Dear Friend,

Saturday of the First Week of Advent

Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier

Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Reflection by Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly

Now at the end of the first week of our Advent journey, how’s it going for you? Still feel like you’re beginning a Year of Grace?  Or perhaps by now you feel as if you’ve boarded a runaway train with no known destination and little capacity to receive direction or assistance.  I find sometimes that we can tend to set unrealistic expectations for ourselves, and when we cannot achieve them – due to distraction, laziness or self-reliance – our inclination is to throw in the towel, followed by moping around, growing increasingly more disappointed and learning to live with a good measure of anger.  I wonder if that is how a sheep without a shepherd might be described?

Our gospel for today’s Mass begins with a description of Jesus absorbed in his mission of teaching, proclaiming and healing – to all the towns and villages.  And the crowds came, in each place.  At the sight of the crowds, the gospel relates to us: “his heart was moved with pity for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”  In the sight of human suffering, of misery and of paralyzing weakness, the heart of Jesus is touched.  And he responds, generation after generation, with the same tried and true pattern – summoning and sending.  Calling to himself and empowering his followers to continue his saving mission.

Today the Church also holds up for us a powerful and inspiring example of someone who did just that – Saint Francis Xavier.  He was one of the co-founders of the Jesuits along with Saint Ignatius of Loyola.  He was an early missionary to Asia.  His life aptly captures the description that Jesus paints of what it means to be a missionary disciple, as Pope Francis has reminded us.    The collect for Mass uses these words: “grant that the hearts of the faithful may burn with the same zeal for the faith” that marked the life of Saint Francis Xavier. 

In this sense, I understand zeal as dedicating all of our gifts, our whole person and personality to one Person, Jesus Christ.  When we do so, like Saint Francis Xavier, our lives  are taken up into Christ’s logic of love – which is not gather and get, hoard and hide, or protect and preserve – but rather offer self as oblation, surrender self in sacrifice and present self as a gift for the life of the other.  Kind of like what I imagine a shepherd would do.

The image for today’s reflection is from the Seminary Chapel of Christ the Good Shepherd.  The beautiful image is directly behind the crucifix, the altar and the tabernacle.  It reminds me each time I see it that my manner of loving needs to be like that of Christ.  I am grateful for this time in Advent, as it affords me – and you – the opportunity look at the way I love.  What is my “logic of love?”  When I see the suffering of others, is my heart moved?  Do I consider myself as living a life of zeal for the Lord?  How best can I use these days to ask Jesus in the Eucharist to open my heart to his manner of loving?

Prayer:

Jesus, you lived with passion and you invite all those who follow you to do likewise.  Send your spirit into my heart that nothing inside of me may keep me from living for you, serving you and loving you – with all of my heart.  Amen.

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Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., former Rector/Dean, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.