I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will tell of your name to my kin.     Psalm 18:50; 22: 23

Saint Francis Xavier, remembered on this the first of our obligatory Advent Memorials this year, was among the greatest missionaries of all time, dying on foreign shores half a world away from where he grew up.

How could it be said that he told of the Name of the Lord to his kin when most of his missionary preaching and baptizing was done on the coasts of Asia?  Because any missionary first recognizes in the faces of those he meets the familiar face of Christ.  Each person in the human family is singularly willed and created by God, and all those who, in baptism, call Him “Father,” know a brother or a sister when they meet them.  Indeed, our kin are everywhere.

With that in mind, evangelization becomes a lot less scary, since we are always among the familiar- those already predisposed to hear the truth of Gospel.

Advent Post Series, 2015