Heart to Heart: Faith Seasons Podcast

Today's Ornament of Grace for Saturday of the first week of Advent is St. Francis Xavier, SJ.

from Isaiah 30:19-21

The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.  For the tyrant will be no more and the arrogant will have gone; all who are alert to do evil will be cut off, those whose mere word condemns a man, who ensnare his defender at the gate and leave the just man with an empty claim.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis Xavier, one of the greatest missionaries of all.  Born in Xavier castle in 1506 in what is now northern Spain, he died December 3, 1552 on Sancian Island, China (now Shangchuan Island). 

In just 46 years, his zeal for God empowered him to convert thousands to Christianity.  Francis traveled to India, the Malay Archipelago, and Japan.  In each place, he welcomed the people by reverencing them, their food, customs, and language.  A humble man, Francis did not insist that his former way of living was somehow better than the way he encountered in other lands. Instead, he worked diligently to learn difficult languages and to understand the heart of the people he served as he worked for their good.

Educated first at home, Francis was the youngest son of a nobleman. According to the practice of the time, he was expected to follow a career in the Church.  So, when he was 19 years old, he went to the University of Paris, the theological center of Europe, to continue his studies.  There he roomed with Peter Favre who became his good friend.

A few years later, Ignatius of Loyola came to the University of Paris.  Ignatius, converted earlier from his military and romantic ventures, was fifteen years older than Francis. He soon won over Peter Favre and then Francis, and eventually four others to join him in seeking nothing more than to imitate Christ.  On August 15, 1534, these seven men went to a Chapel on Montmartre in Paris.  There, they vowed celibacy and poverty, promising to take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land before beginning their new ministry.

Unfortunately, war broke out between the Venetians and the Turks, preventing the planned pilgrimage.  The group then gathered in Venice where Francis was ordained a priest in 1537.  This original group, together with some new recruits, went to Rome where they offered their services to the Pope as the newly formed Society of Jesus.

Returning from Rome, Francis zealously followed the promises he had made to God.  The new Society cared for the sick and preached the Gospel throughout central Italy with great love.  King John III of Portugal wanted some of these dedicated men to care for and evangelize all those under his dominion in Asian nations.

Francis, assigned to India by Ignatius, eagerly embraced his new ministry, arriving there in 1542. In 1549, Francis went to Japan and continued his fruitful ministry.  Jesus worked many miracles through Francis as he brought thousands to believe in the Lord.  Francis also founded churches and colleges, but he taught those who wanted to be baptized with as much fervor as any other work he did.

Finally, he set off for China in 1552, but he never realized his dream there.  A fatally ill Francis would have died abandoned on the shore of a nearby island if it were not for a poor man rescuing him and carrying him to his hut.  There, Francis died as humbly as he had lived.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

How can we imitate Francis Xavier’s humility and zeal for the Lord?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Friday of the first week of Advent is St. Angela Merici.

from Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus moved on from there, two blind men came after him crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!”. When he got to the house, the blind men caught up with him.  Jesus said to them, “Are you confident I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they told him.  At that he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith it shall be done to you”; and they recovered their sight.

Born around 1474 on a farm in the Lombardy region of Italy, Angela Merici was only about ten years old when she and her older sister Giana Maria were left orphans, along with their brothers.  The brothers were allowed to remain at the family home, but the girls were sent to live with an uncle in a small Italian town.  There, her sister became sick and died suddenly.  Angela worried that her sister had not been anointed before her death, and she prayed that Giana would be in heaven.  Apparently, she prayed with great faith because she was granted a vision of Giana in heaven surrounded by the saints. 

Angela joined the Third Order of St. Francis, dedicating herself to God in prayer and sacrifice.  When she was twenty or so, her uncle died, and she returned to her family home which she had inherited.  She knew that young girls needed a Christian education, so she opened her home to help them learn about the Lord.  During this period, she had another vision.  In it, she was told to gather an association of virgins to work with her to teach religious education to young women.  She began this work with enthusiasm.

Tradition holds that on one of her pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Angela was struck blind on the Island of Crete. Trusting God’s power, she continued her journey.  On the return trip, her sight was restored as she prayed before a crucifix at the same place where she had lost her sight.

While this period of the Renaissance in Italy helped rational thought to develop more fully, it sometimes caused people to embrace humanism to the extent that they forgot about God and morality.  So, in 1535, Angela gathered twelve faithful virgins she knew, and together they began the Company of St. Ursula in a small house in the town of Brescia.  These virgins committed themselves to teaching young women who would become wives and mothers.

