle in a haystack!
What is little known about St. Anthony is his desire to remain hidden, and to serve his Franciscan community humbly by simply cooking for the brothers. However, when asked to preach extemporaneously on the occasion of an ordination, when no one was prepared to give the homily, his gift for preaching became evident and prompted St. Francis himself to commission him to this task. In his lifetime, it was his powerful preaching, not his finding lost articles, that made him so popular and beloved that he was canonized less than a year after his death. His many miracles reinforced his preaching and helped bring listeners by the thousands back to the faith. In our day, not so much as finding lost things, we need to find and listen to a Saint Anthony, to help restore fervor to a Church so torn with dissent and scandal. There are St. Anthonys out there; may the Holy Spirit help us find them.
Bro. Rene