Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest

Today's Mass Readings

Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? Have you ever been a hitchhiker? This was a common way to get around a good number of years ago, but today, hardly ever. Times have changed. What if our Advent pilgrimage called us to use our imagination such as traveling a road which allowed hitchhikers, and we picked up someone who turned out to be St. Francis Xavier, whose feast we celebrate today?

Can we imagine how the opening conversation might have gone and how it might have challenged us? “Where are you going?” was the immediate mutual question. “I’m going to the next town” answers the driver if the hitchhiker asks first. If the driver asks first, this unique hitchhiker might say, “I am going to the far East to share the Good News of the Gospel with the people who live there.” Think about it. Would you give this hitchhiker a lift? Does unvarnished apostolic zeal come across as suspicious, or does it uplift our day?

If Advent is going to mean something, should it not mean that Christ, the Son of God, continues to break into and shape our normal daily experience? It should call us to a higher level of response especially when some “Francis Xavier type” stops us in our tracks and asks, “Where are you going?” If we’re in the driver’s seat and actually only going to the next town because of the force of habit and tired hopes, maybe that passing stranger with a vision is inviting us to remove our sunglasses and lift the visors on the windshield.

Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB