A Missionary for Our Times!

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Feast of St. Francis Xavier

Is 11:1-10; Lk 10:21-24

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary to India. 

St. Xavier’s missionary accomplishments were so significant for the spread of Christianity in our country. 

Known as one of the greatest missionaries in Christian history, St. Francis Xavier was consumed with missionary zeal for God. Historians place the number of baptisms St. Xavier administered at roughly 30,000 people. But oral tradition cites numbers up to 100,000. 

A reflective look at his life reveals many qualities that call for our admiration and imitation. 

Rootedness in God Experience: For St. Francis Xavier to become a missionary for God, he needed to become rooted in God experience. It happened to him with the help of his beloved friend St. Ignatius of Loyola. After early reluctance, Xavier made the Spiritual Exercises under the direction of St. Ignatius. This experience enriched his spirituality so that he could conduct his life with meaning and purpose. For this reason, St. Xavier would later remember his mentor and friend St. Ignatius with nostalgia in his letters and call him, ‘father of my soul.’ St. Xavier filled himself with God experience before he could share it with others. 

Missionary Zeal: St. Xavier was filled with passion for the mission. His missionary travels took him to many places around the world. He was the only original companion of St. Ignatius who left Europe to go to places like Rome, Lisbon, Portugal, India, Japan, China, etc. We need to understand Xavier’s missionary travels against the backdrop of shipwrecks, seasicknesses and deaths at sea, which were quite common in those days. He was a man on fire with the Gospel and the Holy Spirit and carried out enough missionary work to bring an army of new converts to the Christian faith. It is said of St. Francis Xavier that ‘When another Jesuit who was to be sent to ‘the Indies’ fell ill, Francis Xavier replied immediately to Ignatius, ‘Send me!’  And Ignatius did.’ St. Xavier’s love for Jesus turned him into a committed missionary. 

Passion for Proclaiming the Gospel: In one of his letters to St. Ignatius during his visit to Japan, St. Xavier reveals his thirst to minister to people who do not know Christ yet. Finding a dearth of priests who could minister to Christians in thousands, St. Xavier writes, ‘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!’ His willingness to inspire youngsters for missions only manifests his earnest desire to see the Gospel proclaimed everywhere, especially in places where they do not know Christ. 

Above all, St. Xavier was gifted with a profound sense of intercultural understanding that made him a missionary par excellence. 

As people living in a plurality of cultures and religions, we realize that St. Xavier’s love for the Lord and for the people he served made him a missionary for our times. 

Let us pray that we may imbibe the missionary spirit of St. Xavier to proclaim the Gospel in contemporary times. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar