The thought that in God's Providence he would become one of the Church's greatest missionary Saints, comparable to the apostle Saint Paul, never entered the mind of the young Basque nobleman Francis Xavier, whose ambitions lay rather in becoming a distinguished scholar and doctor of philosophy, or in following an ecclesiastical career in his native Navarre (Spain) where his father was president of the royal council. But at the famed University of Paris he fell under the spell of Saint Ignatius Loyola, who during two years of companionship never ceased to admonish him:

"What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, if he suffers the loss of his soul?"

Saint Francis Xavier was born on 7th April 1506 and was second among the band of seven who took their vows as the first Jesuits on 15th August 1534. Ordained priest on 24th June 1537, he celebrated his first Mass after a rigorous 40-day fast and spiritual preparation.

The mission to the Far East and Asia is most associated with Saint Francis Xavier. His novel method, which ever-after met with great success, was to go through the streets chiming a little bell, and when the children and their mothers came flocking, he would lead them to a Church and explain the faith with exemplary patience and affectionate zeal. "I let them enter by their own door, but I see to it that they come out by mine!"

Ten years of missionary labour had taken Saint Francis Xavier into over 50 kingdoms, enabling him to win almost a million souls for God and lay a lasting foundation for the six great Asiatic mission fields. Rightly then, he has been the "Apostle of the Indies" and Patron of the Propagation of the Faith and of all foreign missions. He succumbed to fever on 3rd December 1552. In 1553, his body, found incorrupt and fresh after over 2 months of burial, was returned to Goa where it is venerated to the present day in the Bom Jesus Basilica.

Saint Francis Xavier on his evangelization methods in India, Letter to the Society of Jesus at Rome, 1543. 'Every Sunday I collected them all, men and women, boys and girls, in the Church. Then, in the hearing of all, I began by calling on the name of the most holy Trinity, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I recited aloud the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Creed in the language of the country: they all followed me in the same words, and delighted in it wonderfully.

Then, I repeated the Creed by myself, dwelling upon each article singly. Then I asked them about each article, whether they believed it unhesitatingly; and all, with a loud voice and their hands, crossed over their breasts, professed aloud that they truly believed it. I take care to make them repeat the Creed oftener than the other prayers; and I tell them that those who believe all that is contained therein are called Christians.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -