St. Francis Xavier, 16th Century Jesuit Apostle to Have Built Churches on Rocks by Acting Upon Words of Christ

 In celebrating and honoring the amazing life of St. Francis Xavier, a 16^th century Jesuit foreign missionary priest and one of the founding “Trois Mousquetaires” of the Jesuits, along with St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Peter Faber, on his memorial feast, December 3, the Gospel text is drawn from Matthew 7:21, 24-27.  This narrative is found toward the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which runs through Matthew 5,6,7.  Basically, the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ advice on how we can live a life of the beatitudes (blessed life), leading to the Kingdom of God. This is like the manual for Christian life for salvation in the Kingdom. And, I can see St. Francis Xavier preached on this sermon of Jesus wherever he went on his mission with zeal. He was known for his eagerness to win more souls of people for salvation by God through his preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That enthusiasm of St. Francis of Xavier to bring the Good News of Jesus to people, who did not know Christ yet, to prompt their encounters with Christ, was unmatched, except the passion of St. Paul of Tarsus, the 1^st century missionary Apostle, who evangelized widely through the Greco-Roman world, on his three missionary journeys and his final journey to Rome to become a martyr (Acts 13:4–14:26; 15:36–18:22; 18:22–21:17; 26:30-28:30).

Fast-forwarding to the 16^th century, St. Francis Xavier was serving God as a Jesuit missionary priest first in Goa and in Java, then, in Japan.

What is common to both St. Francis Xavier of the 16^th century, a Jesuit missionary priest, recruited by St. Ignatius of Loyola, and St. Paul of Tarsus of the 1^st century, an Apostle, recruited by Ascended Christ, that they really lived these commissioning words of Christ given to his Disciples to make them the first batch of Apostles:

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).

Just as Paul was on fire of the Holy Spirit, so was Francis Xavier, and the Holy Spirit fueled Francis’ passion on mission and took him beyond the 16^th century missionary eastward frontier in Java and carried him all the way to Japan. Though he struggle in making new disciples of Christ in Japan, as many Japanese were too critical to believe in Christ at that time, Francis Xavier certainly sowed good seeds of Christ’s Gospel in the minds of the Japanese. He struggled with strong resistance of Japanese people. But he sure laid the strong foundation of churches in Japan to withstand storms of persecutions. Therefore, as his successors, such as Fr. Cosme de Torres, S.J., carried on the missionary works in Japan, great disciples emerged in Japan, such as St. Paul Miki, the first Japanese Jesuit and one of the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki, Bl. Peter Kasui Kibe, a Japanese Jesuit martyr, and Bl. Justo Ukon Takayama, an influential Catholic samurai lord, as well as, one of the seven of students of Sen no Rikyu, the tea master, exiled to the Philippines, as a result of having his castle and province confiscated by the Tokugawa Shogun for his refusal to denounce his faith in Christ.

Though nearly 250 years of severely bloody persecution in Japan put the growing Christian population out of sight to naked eyes, they remained strong and resilient during these years. Thus, the strengths of Christianity in Japan, refined through these years of the persecution, owe to the Gospel seeds sown by St. Francis Xavier.

So, these words from the Gospel reading in celebrating and honoring St. Francis Xavier’s life of missionary stands out:

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock (Matthew 7:24).

Like St. Paul of Tarsus in the 1^st century, St. Francis of Xavier in the 16^th century not only heeded to but acted upon Christ’s words, especially in Matthew 28:19-20.

As the seeds of Christ’s Gospel sown by St. Francis Xavier continue to grow and bear fruits throughout the regions where he journeyed on his mission, the house built by his missionary, churches in Goa, Java, and Japan, remain strong, as reflected in Matthew 7:25.

So, we shall ask ourselves: Do we really act on the Gospel words of Jesus upon listening and reading and studying as to build the Church on the solid rock, as St. Francis Xavier did in the lands strange to him, perhaps, inspired by St. Paul of Tarsus?

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!