Angela and her companions did this holy work while remaining in the world, wearing no particular habit, and taking no religious vows.  Angela chose as their patron St. Ursula who suffered martyrdom rather than give up her right to virtue when attacked. Angela also wrote a rule for her companions to follow.

The Company grew quickly and, by the time of Angela’s death, had 150 members.  Later, a Bishop would change the rule and establish the Company of St. Ursula into an Order that still performs the work of education.

More importantly than having her physical sight restored by faith, St. Angela Merici saw with her heart the love Jesus had for all.  She heard His call to educate the young women of her day, and she followed that call faithfully until her death.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

What kind of vision has God restored for you, perhaps in your heart or mind, to let you better see how you can bring His word to others?  

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Thursday of the first week of Advent is Jacqueline Novogratz.

from Isaiah 26: 1-6

Trust in the Lord forever!  For the Lord is an eternal Rock.  He humbles those in high places, and the lofty city he brings down; he tumbles it to the ground, levels it with the dust. It is trampled underfoot by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor.

In 2009, Jacqueline Novogratz published a book titled The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.  The title is a reference to an experience Jacqueline had in Kigali, Rwanda.  Rwanda is located south of the equator in east central Africa, and Kigali is its capital city located in the center of the country.

There it was that Jacqueline saw a boy wearing a blue sweater, a sweater she recognized.  It appeared to be one she had donated to Goodwill many years before, so she checked it out.  Her name tag was still in it, and she realized as never before how we are all connected across the globe.  She understood that we must be one with all, including the poor, using whatever gifts we have to bring about a more just society.

After graduating from the University of Virginia where she studied Economics and International Relations, Jacqueline Novogratz earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.  At only 22, she began a career as an international credit analyst for Chase Manhattan Bank.  Seeking a new way to make a meaningful difference in the world, she left Chase and served as a consultant for the World Bank and UNICEF in Rwanda.

In that position, she helped establish a microfinance institution called Duterimbere which, loosely translated, means “Let’s Develop.”    Microfinance Institutions provide capital to business owners and individuals who cannot get traditional loans from banks because they lack sufficient credit, collateral, or other ways to secure loans. Her organization has freed many in Rwanda from devastating poverty.

By 2001, after educating many through Leadership Programs at the Rockefeller Foundation, Jacqueline founded Acumen, a nonprofit impact investment fund. Acumen’s mission is “to change the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas.  Acumen invests patient, long-term capital in innovative and sustainable startups that deliver critical goods and services to the world’s poor.”

So, Jacqueline Novogratz has the intelligence, the background, and – above all – the understanding heart that empowers her to help people globally, especially the poor. Like Isaiah, Jacqueline understands we are in this together. Isaiah realized a Savior would come to care for the poor, promising Hope.

This Advent, let’s not forget that the Savior needs our hands and hearts, our skills and gifts, to care for our brothers and sisters everywhere.  We may all have different ways of expressing our beliefs, but we all want a chance at life; we all want to live in dignity and with hope.  When we reach out with what we have to help one another, we find happiness – true and deep happiness.  Jacqueline has found a way to make a difference. Maybe we can too.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

How can you get to know someone outside your usual contacts and learn to see that person as your brother or sister, whether physically close or far away?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Wednesday of the first week of Advent is St. Andrew.

from Romans 10:9-18

For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Faith in the heart leads to justification, confession on the lips to salvation.

St. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, had a Greek name meaning “courageous,” and he certainly lived up to that name. Born in Bethsaida, Andrew and his brother followed in their father’s footsteps and became fishermen.  Both Andrew and his brother Simon (later called Peter) settled in Capernaum to establish their fishing business near the northern shore of Lake Tiberias, also known as the Sea of Galilee, the largest freshwater lake in Israel.

Andrew often traveled to listen to John the Baptist, and he became one of his disciples.  One day he and another disciple were with the Baptist in Bethany when they heard John say about his cousin who was passing by, “Look!  There is the Lamb of God!”  Hearing these words, Andrew and the other disciple then followed Jesus.  Seeing them, Jesus asked them what they were looking for, and they replied, “Rabbi, where do you stay?”  Jesus said, “Come and see.”  So, Andrew and the other disciple followed Jesus to his lodging and remained with him the rest of the day.

The first thing Andrew did after that was go to his brother Simon Peter in Capernaum and tell him they had found the Messiah.  He then brought his brother to meet Jesus.  Later, they returned to their fishing enterprise, continuing as they had before.  But after John the Baptist was thrown into prison, Jesus left Nazareth to minister in Capernaum.  There, Jesus began to preach repentance as John had done.  Jesus told everyone the Kingdom of God was at hand.

