MASS READINGS & SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Friday - December 03, 2021

Friday - December 03, 2021

Truly we are passing through disastrous times, when we may well make our own the lamentation of the Prophet: "There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). Yet in the midst of this tide of evil, the Virgin Most Merciful rises before our eyes like a rainbow, as the arbiter of peace between God and man. 

-- Saint Pope Pius X

December 3, 2021

Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest
Lectionary: 179

 

Reading 1                                                     Is 29:17-24

Thus says the Lord GOD:

But a very little while,

    and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard,

    and the orchard be regarded as a forest!

On that day the deaf shall hear

    the words of a book;

And out of gloom and darkness,

    the eyes of the blind shall see.

The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD,

    and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For the tyrant will be no more

    and the arrogant will have gone;

All who are alert to do evil will be cut off,

    those whose mere word condemns a man,

Who ensnare his defender at the gate,

    and leave the just man with an empty claim.

Therefore thus says the LORD,

    the God of the house of Jacob,

    who redeemed Abraham:

Now Jacob shall have nothing to be ashamed of,

    nor shall his face grow pale.

When his children see

    the work of my hands in his midst,

They shall keep my name holy;

    they shall reverence the Holy One of Jacob,

    and be in awe of the God of Israel.

Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding,

    and those who find fault shall receive instruction.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              27:1, 4, 13-14

 

R.    (1a)  The Lord is my light and my salvation.

 

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

    whom should I fear?

The LORD is my life’s refuge;

    of whom should I be afraid?

R.    The Lord is my light and my salvation.

One thing I ask of the LORD;

    this I seek:

To dwell in the house of the LORD

    all the days of my life,

That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD

    and contemplate his temple.

R.    The Lord is my light and my salvation.

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD

    in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD with courage;

    be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.

R.    The Lord is my light and my salvation.

 

Alleluia                                                                     

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Behold, our Lord shall come with power;

he will enlighten the eyes of his servants.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 9:27-31

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,

“Son of David, have pity on us!”

When he entered the house,

the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,

“Do you believe that I can do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.

Then he touched their eyes and said,

“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”

And their eyes were opened.

Jesus warned them sternly,

“See that no one knows about this.”

But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

 

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St. Francis Xavier

This saint, one of the Church's most illustrious missionaries, came from a noble Basque family in Spain. He studied at the University of Paris, where he taught philosophy after obtaining his degree of master of arts. Here he met Ignatius of Loyola and was enrolled as one of the first seven Jesuits. They decided to go to the Holy Land, but the war between the Turks and Venice prevented this, so for a time Francis labored at Padua, Bologna, and Rome.

In 1540 Ignatius chose him as the first missionary to the Portuguese East Indies. Francis sailed from Lisbon armed with four papal briefs making him nuncio with full powers and recommending him to the Eastern princes. He landed at Goa in India and began a vast apostolate lasting over ten years. Here he instructed the adults, gathered the children by ringing a bell in the streets, catechized them, and also visited the hospitals and prisons. He then turned to the native Indians, teaching the simple folk by versifying Catholic doctrine and fitting the verses to popular tunes. He then went on to Cape Comorin and began the conversion of the Paravas, some days baptizing so many that at night he could not raise his arm from fatigue. Then to Travencore where he founded forty-five churches in various villages. Then to Malacca in Malaya, and for eighteen months from island to island, preaching, instructing, baptizing.

On his return to Goa he heard of the vast harvest of souls awaiting the laborers in Japan and he set out for this field with several companions, arriving at Kagoshima in 1549. He set himself to learn the language and started to preach and teach with such success that twelve years later his converts were found still retaining their first fervor. In 1551 he returned to Malacca to revisit his converts in India. Now a new goal loomed up before his eyes—pagan China, but he was not to reach it.

Arriving on the island of Sancian at the mouth of the Canton river, he became ill of a fever and would have died abandoned on the burning sands of the shore if a poor man named Alvarez had not taken him to his hut. Here he lingered for two weeks, praying between spells of delirium, and finally died, his eyes fixed with great tenderness on his crucifix. He was buried in a shallow grave and his body covered with quicklime, but when exhumed three months later it was found fresh and incorrupt. It was taken to Goa where it is still enshrined. St. Francis Xavier was proclaimed patron of foreign missions and of all missionary works by Pope St. Pius X.

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God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”