December 3 is the memorial feast of St. Francis Xavier (Santo Francisco Javier), a 16th century Jesuit missionary priest, who extended the eastern border of the Christendom all the way to the isles of the rising sun, Japan, on the feast day of Assumption in 1549. He is one of the founding core “three musketeers” Jesuits, with St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Peter Fabar.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, St. Francis Xavier, whose
heart is on fire, is a man of extraordinary faith in Christ, full of zeal for establishing
the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as it is in heaven, while winning souls
salvation. It is fair to say that his zeal for apostolic works matches that of
St. Paul of Tarsus. As St. Paul passionately debated with philosophers in
Athens (Acts 17:16-34), St. Francis Xavier zestfully argued for Christ with
Buddhist priests in Japan. And those who were impressed by the way Francis
Xavier preached on and argued for Christ converted to Catholicism and received
the Sacrament of Baptism. One of them is Lorenzo Ryosai, who used to be a
Japanese Buddhist string playing story teller, becoming Jesuit himself upon his
conversion to Christianity and a great preacher, converting more fellow
Japanese people across the feudal classes. Because of Lorenzo Ryosai’s
impressive preaching on Christ and logical disputing of Buddhist priests’
challenges, a samurai provincial lord, Tomoteru Takayama, decided to convert
himself to Christianity and urged his son, Ukon Takayama to do so, as well. And
now Ukon is beatified by Pope Francis and bound to be canonized as he became a
zealous lay evangelizer, especially to his fellow samurais.
If St. Francis Xavier did not come to Japan and made
an impressive evangelization in the isles of the rising son, then, we would not
have Lorenzo Ryosai as a Japanese Jesuit preacher to have more converts. Then,
we would not have Ukon Justo Takayama, as a beatified samurai evangelizer, who
brought more people, especially his fellow samurais, to Christ. Because Ukon
was the driving force of the establishment of the Azuchi Seminary, the first
Jesuit seminary in Japan, we would not have St. Paul Miki, one of the 26
Martyrs in Nagasaki, 1597, who hailed from the Azuchi Seminary.
See how the seeds of Christ’s Gospel initially sown by
St. Francis Xavier in Japan from 1549 to 1551, sprouted and took their roots,
bearing seed-bearing fruits of evangelization. Lorenzo Ryosai, Bl. Ukon Justo
Takayama, and St. Paul Miki are just few of such fruits, who also sow more
seeds to bear much more seed-bearing fruits of evangelization – even through
harsh persecution, under which St. Paul Miki lost his life for Christ and Bl.
Ukon Justo Takayama lost his province, castle, lordship, expelled to Manila,
Philippines. Because Ukon’s presence in Manila inspired and invigorated the
faithful in the Philippines, more and more missionaries came to Japan from
Manila, though persecution in Japan were increasingly intensified. Therefore,
the impacts of St. Francis Xavier’s evangelization in Japan went beyond Japan,
at least, reaching to the Philippines, echoing back to Japan.
What these three fruits of the seeds sown by St.
Francis Xavier in Japan, Lorenzo Ryosai, Bl. Ukon Justo Takayama, and St. Paul
Miki, share is the zeal for evangelization, comparable to that of St. Francis
Xavier and St. Paul of Tarsus. And their zeal has sustained and strengthened
the faith of Christians in Japan for generation during the persecution. And it
been passed on to Christians in Japan today and has impacted also on the faith
of Christians in the Philippines because of Bl. Ukon Justo Takayama, for he
would not have been a great evangelizer had St. Francis Xavier did not planted
seeds of Christian faith in Japan.
After all, we would not have St. Francis Xavier as we
know, if his life path did not cross the life path of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a
fellow Basque native with zeal.
Francis had no interest whatsoever in evangelizing and making disciples. When he was in college, Francis was dreaming to make himself rich through global trading business as Spanish Empire was rapidly expanding its overseas colonies. He was thinking to profit from selling goods from Spanish colonies in Europe. But, this original ambition of Francis was challenged by his college buddy, more like a fraternity brother, Ignatius, who was already determined with firm resolve to serve Christ in a heroic way. Perhaps, Ignatius was already planning to form the Jesuits and wanted to recruit at least a few other good men for this order to start. So, Ignatius urged Francis to become a priest and work with him for greater glory of God, rather than for his own personal worldly wealth. But, Francis was not interested in Ignatius idea and rather annoyed by his persistent attempts to turn his heart for God from amassing wealth from global trading. So, it is believed that Ignatius said to Francis, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but woever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Or what can one give in exchange for his ife?”, citing from Matthew 16:25-26. And this really impacted on Francis. So, the rest is as we know him as St. Francis Xavier.
