Saint Francis Xavier, Priest
on Saturday of the 1st week of Advent
Gospel – Matthew 9:35-10:1,5,6-8
“Go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel… You received without charge, give without charge’”. Jesus came to us and made us His disciples without charge. He took us with our weakness and defects. He shared His authority with us, to go to the lost sheep. The condition of someone around us as lost, is where our mission starts. To look around to understand who is lost, who is crying, who is desperate, who is depressed, is the first step. Often, we don’t see the lost. We see those who come to the Church and are active in different realities of the Church. But be sure, our mission begins where one around us, feels lost. After understanding that this person feels lost or is lost, we must give him or her back the sense of life, his or her dignity, the meaning of life. And this giving back becomes a giving back without charge when this giving is sharing, when this giving is without pretension, as a service. Let’s reflect: Advent is the time to make all our giving a sharing in serving the other.