St Francis Xavier: 'Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians.'

The Vision of St Francis Xavier, Baciccio, c.1675 [Web Gallery of Art]

Today, 3 December, is the feast of St Francis Xavier, the great Jesuit missionary priest who, with St Thérèse of Lisieux is the patron saint of missionaries. Here is an extract from a letter of the saint to St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. This is the Second Reading in the Office of Readings in the Breviary for the saint's feast day. I copied this version from DivineOffice.org, a website that has the full Prayer of the Church for each day. I have highlighted parts of the letter of St Francis Xavier.

From the letters to Saint Ignatius by Saint Francis Xavier, priest
Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel

We have visited the villages of the new converts who accepted the Christian religion a few years ago. No Portuguese live here—the country is so utterly barren and poor. The native Christians have no priests. They know only that they are Christians. There is nobody to say Mass for them; nobody to teach them the Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Commandments of God’s Law.

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. I noticed among them persons of great intelligence. If only someone could educate them in the Christian way of life, I have no doubt that they would make excellent Christians.

Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians. Again and again I have thought of going round the universities of Europe, especially Paris, 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!”

I wish they would work as hard at this as they do at their books, and so settle their account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them.

This thought would certainly stir most of them to meditate on spiritual realities, to listen actively to what God is saying to them. They would forget their own desires, their human affairs, and give themselves over entirely to God’s will and his choice. They would cry out with all their heart: Lord, I am here! What do you want me to do? Send me anywhere you like—even to India.

Evangelii Gaudium, the new Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, a Jesuit like the saint we celebrate today, begins with these words:

The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew. In this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church's journey in years to come.

I'm sure that St Francis Xavier, whose whole being burned with the desire to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world, would agree.

'When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?' Sunday Reflections, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C. World Mission Day

St Francis Xavier Baptising Queen Neachile of India , 1701, Andrea Pozzo [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                  

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Luke 18:1-8 (Revised StandardVersion – Catholic Edition) 

Jesus told his disciples a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Vindicate me against my adversary.' 

"For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'" 

And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

St Thérèse of the Child Jesus [Wikipedia]

St Francis Xavier and St Thérèse of the Child Jesus are the patron saints of missionaries.

I remember vividly the day Father Woods came to our kindergarten school, Stanhope Street, Dublin, probably in 1950, the year I made my First Holy Communion. He was from our parish but was a missionary somewhere in Africa, a place unimaginably far away to me. I don't remember a word he said. He showed us some artifacts and, I think, a dehusked coconut that he probably bought in Kane's fruit and vegetable store just down the road.

I wasn't unfamiliar with the coconut in this form but it was more than 20 years later, when I came to the Philippines, that I discovered that this is not how coconuts look like on trees.

I certainly had no idea as I listened to Father Woods that, like him, I would one day live in a country where coconuts were abundant. But he made a profound impact on me by his presence.

I have emphasised parts of the quotations below from Pope Francis.

In his message for World Mission Sunday, published on 23 May, Pentecost, Pope Francis wrote: Faith is God’s precious gift, which opens our mind to know and love him. He wants to enter into relationship with us and allow us to participate in his own life in order to make our life more meaningful, better and more beautiful. God loves us! Faith, however, needs to be accepted, it needs our personal response, the courage to entrust ourselves to God, to live his love and be grateful for his infinite mercy. It is a gift, not reserved for a few but offered with generosity.

I remember the presence of Father Woods as a joyful one. Maybe that's precisely why I remember him so vividly. Pope Francis continues in his message: Everyone should be able to experience the joy of being loved by God, the joy of salvation! It is a gift that one cannot keep to oneself, but it is to be shared.

The Pope has frequently spoken about the joy of our faith in Jesus. It is a joy that he exudes in word and deed.

In his homily in Rio de Janeiro on 27 July (video above) Pope Francis spoke about vocation. Although he was speaking specifically to bishops, priests, religious and seminarians, what he said applies to all of us: Called by God – I believe that it is important to rekindle constantly an awareness of our divine vocation, which we often take for granted in the midst of our many daily responsibilities: as Jesus says, 'You did not choose me, but I chose you' (Jn 15:16). This means returning to the source of our calling.

Further on in his World Mission Day message Pope Francis said: The Second Vatican Council emphasized in a special way how the missionary task, that of broadening the boundaries of faith, belongs to every baptized person and all Christian communities . . . Each community is therefore challenged, and invited to make its own, the mandate entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles, to be his 'witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth' (Acts 1:8) and this, not as a secondary aspect of Christian life, but as its essential aspect: we are all invited to walk the streets of the world with our brothers and sisters, proclaiming and witnessing to our faith in Christ and making ourselves heralds of his Gospel.

Everyone should be able to experience the joy of being loved by God, the joy of salvation! It is a gift that one cannot keep to oneself, but it is to be shared (Pope Francis).

At a rehab centre in Rio de Janeiro during World Youth Day.

Then the Pope emphasises a fundamental point: It is urgent in our time to announce and witness to the goodness of the Gospel, and this from within the Church itself. It is important never to forget a fundamental principle for every evangelizer: one cannot announce Christ without the Church. Evangelization is not an isolated individual or private act; it is always ecclesial. 

Pope Francis spoke on this point again on Wednesday (16 October) during the Wednesday general audience. His talks are usually much shorter than those of his predecessors. Here is his complete talk: Dear Brothers and Sisters: In the Creed, we profess in faith that the Church is 'apostolic'. We can understand this in three ways. First, the Church is apostolic because Jesus founded her upon the Apostles whom he chose and sent forth to continue his work; thus Saint Paul compares the Church to a temple which has the Apostles as its foundation and Christ as its cornerstone (Eph 2:19-20). The Church is also apostolic because she preserves and hands down the fullness of Christ’s teaching and the means of salvation which he instituted. Finally the Church is apostolic because she accomplishes in history the mission which Christ entrusted to the Apostles: making disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them his commands (cf. Mt 28:19-20). May we come to appreciate and love the Church as the place where we encounter the Risen Lord, who sends us forth as his missionaries, inviting all whom we meet to know the truth of the Gospel, the joy of faith and the promise of eternal life proclaimed by the Apostles.

Pope Francis reminds us forcefully that our faith is a gift, that God loves us and desires to be in relationship with us, that he calls each baptised person to share the gift of faith, not as one acting alone but as a member of the Church.

He also reminds us forcefully that it is in the Church that we find the fullness of what Christ taught and the full means to be saved, as God wants us to be.

Though I never spoke to Father Woods and never saw him again after his visit to our school in 1950, I see him now as one who embodied what Pope Francis said on Wednesday, one who had come to appreciate and love the Church as the place where we encounter the Risen Lord, who sends us forth as his missionaries, inviting all whom we meet to know the truth of the Gospel, the joy of faith and the promise of eternal life proclaimed by the Apostles.

When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8).

The above prayer is by Blessed John XXIII

Photos from Wikipedia.