In Capernaum, Andrew and Simon Peter were fishing on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus saw them and said, “Come and follow me; I will make you fishers of men.”  Immediately, they dropped their nets and followed Jesus.  After this, we do not hear much about Andrew, except as part of the group of Jesus’ twelve apostles.  He does emerge as the one who, when Jesus was feeding the five thousand, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes; but what is that among so many?”  We know how that turned out! 

Like the other apostles, Andrew did not fully understand Jesus’ infinite power yet.  He is mentioned a few other times.  The important thing, though, is that Andrew followed Jesus immediately when he was called, and he followed Jesus faithfully until the end of his life.

Like most of the apostles, he was martyred for his faithful love.  Tradition tells us that Andrew preached the Gospel in the districts around the Black Sea.  Legend holds that he was bound, rather than nailed to a cross, to prolong his suffering.  The cross was in the shape of an X because Andrew said he did not deserve to die on a cross shaped like the cross of Jesus.  The X-shaped cross now always bears St. Andrew’s name. 

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

If Jesus calls you to do something in His name, can you give an example of how you can drop everything to do that?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Tuesday of the first week of Advent is St. Francis of Assisi.

from Isaiah 11:1-10

But he shall judge the poor with justice and decide aright for the land’s afflicted… Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them…. 

St. Francis of Assisi has influenced art, literature, and religious practices maybe more than any other saint, except the Mother of God.  He has touched the lives of people everywhere - the faith-filled, the heretics, the rich, the poor, the humble and the haughty - from the time he lived in the Middle Ages even until today.  

Pietro, Francis’ father, was a successful Italian cloth merchant. His mother, Pica, was from Provence, France. Pica gave Francis the name Giovanni at his baptism while his father was out of the country doing business.  When his father returned from his business trip, he began to call little Giovanni by the name Francesco or Francis since his son seemed to love everything French.  

 As a young man with plenty of money to spend on clothes, food, and fun, Francis had many friends who found his company delightful.  He loved adventure and engaged in street battles in nearby towns.  When he was around twenty, Francis joined a military expedition to Perugia.  Perugia had declared war on Assisi and soon defeated Assisi.  Francis was taken prisoner.  He suffered severe deprivation in jail until his father was able to ransom him about a year later.  

Francis returned to his former carefree life in Assisi - briefly.  Chastened by physical suffering while in jail, though, Francis began to accept God’s grace at work in his heart. In 1203, he set off to enlist in another army.  However, on the way, Jesus spoke to Francis from the Cross, and Francis returned to Assisi a changed man.  

 Taking to heart the words of the Gospels, Francis decided that he would imitate Our Lord in everything.  Instead of fine clothes, he put on rough and ragged garments, begged barefoot at the city gates, and showed love to all around him – especially the poor and outcasts.  His pure heart and peaceful ways brought other young men to join him.  By 1209, he began to form the Order of Friars Minor which grew rapidly because of the Brothers’ love for all.  By 1212, a young woman named Clare sought guidance from Francis to follow his way of life.  With his help, Clare established the Second Franciscan Order, the Poor Clares.  A Third Order flourishes today as well.

 Francis’ goodness brought his life into harmony with all of God’s creation. Many legends grew up around this fact after his death, but we can guess that St. Francis would have easily believed that the wolf could be a guest of the lamb or that a child could lead the lion, as Isaiah predicts in today’s Reading.  Francis knew that God created a world that was beautiful and good but that suffers because of our sin.  That is why God sent a Savior. Following Jesus and with His grace, we can all be at peace with one another and, in Francis’ words, with  “Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth.” All creation, Francis said, praises God.  

 On October 3, 1226, Francis lay down on his dear earth, literally, and welcomed his sister Death.  Because of his great love – feeding the hungry, caring for lepers, encouraging others, and living respectfully with all creatures – Francis was canonized only two years after his death in 1228. 

 OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

 What inspiration did Pope Francis take from his namesake, St. Francis, in writing his encyclical Laudato Si?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Monday of the first week of Advent is the Roman Centurion.

from Matthew 8:5-11

As Jesus entered Capernaum, a Centurion approached him with this request: “Sir, my serving boy is at home in bed paralyzed, suffering painfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” “Sir,” the Centurion said in reply, “I am not worthy to have you under my roof.  Just give an order and my boy will get better…”. 

The Roman Centurion in today’s Gospel seeks out Jesus to help his servant who is extremely ill.  How did he know to do that?

Roman Centurions were generally not loved by the Jewish people. They commanded 100 soldiers of the occupational force. Charged with keeping order among the conquered people, Centurions were often very involved in the daily life of those they ruled and kept their forces busy with projects in the occupied towns. They even constructed synagogues, as a favor to the Jews, though Romans worshipped pagan gods.

