ST. FRANCIS XAVIER, PATRON OF INDIA, PRIEST - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Go, make disciples of all the nations.
I am with you always; yes, to the end of time. MT 28:19, 20

EZEKIEL 3:17-21 ©

Today You remind us that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. We cannot wash our hands of our responsibility - God desires that all be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. We are given a sacred mission to speak the truth in every season not just when it is convenient. Too often a watered-down version of the truth is preached. We tip-toe around those who openly lead sinful lives telling ourselves, 'Who am I to judge?' but the Word of God is clear - I will be held accountable if I fail to speak up and warn the sinner of the eternal consequences that his soul will suffer if he does not renounce his evil ways. 

Nothing can mean more to the children of God than that we all are saved for this is what the Father desires as well. We must embrace His will in all things and speak the truth in love always even when it is difficult. 

Our life here is only a span and after that comes judgment - grant me this grace O Lord, that when I stand before You my hands will be clean, my heart pure, and my conscience clear because I took You at Your Word and I kept it. 

PSALM 116(117) ©

O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples!

Strong is his love for us;
he is faithful for ever.

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-19,22-23 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

If only every baptized Christian in the bosom of Holy Mother Church took seriously the mandate You have given us seriously as St. Paul did as well as many great saints like St. Francis Xavier, Patron of India, whose feast we celebrate today, the whole world would be Catholic and all would be saved.

St. Paul embraced the call given to him by You to be an apostle to the Gentiles. From his letter to the people of Corinth, we see that he understood exactly what it would mean to preach, teach, and live the Gospel no matter what it cost him and it cost him much in suffering, persecution, torture, imprisonment, and ultimately his life. But none of these hardships deterred him, rather it spurred him on to spend his life in imitation of You, our divine Master, to lay down his life for the sake of the Gospel and for the salvation of souls.

How derelict we are in this mission that is given to all the baptized. We are poorly catechized and in turn, we raise poorly catechized children who fall by the wayside as soon as they leave the nest. Take pity on us, Lord, and fill in our lack. Let us make reparation for our neglect and before it is too late let us begin now to work out, not just our salvation with fear and trembling, but also those we encounter in our pilgrim journey from here to eternity. Amen. 

I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this: in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me.
So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could. For the weak I made myself weak: I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost; and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings.

MARK 16:15-20 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

It is pathetic that over the course of the millennia, many within the Church's hierarchy as well as well as in the laity have sought to water down the Gospel. They have strived to blur the truth, they speak in contradiction to the clear doctrine that You taught and handed down through Your Apostles through them to their successors, and what we have today is an unholy mess sowing discord and confusion. By soft-peddling the hard undeniable teaching of the Gospel they are damning souls that were created for glory to hell. 

Lord Jesus, give us good and holy shepherds who speak the truth clearly and with one voice. Give them the wisdom to refute the lies of the Enemy with the power of the Holy Spirit. Grant that all the pettiness, the in-fighting, the open and vocal disobedience to Peter whom You have appointed as the visible head of the Church and to whom You guarantee inerrancy in matters of faith and morals, may cease. We need to hear the Truth in all its pristine beauty, embrace it fully, and live it only then will the Church be a sign of contradiction in the world.  

All that You promised the Apostles and their successors then hold true to this day and will hold true until time shall cease when You gave them their mission: 

 

‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’

Grant us a new Pentecost O Lord. Stir up the Holy Spirit in the Church and in us. Make us fearless. Fill us with grace and courage to live the Gospel whether we are seen or not, grant that we are light and salt in the world and that all who see us will come to the knowledge of truth, embrace it, and be saved.

And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.