HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF ADVENT

Homily for Saturday of the 1st Week of Advent 

(Memorial of St. Francis Xavier (Priest) 

Isaiah 30:19-21,23-26; Matthew 9:35---10:1,5a,6-8.

Prophet Isaiah tells us in the First Reading: "O people in Sion who dwell at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hear it, he will answer you" (Isa.30:19). For the Lord to be gracious to us, we have to cry to him. We have to make our earnest and hearty appeal to him for mercy. Our cry will be answered as soon as it is heard, that is, as soon as it is uttered.

Even without the crowds in today's Gospel crying to him, Jesus on seeing them had compassion for them, "  because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matt.9:36). With this in mind, Jesus summoned and commissioned His Apostles for their great missionary work. He gave them authority over unclean spirits, with power to drive them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and illnesses.

In the mission Jesus entrusted to His apostles we see three related themes: the scarcity of missionary workers, the summoning and commissioning of the twelve and the mission of the twelve. The gift of of healing and preaching must be used freely and generously because they received them freely.

Even till date, the Catholic Church through dioceses and missionary Congregations continues to send workers into the Lord's vineyard to "proclaim the good news". We all need to understand how central missionary work is to the life of the Church. Let us pray for all those involved in the missionary work of the Church and support them whenever we can.

We celebrate the memorial of a great missionary, St. Francis Xavier who followed the instructions of the Lord and, armed with his faith, with trust in divine providence and zeal for souls, set out to evangelize the Eastern nations. He was born in Navarre, Spain, in 1506. He went to Paris to study philosophy and it was there he met St. Ignatius of Loyola. He was full of worldly ambition but his encounter with St. Ignatius had a great influence upon him that he grew to be a changed man and became one of the first disciples of St. Ignatius.

He was ordained a priest at Venice in 1537. He began his missionary journey in Portugal. In 1541, he set sail to India. From there he went to Japan in 1549 and became the first missionary. There in Japan, a flourishing Christian community soon arose and he remained there for two years before returning back to India in 1551.

In 1552, he went to China. While in China, he had fever and alone on a foemreign shore, he died on December 2, 1552 at the age of forty-six. He was canonized in 1602 by Pope Clement VIII. Am I willing like Christ's Apostles and St. Francis Xavier, to be sent out to proclaim the good news?

Through the intercession of St. Francis Xavier, may God grant us the zeal for souls that will lead to our eternal salvation through Christ our Lord. Amen.