Dec 3: All Are Sent

Pierre Le Gros II: St. Francis Xavier

Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, priest
Gospel: Mt 9:27-31

But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district (NRSV, Mt 9:31).

Lord God, your very being is sharing: giving and receiving. You speak one Word, life given to your Son. Father and Son, you share that life in Love that is your Holy Spirit. The one Word that you speak, your Son, is also the Word that creates, bringing being out of nothing. Your Spirit breathes life upon creation; for those specially called, a life that is a share in your own divine life.

All of us then, Lord, who are human, are challenged to be caught up in your divine life of sharing: giving and receiving. Even as Jesus healed the two blind men and gently chided them to keep it to themselves, they nevertheless went out and shared the good news with their neighbors. And so it must be with all of us.

May we too generate new life, Lord, that there may be future generations of your children to serve you in one another. In the universal dialogue of what it means to be a human being, always respecting one another’s conscience, may we assist one another in clarifying your one Word spoken to all of us. May we give of ourselves to each other in love, especially as we serve those most in need. May we strive as well to safeguard for posterity, and to enhance, the gift of nature entrusted to the care of all.

Father, we are all called to be your missionaries, those who are sent. Help us to see your divine presence in all of our sisters and brothers. In bearing witness to your Word, help us never to be the oppressor or exploiter but always the servant. May all of us seek to find you, not by rejecting and abandoning who we are, but by encouraging one another to accept ourselves more fully, striving to be more faithful to the truth, not so much as we hear it from others, as we uncover it within ourselves.

Healing power went out from your Son Jesus to encourage the faith already existent in others. On this day in memory of your great missionary, Francis Xavier, who manifested your healing power to so many, we pray that the same healing power may go out from all of us to encourage in one another the very life that you, Lord, already share with us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen