Feast of St. Francis Xavier & being a missionary in the culture

Today is the Feast Day of St. Francis Xavier, patron Saint of Missionaries, and also the patron St. of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.   St. Francis Xavier lived in the early 16^th century in Spain and was destined for a career in academics.   Through his friend St. Ignatius of Loyola this all changed and he followed a calling to serve Christ as a missionary in Japan and India.   He lived in and among the cultures learning their language and living, working, and sharing meals with them.  By assimilating with the culture he was able to get many to come to know Christ and convert to the faith. He desired to go on to China, but incurred an illness on the way there and was left on an island in a simple hut and died there.  You can get a daily summary and listen to an audio clip on the Saint’s Daily by subscribing to Franciscan Media saint of the day.  Today’s Gospel about the Roman Centurion’s profession of faith is a good example that if we model our faith in our living among the culture we can bring others to Christ.   We recall the centurion’s word prior to our receiving the Eucharist, “Lord I am not worthy to enter under your roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed. “   We need to keep in mind he was a Gentile and came to know the faith by the loving example of Christ and his disciples working in amongst the people who needed healing.    If we go about modeling the faith with those we live, work, and play with in our culture we can help bring others to Christ.