Feast of the Missionary

The boys were on the hunt for Sariel most of the morning.  Edward was the lucky one to find our Advent Angel.   The first thing they learned was that today is a feast day!

We celebrate the feast dedicated to St. Francis Xavier.  He was a friend of St Ignatius of Loyola (they met in college) and he later became a missionary to India and then on to the islands surrounding the Philippines.  He wanted to expand his evangelic work to China but he became ill and died on his voyage.



As I sit and type this blog, I asked Henry what he remembered of St Francis Xavier.  He had read a book about this saint a couple of years ago.  I think we have been watching to many TV shows with police investigations.  He went into elaborate details about the decomposition of the saints bones!  Actually, it is kind of interesting what happened after he died...his companions were determined to bring his remains back home, but the ship captain refused because he said it would smell too bad.  His companions were told if the body decomposed enough before the ship set out, they could bring the body.  So, they poured lime to speed up the process!  I guess he was not meant to go home, as the companions returned to collect his remains and he was found to be incorrupt!

Of course, the boys thought this was a pretty cool story!  Personally, I thought the life story of St. Francis Xavier is very inspiring BEFORE he died.  I am glad that my missionary work is not in the far reaches of the world...I like to show Christ to the world around me.  However, hearing about his life reminds me to pray for those who do spread the message to these countries.

After hearing these stories, we read from the Gospel of Luke about the angel's (Gabriel) visit to Zachariah (Luke 1:5-25).  Zechariah was told that his barren wife would conceive a child.  When he questioned Gabriel, the angel gave him a sign...he would not speak until all came to pass as was foretold.  Just think what would happen if God gave us a sign like this every time we doubted Him?   I guess our world would be a quieter place, right?

To demonstrate to the boys that we should not question the will of God, we told them that they should follow our directions without question.  Then we told them to jump on one foot and jump around, then they were to shout out God's praises!  Now the chance God would ask us to do something so silly is slim, but the idea is that we should not question God's will.  Trust is an important part of our faith.

Henry was asked to make a representation of Zachariah for our mantel.  He came back with a bearded LEGO man!  We added it to one of the LEGO gingerbread houses they made yesterday.

Edward then added a blanket to our nativity scene.  This was used to cover the crevices in the roof and walls.  We are told to repair and cracks in our spiritual lives that tempt us to turn away from God.

This evening we added a ladder to the Jesse Tree.  Do you know what this represents?  Do you remember the story in Genesis 27 about the dream of Jacob (verses 12-15)?  Jacob has just tricked his brother out of his inheritance and runs away in fear of his life.  While in the desert he dreams about a ladder that takes him to heaven.  God tells him that he will prosper in all that he does, including a multitude of descendants.  The ladder represents God's desire to reunite the earth with the divine.

I think the two stories go together...in both stories communication with God were important.  In both stories God reached out to the people.  Zachariah was visited by an angel....Jacob spoke to God through a dream.  In both stories the people needed to choose to listen to God's will.  We are given opportunities to communicate with God through prayer...lifting our hearts and minds to God.  We also must choose to listen to God's will.

The season continues and we reflect on our lives in union with God.  An area that is crucial to our relationship is communication.  So glad we have this time to get it all together.