Feast of St. Francis Xavier

St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier

One of the great things of the Advent Season is the number of saint's feasts that are celebrated during this time. They prepare us, in some way, shape or form, for the coming of Our Savior. Francis Xavier is one of them.

I must admit, I have always had a great fondness for this man.  I owe the Jesuits alot. Every single one of my spiritual directors was a Jesuit, along with some of my greatest professors. Each of them had a deep love for Christ, yet maintained a common sense approach to life with great balance. That really was the way of Ignatius, their founder.

Ignatius and Francis were best friends. They met as roommates at the University of Paris.  Francis at that time was very proud and arrogant.  Ignatius taught him alot and molded him into the man he became. Ignatius would say that Francis was "the toughest dough I kneaded." In August of 1534, 6 friends formed the Jesuit order to spread the Gospel.  Both Ignatius and Francis were ordained priests in 1537 and both were together in Rome when the Pope established the order.  Very soon, the Pope asked Ignatius to send Jesuit missionaries to India.  They needed a leader; Francis volunteered for the post.

My favorite thing about Francis is his friendship with Ignatius.  As they departed in Rome, Ignatius knew that they would only see each other again in heaven. They both shed lot of tears on their departure from each other. They corresponded through letters which sometimes took years to reach each other.  Francis helped evangelize India, Japan and had his eye set on China.  He baptized hundreds of thousands of people. One of the last letters Francis received from Ignatius, he wrote back:

Among many other holy words and consolations of your letter, I read the concluding ones, “Entirely yours, without power or possibility of ever forgetting you, Ignatio.” I read them with tears, and with tears now write them, remembering the past and the great love which you always bore towards me and still bear… .You tell me how greatly you desire to see me before this life closes. God knows the profound impression that those words of great love made on my soul and the many tears they cost me every time I thought of them… .
[May] God our Lord grant me to experience in this life his most holy will and, having experienced it, the grace to perfectly fulfill it.

He died shortly after, alone in a cell in China. They found around his neck a cord with the names of the friends he held close all those years.

At Christmas, Love becomes incarnate.  Christ came so that we would no longer be separated from Him or each other.  He died so that Love would no longer know death.  He rose so that Love would last forever.  This Season is not about presents and cookies. Its about Love.  

Think of those in your life that have left that mark of Love.  Who do you wear around your neck? Thank God for them today and reach out to them in some way. That is the greatest gift you could give at Christmas.  That is the best way to prepare the way of the Lord.

Maranatha!