Dear Friends in Christ,
Next Sunday, December 3rd, is the Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, one of the greatest missionaries in the entirety of our Catholic tradition. In fact, he is the patron saint of foreign missions, together with St. Therese of Lisieux.
So, who was this great saint? He was born in Spain in 1506 to a noble family and had great ambition to advance himself to a high position in society. Francis was sent to Paris to study at the university, and it was there that he met Ignatius of Loyola, with whom he was sharing a room. Through the example and persuasion of Ignatius, Francis was eventually able to hear the call of Jesus to leave everything and follow him. Francis was among the seven original members of the Society of Jesus (more commonly called the “Jesuits”) who made their vows in 1534. Eventually, their new religious order was approved by the Pope in 1540.
During this time period, the European powers were exploring the whole world and missionaries were being sent out to these new lands. The Portuguese were in power in India, and it was arranged the Francis Xavier would go with them to evangelize the people. He traveled to many islands, including what is today Indonesia, then on to Japan, and had attempted to go to China, although he died on a Chinese island just 14km away from the mainland. In ten years of missionary service, Francis had worked and travelled constantly in service of Jesus Christ.
I am particularly happy that we have gone back to using “St. Francis Xavier” as the name of one of the churches in our parish because I am so inspired by the example of his holy life. We are certainly in a mission time in our city and parish, as we seek to go out and invite all people into fullness of life in Christ in the Catholic Church. This was the same aim of St. Francis Xavier as he lived a poor, simple, and prayerful life given to Jesus Christ and spent his time primarily with the poor, outcast, and uneducated people of his day. I ask you to join me in begging St. Francis Xavier for his intercession in our call to be true missionaries of Christ in our city and in our parish. Finally, on this Feast Day, as a way of recognizing the importance of this great saint and both churches in our parish, going forward, we will be referring to St. Francis Xavier Church and no longer St. Francis Xavier Chapel.
I invite you to please join us for a walking pilgrimage from Our Lady of Mercy Church to St. Francis Xavier Church next Sunday, December 3rd, which will depart at 6:00pm. A bus will be provided to return pilgrims to OLM at the end. We will begin the first night of our novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe at 7:00pm with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at SFX. All are invited to join us.
O God, who by the preaching and miracles of St. Francis Xavier, joined to the Church the nations of the Indies, grant, we beg you, that we who reverence his glorious merits may also imitate his example, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Thomas J. Byrne