We celebrated on Monday the feast day of Blessed Antony Grassi of the Oratory in Fermo. He is famous for living the Oratorian vocation in a quiet and unassuming way, yet with complete and perfect fidelity to the rules of the Congregation. His aim was always to emulate Saint Philip in everything. He, like Saint Philip, had a great devotion to Our Lady, whom Saint Philip always considered the true foundress of the Oratory.

Blessed Antony used to say, “It is devotion to Mary which fills paradise for one who is truly devout to her cannot perish, for no one could have a real love for her and yet continue in sin.”

He had a great devotion to the shrine of the Holy House of Nazareth in Loreto and made many pilgrimages there, both before and after he joined the Oratory. It was on one such pilgrimage in 1621 that he was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm and fell headfirst down the steps of the Sanctuary. Miraculously he survived and he attributed his recovery to the intercession of Our Lady, donating his scorched clothing as a votive offering to the Shrine for the favour received.

The focus of the Shrine of the Holy House at Loreto, of which Blessed Antony was so fond, is of course the Annunciation — it is the place where the Word became flesh. Saint Augustine reminds us that Our Lady first conceived Our Lord in her heart before conceiving him in her womb. Perhaps then in this last week before Christmas, we can strive to make our own hearts a fit dwelling-place for Christ.

Blessed Antony encouraged people to imitate Our Lady in a particular virtue and pray to her to obtain it. When people came to him for spiritual advice, often rather than giving his own guidance, he would instead apply a particular title of Mary from the Litany of Loreto that he felt was relevant to the situation. Whether we are looking for joy, hope, wisdom and so forth, we can turn to Our Lady and invoke her aid under one of her many titles.

He also reassured people to have confidence in the powerful intercession of Mary. On one occasion, a poor man was repeatedly being robbed by a thief and so he came to Blessed Antony for consolation, since he had begun to fear for his life. Blessed Antony simply told him to say every day the Sub tuum præsidium and have no fear. The man went away encouraged and faithfully did as Blessed Antony had instructed him. Shortly afterwards the thief was killed in a fight.

Blessed Antony used to be particularly devoted to saints that had a uniquely great love for Our Lady, namely Saint John the Evangelist, and Saints Joachim and Anne. Surely then we ought to cultivate a devotion to Blessed Antony who himself had such great love for Our Lady. Through his intercession may we grow in love for Our Blessed Mother and be assured of her powerful prayers.

In the second reading of this past Sunday we heard St Paul praying for the Church at Rome, and for us, that “the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ”. Endurance and encouragement; for the apostle these are not simply requirements for our Christian life, they are attributes of God.

Perseverance, endurance, we know is a virtue for every day, and one that shall only be proven at the end of our life when, please God, we shall be able to say with St Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Endure we must, no matter how great the temptation to give up, we must be steadfast in our Faith, in charity, in never tiring of trusting God, and being faithful to him — there simply is no other way for only “he who endures to end will be saved”. Even when everything seems impossible our Faith reminds us that nothing is impossible for God; that he always wins, the final word is always his. Through trial and tribulation he bids us “take heart, I have overcome the world”. Endurance through tribulation has always been a virtue — it was in long ago GCSE Latin that we had to translate those words of Ovid: Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim — “Be patient and endure, this sorrow will profit you one day.” The key to endurance, to Christian perseverance, is to remember what it is all about; it is all for Christ; through him, with him, and in him.

Endurance and encouragement go hand in hand. There isn’t so much encouragement for Christians today, in a society that thinks we are deluded, in a world so lost in sadness and selfishness, amongst a generation that can do anything but look inward, or even beyond the horizon of a screen. “Take heart”; it is God who is ever with us, reminding us that we are all wanted, willed, and loved — that life, and even suffering, has a purpose. We were made for God, and he died to give us Heaven. “Therefore prayer…” as St. Philip said because that’s where God takes off those horse blinkers from the eyes of our soul and reminds us of all the good he has bestowed upon us and has in store for us, if only we keep trusting, keep trying.

There is a marvellous Yiddish word ‘kvetch’ to describe those who can only discourage, those who tear down, rather than build up, who find problems in anything and with everyone. We do need to talk to people about our problems, but we must always be sure we have spoken to God about them first — to see our sufferings in light of his, and that does give us perspective. The easier thing is of course to kvetch, to be that voice of discouragement. St John Vianny gives us a reality check: “Now, my children, where do you get with your impatience and your grumbling? Do your affairs go any better? Do they cause you any less trouble? Is it not, rather, the other way around?”

As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to encourage others, to see things from the supernatural perspective of our religion, to remind ourselves and each other, that we have a soul, a judgment that awaits it, but also a Saviour who wants to save us from sin. We have to give God the opportunity to encourage us, so we must pray, we must read the Scriptures, so that we can hear his voice urging us on. And from that we must encourage others to run in the race that God has set before us. God did not come down from Heaven, teach us the Truth, suffer and die for our salvation, so that we could sit around bemoaning a thousand perceived slights and disappointments. All of that, you see, does so much to discourage, and there is someone so much better than any of us at those subtle suggestions which chip away at any good:

“Our greatest danger, I think,” wrote Father Trese, “is not from our familiarity with holy things; it is rather from our unfamiliarity with our adversary. It seems so easy for us — well as we know our faith and strongly as we believe — it seems so easy for us to forget that Satan is a very real person. He is closer to us, in presence and power, than the man who sits beside us on the bus or at the ball game.”

But God is closer still, as Advent keeps reminding us. Endurance, encouragement, everything in the Christian life always comes back to charity, to love. It is there for us, a life of holiness and charity and peace, if we want it.

“For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other…” 1 Thessalonians 5:9–11

Today is the feast of the great missionary saint to Asia, Francis Xavier. He was a great inspiration to our own St Philip, who eagerly awaited the updates St Francis Xavier used to send to his friends in Europe.

In one of these letters, he talks about how readily people responded to the Gospel — the real challenge was not persuading them, but finding time to baptise them all and teach them to pray! He mentions with great affection the children who would not let him pray, eat or sleep until he had taught them some prayers, and laments “many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians.”

He talks about his frustration that so many in Europe could have helped but did not. “Again and again I have thought of going round the universities of Europe and everywhere crying out like a madman, riveting the attention of those with more learning than charity: ‘What a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of heaven and falling into hell, thanks to you!’” He complains of those who have more learning than love: they believe in Christ, they study the Scriptures, but they don’t put his teaching into action.

Christ himself speaks to such people in the Gospel: “It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.” It is not enough for us to believe. We must put our faith into action.

It is easy for any of us to protest:: “But I’m only one person! What difference can I make?” But Christ was one person — and he saved the world. Even if you feel that is not a fair comparison — Christ having the advantage of also being God — we should remember that St Francis Xavier had no such advantage, and he brought the Gospel to countless people in India, China, Japan, and many places in between. Never let the fact that you are “only” one person stop you from doing the will of God.