DECEMBER 3, 2004- ST FRANCIS XAVIER:  ISAIAH 29:17-24; MATTHEW 9:27-31

THE EYES OF THE BLIND SHALL SEE; THE LOWLY WILL FIND JOY IN THE LORD, AND THE POOR REJOICE IN THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. In this season of Advent and on the feast-day of St Francis Xavier these words of the prophet Isaiah disclose fresh dimensions of their Messianic message. In its original setting this utterance of the prophet was addressed to a people suffering from the ravages of their invasion by a superior and hostile power, TheAssyrians. It is a promise of consolation and prosperity that gives assurance of God’s fidelity and care. Those who now are poor and morally blind because of their infidelity will be replaced by people who know the joy of God’s salvation. Jesus in his public ministry announced that Isaiah had spoken of him and predicted his coming. Ultimately the joy of which this foremost prophet of Israel and his followers speak is the fruit of the presence of the longed for Savior.

When Jesus gave sight to the blind, as we find him doing in today’s Gospel, he was conscious of bringing to fulfillment the prophet’s prediction. He stated in his sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth as proof of his credentials that by his intervention “the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk”. We are told too that later the lack of response by the majority of his audience led him to quote the same prophet as witness against those who did not accept him with faith. “You hear with your ears and do not understand, you see with your eyes and do not have knowledge” (Is. 6:9) He stated in a more positive setting that he came as a light into the world. Convinced that Jesus alone is the true light, that brings the joy of salvation to those living in darkness, Francis Xavier dedicated himself to bringing that light to the nations of Asia. He witnessed to Christ and his teaching fearlessly at the risk of his life in Japan. In spite of the serious resistance to the Gospel which still characterizes that country as a whole, he was able to plant seeds of faith that continue to bear fruit today in the minority of Catholics who faithfully carry on the witness he gave so generously.

Advent too reminds us of the light of Christ that comes into this world at the birth of our Savior. Because of the hope that he comes for us, on our behalf, it is a time of joy as well as a season of preparation by prayer, fasting and penance. We prepare to receive him with desire. We await his coming in joy, with the confident expectation that in the birth of Christ we possess an assurance of God’s love and mercy. Those who receive him with faith and seek after life with God through him will not be left alone in darkness. Already by faith and desire we possess in hope the Spirit of the Lord. He even now enlightens our path and gives the assurance of God’s favor. May his guidance and strength enable us to prepare our hearts to receive the Savior each day as he comes to us and so further prepare us to share the new life that the promised Savior imparts to all who put their trust in him, and even now to us who are about to receive him in this Eucharist.