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December 3, 2009
St. Francis Xavier, Priest

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Today we remember St. Francis Xavier, who followed his friend and mentor St. Ignatius Loyola and became one of the first Jesuit priests. St. Francis Xavier spent his life traveling and living among the poor, ministering and evangelizing many people throughout India, Asia and the Pacific Islands.  Learn more about this saint from Franciscan Radio.

Daily Readings

Pray

Prayer for the Uninsured

Father of goodness and love,
Hear our prayers for the uninsured members of our community and for all who are in need.

For those who seek care but find that it is out of reach, may they find consolation in your healing presence.

For all who are blessed with health and security, may they strive to fulfill the needs of those who are sick and insecure.

For leaders who make decisions that affect the health and well-being of others, may they work to ensure the fundamental right to health care.

We ask this through Christ our Lord who healed those who believed. Amen.

Reflect

Pope Benedict XVI , Saints, p. 58 (1506–1552; December 3)
Patron of the Missions
In speaking of St. Ignatius, I cannot overlook . . . St. Francis Xavier. . . . Not only is their history interwoven through long years in Paris and Rome, but a single aspiration—one might say, a single passion—stirred and sustained them, even in their different human situations: the passion for working for the ever greater glory of God-the-Trinity and for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples who did not know him. St. Francis Xavier, whom my Predecessor Pius XI, of venerable memory, proclaimed the “Patron of Catholic Missions,” saw as his own mission “opening new ways of access” to the Gospel “in the immense Continent of Asia.” His apostolate in the Orient lasted barely ten years, but in the four and a half centuries that the Society of Jesus has existed it has proven wonderfully fruitful, for his example inspired a multitude of missionary vocations among young Jesuits and he remains a reference point for the continuation of missionary activity in the great countries of the Asian Continent.

Address to the Jesuits
April 22, 2006

Act

Learn about the U.S. Bishops’ position on covering the uninsured and other Heath Care Reform issues and what you can do to help encourage "genuine health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all.”