The WORD, the SAINT and ADVENT
December 3, 2022: Remembering Francis Xavier, the Apostle to India
Isaiah 61: 1-3; 1 Corinthians 9: 16-19, 22-23; Mark 16: 15-20
Today we celebrate a call that was lived to the full, a mission that was accomplished with all the hardships involved, a surrender that was total, absolutely total! Francis Xavier, felt his call quite late in his life, he accepted the mission that was entrusted to him and surrendered to the purposes of the Lord. His surrender was such that he was ready to give up his entire life for the call and the commission. He was just 46 when he died, a short life but an extensive mission accomplished. He chose to surrender to the Lord so late in life but the surrender was so intense that the intensity made up for all the time that was lost.
He could have excused himself as a young fellow, for when he received the call he was merely a young ambitious college student. He could have called himself unworthy with all the priorities he had then, as a young fellow at the university. The Lord does not relent, but goes after him because we know today he deserved all the attention that he was given. He fits in perfectly to the instructions given by Jesus in the Gospel today. He wanted to go to the ends of the earth... it was not enough for him to have reached India; he wanted to go to Japan, China and everywhere. His lifetime was not enough for him in anyway. He was so filled with the Word and the need to proclaim it: he believed proclaiming the Word was his duty, his life's mission!
May Francis Xavier assist us to be faithful to the call we have received, inspire us in our commitment to the mission entrusted to us and challenge us to surrender our entire selves to the Lord's purposes. The call today is to check how filled with the Word we are! That is an advent call too, unless we are filled with the Word we shall not really behold the Word at His coming.