It was, perhaps, easier for St. Francis Xavier to work in Goa, which was a Portuguese colony in India, compared to working in Japan. In Goa, Portuguese and Spanish were in politically and economically advantageous position. But in Japan, Europeans were considered as “ barbarians” at that time. Therefore, unlike in European colonies, Christian missionaries from Europe did not have power to press on the subjects of evangelization in Japan. Coming to Japan after working for evangelization in a Portuguese colony in India, the threshold was so high in Japan. Thus, working with authority figures in the feudal Japan at that time for St. Francis Xavier to carry out his missionary work was quite challenging. In spite of this obstacle, he made his way into the tight feudal social system of Japan to start sowing seeds of Christ’s Gospel and started winning many souls for Christ there, because his zeal to win as many souls as possible for Christ. Nothing could stop him from carrying out his apostolic mission.
The Gospel Reading for his memorial feast, Mark
16:15-20, is about Jesus commissioned the disciples for their apostolic mission
to sow seeds of his Gospel in every nation for greater salvation. It is fitting
to reflect how St. Francis Xavier turned his original ambition to gain the
whole world for his own wealth into the zeal to conquer every nation for Christ
with his Gospel so that more and more souls could be saved, upon St. Ignatius
of Loyola persuading him to establish the Jesuit order with him, citing Matthew
16:25-26. So his zeal fueled St. Francis Xavier to set the fire in a culturally
and politically challenging place, like Japan, making more zealous disciples
like him, such as Lorenzo Ryosai, who contributed to make more passionate
disciples, like Bl. Ukon Justo Takayama, whose pastoral work was instrumental
to bring St. Paul Miki and increase the fire of faith in Manila, where he
exiled upon being expelled from Japan for refusing to denounce his faith. And
the zeal of St. Francis Xavier, which made his peaching of the Gospel and
argument for Christ impressive and convincing, prompting Lorenzo Ryosai not
only to convert to Christianity but to become Jesuit, is well reflected in the
First Reading (1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23), as he and St. Paul share their
devotion in preaching Christ’s Gospel to win souls for Christ.
We honor and celebrate St. Francis Xavier’s extraordinary and zealous apostolic life during Advent Season. This means that we prepare ourselves to welcome the incarnated Christ at this arrival with our zeal comparable to that of this Jesuit saint. Reflecting the life of St. Francis Xavier on his memorial feast during the First Week of Advent inspires us to set our hearts on fire so that Christ will enjoy enough warms in us upon his arrival, ready to move forward with him in us to set the world on fire with his Gospel, making more zealous disciples, who will make more such disciples, to build the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And this means that we, too, will be instrumental in bringing Christ’s salvific effects and justice in every nation, as reflected in the First Reading of Friday of the First Week of Advent, Cycle I (odd-numbered year), Isaiah 29:17-24, as his feast falls on this day in 2021. And where salvation takes place, more and more people believe so that Christ can heal us to see him and his soteriological truth more clearly, as reflected in the Gospel Reading of Friday of the First Week of Advent, Cycle I, Matthew 9:27-31. As exemplified by St. Francis Xavier’s extraordinary zealous apostolic life, we are also commissioned by Christ, whom we prepare ourselves to welcome in our hearts, to do likewise.
In order to facilitate healing of Christ, as reflected
in Matthew 9:27-31, continue on to bring salvation and vindication for anawim in all nations on earth, as
Isaiah prophetically envisioned in Isaiah 29:27-24. For this, not only we need
to prepare ourselves to welcome incarnated Christ into our hearts but to
increase the fire of faith burning in our hearts so that we can set all nations
on fire with our zeal comparable to that of St. Francis Xavier. This means that
the fire we set on will not end with the ones whom we evangelized but those who
evangelize will continue passing on the fire for generations to come – until we
will welcome Christ again upon his return. So, the fire of St. Ignatius of
Loyola set fire on St. Francis Xavier in order to establish the Jesuit order.
Then, St. Francis Xavier brought the fire to the isles of the rising son,
setting Lorenzo Ryosai on fire. And he passed the fire on to Bl. Ukon Takayama,
who passed the fire to St. Paul Miki and to many faithful in the Philippines,
prompting them, like St. Antonio Gonzales and St. Lorenzo Ruiz, to go
to Japan amidst of severe persecution to keep the fire of faith in Japan
burning, through their martyrdoms, not letting the persecution extinguish the
fire original set by St. Francis Xavier, so that salvation and vindication for anawim, as imaged and reflected in
Isaiah 29:17-24 (First Reading of Friday of the First Week of Advent, Cycle I)
and Matthew 9:7:21, 24-27 (First Reading of Friday of the First Week of Advent,
Cycle I) will prevail in Japan and beyond, as the fire of faith set by St.
Francis Xavier in Japan further spreads.
Amen.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
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