FEAST OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER.
DECEMBER 3.
DECEMBER 3.
FRANCIS XAVIER, surnamed the Apostle of the Indies, was born of noble parents April 7, 1506, at Xavier, a castle near Pampeluna, in Spain. In his eighteenth year he became one of the first members of the Society of Jesus, at Paris, and from that moment gave himself up so earnestly and perseveringly to meditation, self-denial, and the practice of Christian virtues that by no desire was he so much animated as by that of laboring and suffering for the glory of God and the salvation of men, wherever and however it might please God.
In the year 1541 he was sent as missionary to India. Of his labors and sufferings there his works bear witness. He preached the Gospel in fifty-two kingdoms, great and small, of India and Japan, and baptized about a hundred thousand pagans and Mahometans. Wherever he came, the idols temples were thrown down, and churches built to the true God. He died in 1552, poor and destitute of all bodily comforts, but rejoicing in the Lord, with these words, “Lord, in Thee have I hoped; let me never be confounded.”
Let us learn from St. Francis Xavier to labor, according to our ability, for the glory of God and the salvation of our neighbor. Although we cannot become missionaries, we yet can pray, and we can join the Association for the Propagation of the Faith.
The Introit of the Mass is as follows: “I spoke of Thy testimonies before kings and was not ashamed. I meditated also on Thy commandments, which I loved exceedingly. Praise the Lord, all ye nations; praise Him, alive people: for His mercy is confirmed upon us, and the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.”
The epistle is the same as on the feast of St. Andrew.
GOSPEL. Mark xvi. 16-18.
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not, shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues: they shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick and they shall recover.
Prayer.
O God, Who, by the preaching and miracles of blessed Francis, wast pleased to add unto Thy Church the nations of the Indies, mercifully grant that we who venerate his glorious merits may also follow the example of his virtues. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, etc.
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Next: Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8
