Memorial Saint Francis Xavier - December 3

Saint Francis Xavier
Memorial
December 3

Saint Francis Xavier was born in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre (now Spain) on April 7, 1506. He made his vow to the newly formed Society of Jesus in August 1534, receiving Holy Orders with St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1537. After his ordination Saint Francis Xavier was sent to the East Indies to begin his ministry of evangelization, becoming one of the greatest missionaries and evangelists of all time. During his life of ministry he also traveled, and preached in Malaysia, and Japan.

Wherever he went, he lived with the poorest people, sharing their food and meager accommodations, ministering to the sick, particularly the lepers. From one of his letters back to Saint Ignatius of Loyola we read, “I have not stopped since the day I arrived. I conscientiously made the rounds of the villages. I bathed in the sacred waters all the children who had not yet been baptized. This means that I have purified a very large number of children so young that, as the saying goes, they could not tell their right hand from their left. The older children would not let me say my Office or eat or sleep until I taught them one prayer or another. Then I began to understand: “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” I could not refuse so devout a request without failing in devotion myself. I taught them, first the confession of faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, then the Apostles’ Creed, the Our Father and Hail Mary.”

Saint Francis Xavier had dreams of taking the gospel to China, but this plan was never realized, he died before reaching the mainland on the Island of Sancian near the coast of China on December 2, 1552.

The Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI, and Pope John Paul II remind us that every Christian is called to evangelize. To have just one ounce of the desire that Saint Francis Xavier had to spread the gospel or one ounce of the hunger for faith the children he taught had, would be a great gift indeed. Though we all cannot go on foreign missions, we are all called to go and preach to all nations let us start with our families this Advent Season.

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Awaiting the Nativity

Awaiting the Nativity Mary Did You Know
Mark Lowery

Feast of the Apostle Saint Andrew

Feast of The Apostle Saint Andrew
November 30

A follower of John the Baptist, Andrew first saw Our Lord as he watched Jesus walk by, and John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”[1] Andrew’s initial thought was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah.”[2] The two brothers, fisherman of Bethsaida, received the call of Jesus, a short time later as they cast their net into the Sea of Galilee. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.”[3]

When Jesus performed the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, it was Andrew who pointed out the boy with the five barley loaves and two fish Jesus used to feed the five thousand.[4] When the apostles went out to preach to the all nations, we have no certainty as to the extent of his travels. From the writings of Origen, Andrew was assigned to Scythia. Other early writers put Andrew in Cappadocia, Galatia , Bithynia, and Achaia.[5] At Patrae in Achaia, it is generally believed, Andrew met his martyrdom. Under the reign of Nero, Saint Andrew was bound, not nailed, to prolong his sufferings, on the decussate cross (one that forms an X), now known as Saint Andrew’s Cross.

As Saint Andrew saw the cross on which he was to die, he said “O good cross! Made beautiful by the limbs of Christ, so long desired, now so happily found! Receive me into thy arms and present me to my Master, that He Who redeemed me through thee may now accept me from thee.”[6] After two days of hanging on the cross, preaching the Good News to all who came near, Saint Andrew died on November 30, in the year 60.

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Footnotes
[1] John 1:35-36
[2] John 1:41
[3] Matthew 4:18-20; Mark 1:16-18
[4] John 6:9
[5] New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Andrew
[6] Father Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, p. 369

Art
Stained Glass St Andrew with decussate cross, loaves and fishes
The Calling of Peter and Andrew, Duccio di Buoninsegna1308-11, National Gallery of Art, Washington

First Sunday of Advent

November 29, 2009

First Sunday of Advent

Advent, (Latin ad-venio, to come to, arrival or coming) begins the Church’s liturgical year, therefore it can be called our “New Year’s Day,” it also begins the Christmas cycle, where we prepare for the arrival of Our Lord. Advent starts on the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew, November 30. With “the earliest evidence of this season coming from the end of the fourth century, when Gaul and Spain observed a period of preparation for the newly inaugurated Feast of Christmas.”[1]

The Advent season gives us an opportunity to look back to the first coming of Christ at Bethlehem, and look forward to the future when Christ will come again. It is between these two events we now find ourselves, striving to live out the purpose of our existence; God’s reason for giving us life, our reason for being. This is a time to prepare not only for Christmas, but also for the Second Coming of Christ. “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing….and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.” (Luke 21:34) We must be awake and watchful, lest He find us asleep.

First Reading Jeremiah 33:14-16

Responsorial Psalm 25
Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Light the first candle in your Advent Wreath

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[1] Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices, Ball, page 29