- Ecclesiastes 3:14 -
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be
added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere
him.
_____________________________________________________________
What is the purpose of life? It is that we should receive the all-powerful
God. To revere God means to respect and stand in awe of him because of who
he is. Purpose in life starts with whom we know, not what we know or how
good we are. It is impossible to fulfill your God-given purpose unless you
revere God and give him first place in your life.
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December 3rd - St. Francis Xavier
St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), born of a noble Spanish family, Jesuit
missionary and confessor, Apostle to the Far East and special patron saint
of the Missions.
The biography of St. Francis Xavier by Daurignac reprints a section of a
letter he wrote to Dom John III, King of ****tugal:
"My Lord, Your Highness should fear the moment when God will call you to
stand before Him, which will happen without fail and perhaps when you
least
expect it. You should fear, great Prince, that an irate Judge will address
you with these terrible words of accusation:
'Why have you not proceeded with rigor against your ministers and
subordinates who plotted against Me in India and did not fear to declare
themselves in rebellion against Me? Why was your severity lax except when
they failed to pay their taxes or were negligent in the administration of
your finances?'
"My Lord, then you will answer God with the following excuse of little
value:
'For Thy glory I wrote to those countries every year recommending the
greatest zeal in working for Thee and obeying Thy precepts.'
"Then the Lord will say to you:
'Yes, you did so, but you did not punish all those who were
indifferent
to those orders.'"
(J. M.S. Daurignac, Vie de Saint Ignace de Loyola, Fondateur de la
Compagnie
de Jesus, Paris: Bray et Retaux, 1877)
Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)
It is a very beautiful text. You should consider that at that time the
King
of ****tugal had im****tant lands in India. In an annual letter to his
subordinates, he recommended that they do everything possible to promote
the
Catholic Faith.
However, St. Francis Xavier, who was there making his apostolate,
witnessed
that those orders were not followed and that those officials even plotted
to
prevent the Catholic Faith from expanding. They were decadent men,
probably
linked to some sort of Masonry that was already secretly acting against
the
designs of the King of ****tugal to sabotage the spread of the Catholic
Faith.
St. Francis Xavier wrote to the King, giving him this warning: It is not
enough to send orders; it is necessary to punish those who disobey you,
because a command unaccompanied by punishment of those who flout it is a
futile thing without value. It will not stand before God as the
accomplishment of your duty.
He told him: You, the King, have the obligation to punish those who
violate
your orders to uphold and spread the Faith as strongly as you punished
those
who did not pay their taxes to the Crown. If you punished them for the
taxes
and not for religion, it means that you consider taxes more valuable than
the Catholic Faith.
Then, the Saint warned the King: You should be aware that God may call you
at any moment and then you will not be able to escape His judgment.
Indeed, at any moment he could have an accident, an attempt against his
life
could be made, he could become gravely ill, or some other such thing could
bring him before the tribunal of God. Then, how would the King respond to
God regarding the use of his power?
St. Francis Xavier reminded him of two principles: first, the tem****al
power's principal concern should be to expand the Catholic Faith rather
than
increase the royal fortune; second, the exercise of his power should be
accompanied with the threat of punishment for those who disobey his
orders.
The King will have to answer to God for that.
It is admirable to see the liberty with which St. Francis Xavier addressed
one of the powerful men of the time. In times past, when someone used this
kind of frankness, it was termed in ecclesiastical language "apostolic
frankness." It is a beautiful expression that reveals the courage an
apostle
must have. He is a representative of God and must use the language of God.
Therefore he has the right to say the most unpleasant things to the most
powerful men, and he has the right to be heard.
St. Francis Xavier spoke to the King, realizing the serious possibility
that
his words might change the King's way of acting. In any cir***stance, he
fulfilled his duty and the warning was given. From that moment on, the
King
had to answer for his actions in that matter before God.
You see how this behavior is logical, noble, and beautiful. But you also
see
that today it seems outdated. Not because such behavior became obsolete in
itself, but rather because men became so decadent and lax that they no
longer want to hear such words. For this reason, today's progressivist
Catholics would accuse St. Francis Xavier of lacking charity for speaking
in
this way. They would say that this kind of admonition showed that he was
lacking in the Catholic spirit.
People who say this are wrong, because here we have the words of one of
the
greatest saints of the Catholic Church, St. Francis Xavier, who spoke this
way. The saints did not use the honeyed language of this false e***enism
that is everywhere in today's Church.
This text of St. Francis Xavier is a confirmation that our
anti-progressivist position is correct. The words of the true Catholic
apostle should be like his. We should pray to him and to Our Lady that,
until we die, we always have the courage to use this language.
See pictures at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j157sd_StFrancisXavier_11-30.shtml
Saint Quote:
"Our Lady produced the inaccessible Light of her most blessed Son, without
receiving any injury from it nor staining in any way her virginal purity.
She produced Him without any effort, nor shock, nor any violence
whatsoever." [remaining a virgin during His birth, because God made it
miraculous, and a virgin ever after]
-St. Francis de Sales (Doctor, 1567-1622)
Bible Quotes:
"The angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, ... Behold thou shalt conceive in
thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
.... And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know
not
man [because, before God, I have vowed perpetual virginity]?" - Luke
1:30-31, 34
ACT OF HUMILITY # 1
O my Saviour!
whom am I that Thou shouldst invite me
to receive Thee for the food of my soul?
Is it possible that Thou,
the God of infinite purity,
shouldst come and dwell in my heart,
which has been so long the abode of Thine enemy,
and the sink of so much sin?
Lord, if Thou wilt,
Thou canst make me clean.
Say but the word and my soul shall be healed.
I come then,
O my amiable Saviour,
to receive Thee this morning,
but I come covered with shame
and confusion at the sight of my sins,
but full of confidence in Thy mercy,
and in the love which Thou dost bear to me.
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