+ St. Francis Xavier was born in the family castle of Xavier, in the Basque area of Spanish Navarre on April 7, 1506. He was sent to the University of Paris in 1525, secured his licentiate in 1528, met Ignatius Loyola and became one of the seven who in 1534, at Montmartre founded the Society of Jesus. In 1536 he left Paris to join Ignatius in Venice. They all intended to go as missionaries to Palestine, but the trip never materialized. He was ordained in Venice in 1537, went to Rome in 1538 and in 1540, when the pope formally recognized the Society, was ordered, with Fr. Simon Rodriguez, to the Far East as the first Jesuit missionaries. They visited many countries and populated them with many communities of new Christians from India to Japan. Tens of thousands were converted. He set his sights on China but died in 1552 at the age of forty-six before he could reach it. He always worked against great difficulties, language problems, inadequate funds, and lack of cooperation, often actual resistance from European officials, but Francis Xavier left the mark of his missionary zeal and energy on areas which clung to Christianity for centuries. He was canonized in 1622 and proclaimed patron of all foreign missions by Pope Pius X. Today, December 3 is his feast day!
The sentiment of St. Paul in the first reading today: the preaching of the gospel being an obligation imposed on him and woe to him if he did not preach it, no doubt was shared by St. Francis Xavier. When one receives a clear mandate by Christ Jesus to be his instrument in the conversion of many: the stewardship of such a duty can either be a burden or a difficulty buoyed up by joy! Such was the case for Paul and for Francis Xavier. In delivering the word of God, the joy comes from the preacher allowing himself to be used by God any way he wants: being made weak to win over the weak, becoming all things to all men, to save at least some.
After the ascension the apostles and their helpers went forth into the whole world – they are still going today – and their message lives on!
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