While this Centurion had to be tough to keep his job, he may have had the good political sense to be friendly with the Jewish people in order to hear any news that might be going around. Since Matthew’s Gospel with the Sermon on the Mount comes just before this incident, it’s possible word might have reached the Roman soldier about Jesus, His great love for His people, and His miraculous powers.

Perhaps that is why this Centurion sought Jesus’ help when he got word his servant was so sick.  That raises another question.  How did he have such faith, trusting that Jesus could cure his servant without even coming to his home?  True, he compared Jesus’ power to his own ability to give orders to his soldiers and expect them to be carried out.  Yet, it seems to be more than that.  The Centurion had to have an open heart, a heart that Jesus could touch, and a heart that could trust Jesus completely.  This Centurion set all his pride aside and asked a Jew to help him.  He put away any spite he may have had for the Jews who hated him, and just looked at Jesus’ goodness.  So, the Centurion was a man with a humble heart, and Jesus recognized this.

Let us reflect on this faith-filled, humble soldier the next time we say the words of the Centurion at Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof…,”  This Roman was also selfless, in one way at least.  He was asking Jesus for a favor, not for himself, but out of love for his servant who was so deathly ill. 

We can bring our requests before the Lord – truly present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity - in the Blessed Sacrament   Will Jesus find our hearts humble and open, trusting that He wants to heal and make us and those for whom we pray wholly alive in His love?  Can we really believe and hold onto that faith, even if things don’t seem to be moving in the direction we expect?  Will He be amazed at our faith as He was with that of the Roman Centurion?   Maybe this Advent, as we take time to reflect on how the Lord became a tiny, helpless baby in order to save us, we can begin to put ourselves helplessly in the hands of an almighty God and simply learn to believe His is the only power that can save.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS 

What Advent activities might help us open our hearts humbly in faith before an all-powerful Savior?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Sunday of the first week of Advent is the Archangel Raphael.

Matthew 24:37-44

Jesus said to his disciples: “The coming of the Son of Man will repeat what happened in Noah’s time.  In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and being married, right up to the day Noah entered the ark.  They were totally unconcerned until the flood came and destroyed them.  So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man… Stay awake, therefore!  You cannot know the day your Lord is coming.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is not asking us to go without sleep.  Rather, He is warning us against sleepwalking through life, missing the very moments He is present with us in ordinary people or in our everyday routine.  He reminds us to be aware of His presence when we face interruptions in our schedule or when this fragile life of ours is threatened by serious crises.

To begin our Advent journey and to ask for the healing which will help us keep alert to the actions of God in our lives during this time of expectation, we might turn to the Archangel Raphael, one of the Archangels revered along with Gabriel and Michael. The Old Testament’s Book of Tobit tells us much about the healing presence of St. Raphael and the importance of recognizing the face of God in our daily encounters.

Tobias was sent by his blind father, Tobit, to recover money he had lent to a man some distance from his home.  Tobias obeyed his father and went to collect the debt. The Archangel Raphael appeared in the form of a young man to Tobias and offered to accompany him on his journey.  Tobias recognized his companion’s goodness and, in so doing, found an unending source of help along the way. 

Early on, Raphael rescued Tobias from a sea monster on the banks of the Tigris River.  Shortly thereafter, he urged Tobias to go to a father whose only daughter brought death to all who married her because she was possessed by a demon; Raphael urged Tobias to ask for her hand in marriage. Sara, the daughter, had prayed unceasingly that whatever curse she suffered could be removed.  When Tobias hesitated, Raphael said, “Heed me well… and thou shalt hear why the demon has power to hurt some and not others.  The fiend has power over such as go about their mating with all thought of God shut out of their hearts and minds, wholly intent on their lust…”

So, trusting his good companion, Tobias married the once “dangerous” daughter.  The couple prayed together, and the evil spirit fled.  After that, as the young couple celebrated, Raphael went to collect the debt for Tobias’s father and returned to accompany the newlyweds home.  Once there, Raphael restored sight to Tobias’s blind father.

As Tobias and his father thanked Raphael and wanted to share their money with him, Raphael said, “Prayer, fasting, and alms… here is better treasure to lay up than any store of gold… When thou, Tobias, were praying, I all the while, was offering that prayer to the Lord… Who am I?  I am the Angel Raphael, and my place is among those seven who stand in the presence of the Lord… And the angel left them. 

We all sometimes need to be healed from our blindness, so that we see the people – and maybe even the angels in disguise – who come to journey with us through life.

Observing the Beautiful Ornaments

What are some ways we can find healing from daily distractions that keep us from recognizing and trusting in the goodness of those around us?

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420 W County Line Rd, Suite 200
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